SPEAKER_03 0:00

Well, as you can notice, we're doing something a little different again. Last week, if you're with us, we had uh Kids Sunday and we had all the kids up here and this week we're gonna do something a little different. We've got uh an opportunity this morning for you to hear some cool stories from people who uh recently went with us to Indonesia. Now, has anybody ever traveled to Indonesia before besides the team members? I know you guys have. Anyone else? Uh Indonesia is an interesting country, and uh we uh had the opportunity to go with a team of 14, um 13 plus a baby, so we'll we'll count them as a whole. We had four 14 of us total that went to Indonesia and spent some time there sharing the gospel among Muslims and among Hindus. Uh the first half of the trip was among kind of urban educated Muslims for the most part, and the second half of the trip was more in a rural area, uh lower income, uh uneducated uh Hindus, but just beautiful, beautiful people, a beautiful country. It's one of the fourth largest country in the world. It's a it's an amazing place, and uh we had this privilege to get to go and and to just share the love of Christ and the good news of the gospel with the people that live there. And so we're gonna share some of that with you, but before we get there this morning, I want to um to read some text together and to make some reflections on the text because I've been wrestling, and I always do when I come back from a trip like this, uh, with what God wants us to do here at home. Uh it's great to go, it's great to experience life in another part of our planet, uh, but it's also really significant when we stop and think about, okay, God, how does this translate to where I do everyday life? So some of you have been on a mission trip before, you may have experienced that. And I'll confess there are times when you come back from a mission trip experience like that, uh, you can have almost a little bit of like angst. And I think some of that's holy and some of it's not. Some of it's like, man, I just don't want to go back to business as usual, life is as usual. Uh, but there's another part of it you kind of have to work through and say, okay, God loves people in America too. And even though uh the only place we got yelled at the entire trip was in LA Airport by the people there, everybody else treated us so nicely. Uh we still love America and we're still thankful that we're we're in this great country. Uh, but we we do see that there is definitely a uh a different type of vibe in the different places around the world, and God's at work all over the world. If you didn't know that, God's at work all over the world, and uh it's really a beautiful thing. So that being said, um, if you have your Bible, I want to ask you to open it up to Luke chapter 10. We're just gonna camp out in a few verses in Luke chapter 10 this morning. There's some Bibles under the chairs if you need one. I'd love for you to read this for yourself, or you can pull out your phone. I know that's what a lot of you guys would do. And Luke chapter 10, uh, just the first four verses of Luke chapter 10. Jesus has been training his disciples. He's been preparing them for the mission that they're gonna have after he's gone. He's been teaching, he's been calling them to uh to follow. In fact, in Luke chapter 9, some of you may know this verse, um, he is literally said to them, if anyone wants to come to me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. And that's pretty heavy words, right? These guys, there's a crowd of people following Jesus. He's the freak show, he's doing amazing things, he's healing people, he's teaching with authority. And then he looks at this crowd and he says, if anybody wants to really come and follow me, they have to lay down their lives to follow me. And so it thinned out the herd, if you will, right? It went from like this big crowd to all of a sudden you got this committed crew that are with Jesus. And he looks at his crew that are committed, and we and apparently uh it's it's at least 70 because this is what how many he's gonna send out, and he sends out this crew to do work, and this isn't the first time he sent them out, but this is uh another recording of him sending out these these uh disciples to go on mission. And so I want to read this this morning, and then I want to talk about, like I said, what this means uh and what it means for us today, and then we're gonna have some of the team from Indonesia come up and share what God's been doing in their hearts after they answered the call to go. Um and then maybe God is calling you to go. All right? So here's here's what it says. Chapter 10, verse 1. After this, the Lord appointed seventy others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go. So just a couple things there. Notice he didn't send them out alone, right? He sent them out with someone else, which is really, really important when we go on mission. We need to go with others in community, and notice that this sends them out ahead, and then he's gonna go there as well. All right, so he's gonna let them go, then he's coming behind them. It says he told them the harvest is what? Plentiful or abundant, depending on which translation you're looking at, right? But we get the idea that it's there's a lot of it. There's a the harvest is big, but guess what? But the workers are few. Okay, hang on to that. Let's come back to it in a minute. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest, into not just the harvest, but his harvest. Now go, I'm sending you out like lambs among wolves. One of the most inspiring and encouraging verses in all the New Testament, right? I'm gonna send you, and it's gonna be like you're sent out like lambs among wolves. Thanks, Jesus. That's awesome. Get us all fired up. Don't carry a money bag, traveling bag, or sandals. Don't greet anyone along the road. Now, again, there's part of me that wants to just go and preach this whole passage and get after it because I love talking about mission and I love what we see here. But we're gonna stop there for this morning because I want you to hear from the team from Indonesia. But just a few things. First off, is there's some realities about the harvest, and one is this the harvest equals the salvation of souls and the work that goes into seeing people saved. Now, I don't know how many of you like to use that language of saved or salvation of souls. I grew up in uh in a church environment where we talk about that a lot. Like, have you been saved? Um saved from what? Right? Saved from what? Well, if you know the Bible, you understand that when man rebelled against God all the way back to the garden, this curse enters the world, and now mankind is under this curse, but also that God in his holiness couldn't ignore our sin and our rebellion, so he had to punish it. And thankfully, I shared this with the teens yesterday, thankfully, he didn't pour out his wrath and his anger against our sin on us as people, but he poured it out on Jesus. This is why you can't look at sin and say it's no big deal, because Jesus paid the price with his life to uh fix the problem that we had with our sin and our rebellion. Are you with me? So sin is a big deal. And Jesus pays this price for our sin. And so now we are being saved from what? We're being saved from an eternity separated from this awesome, glorious God who loves us, who cares deeply about us, and he wants us to be with him forever. And so we can't be with God in our sin state, but thankfully he has saved us by the work of Jesus on the cross. That's the gospel. That's the beautiful good news this morning is that coming to church, praying, reading your Bible, serving the poor, giving to those who are in need, uh, caring for those who are the marginalized. Like that's not what saves us. Jesus Christ alone saves. What he did on the cross, what he did through his death and his burial and his resurrection, that's how we are made right with God, justified, reconciled to God. So harvest is equal to the salvation of souls. Now, notice what the second verse says there. He says the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, meaning that the number of souls to be saved is greater than the number of workers willing to join God in saving them. And that was true then, and it's true today. Would you agree? That there are many, many people who need to know the gospel. There are many, many people who need to know Jesus. There are many people who need to experience the life-changing reality of this glorious Savior, Jesus Christ, who we worship. But there is a timidity about the people of God. There is a fear, there is an anxiety, there is a slowness to engage in mission for God's people. And we're going to talk about that. And I want you to hear my heart on this. My job is not to stand up here this morning and to just externally put pressure on you to going on mission. All right? Because I believe with all my heart that what happens is God has to do something in us before he does something through us. I think God has to do something in my heart and in your heart in order for us to be equipped and ready to go and engage in the mission. In fact, the next verse tells us what is the solution to this problem that there's greater harvest than there are workers? What does Jesus say the solution is? He says, pray. Pray. Now, I don't know how you view prayer. I don't know what your prayer life looks like, but one of the things that we can guarantee is that Jesus, he saw prayer as tapping into the throne room of heaven and saying, God, let your will be done. Let your kingdom come. Right? It's one of the prayers he prayed in his, in the Lord's Prayer. It's the pattern. Some of you guys probably memorized that. Maybe even if you grew up and you weren't even in church, maybe your sports team did it because you wanted to make sure God was on your side when you went out to play, right? But it says, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You know what would happen if that really became reality? The salvation of souls. Salvation of many as God's kingdom. And it is coming, and we are seeing heaven breaking through in this earth, and it's happening in our lives, in our hearts, and through our lives as we live on mission. And so that being said, we pray, and he says, pray for what? He says, pray for God, right? To send the, he says, pray for the Lord of the harvest. Whose harvest? God's harvest. Who's in charge of the harvest? God is. It's off my shoulders, right? It's on God's. He says, pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send laborers, that he would send workers into the harvest. Our responsibility, our opportunity is to pray and say, God, would you please send out more laborers, more workers into the harvest? And here's my hope that as we pray about that, God might stir our hearts to join. That we might become the answer to our own prayers. You ever thought about that? That as we pray for God to send out more people into the harvest, to sharing the good news about Jesus, that is the living, breathing message of salvation in the person of Jesus. When we go and share that, that God would stir our own hearts. And we would pray for God to send others, but he also sends us in the process. But here's the problem. Here's the problem this morning. I said a while ago there's some things that hang us up that keep us from being engaged in the mission. I'm only gonna hit on a few here. And but I think it really could be summated in this a small view of God equals little involvement in the harvest. Are you with me? A small view of God equals little involvement in the harvest. I think when we, and I'm talking about myself here, I'm not not sitting up here throwing rocks at you guys. I'm saying my heart as well, the reason I don't share the gospel more with the people around me, my neighbors, my coworkers, my friends, uh, the people that are in my life every day, the people who check me out at H E B, uh, the people who cut my hair, whatever it might be, the reason I don't share the gospel more frequently is because I have a small view of God. In fact, I would even say it this way: that when I don't really have a mission problem, a mission engagement problem, I have a worship problem. Because I really care more about myself, just being dead level honest, than I do about the lostness of the people around me. And I care more about myself than the beautiful, glorious, gracious, awesome God that I worship and serve. That's what keeps me from being engaged. In fact, I would say this way: when we don't see God's big love for us, we fear man more than God. I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but my guess is that some of you don't share the gospel with others because you fear what people will say about you. You fear rejection. And the Bible tells us that perfect love drives out fear. If you didn't know that verse, perfect love drives out fear. You know what? When I understand that God loves me and my value and worth is not tied to what other people think about me, I will not let their opinion of me keep me from sharing the good news about Jesus. And that's a real fear, isn't it? It's a real fear of feeling rejected, especially in the United States where you know Christians are kind of looked at the intellectual dummies. Right? Go to a college, university campus, and you're gonna hear people talk about, well, you know, Christians, you guys, just you live by faith. We live by reason, which by the way is not really true. Everybody lives by faith, it's just a question of what they're putting their faith in themselves, another teacher, or for us, the Bible and Jesus Christ. We all live by faith. But here's the thing uh sometimes we fear rejection, we fear looking foolish, we fear looking silly. And I would say to you that when I put my eyes on God and his big love, all that stuff starts to fade. When I start to understand how God's love is so awesome and big and powerful, the fear of man fades. You're like, are you okay, Nick? You know, you're all right, yeah. Seriously, when I see God's love for me, it helps me overcome that fear of man. When we don't see God's big power, we will believe we are too weak to participate. When we don't see God's power is big and awesome. You remember what Jesus said when he left the earth in Acts 1, when he's talking to his disciples. Anybody know that that scene? Remember that scene? Acts 1, verse 8. He says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Here's the thing: we believe that in theory, but we don't believe that in practice. Oh, yeah, the Holy Spirit's come, but we still look to ourselves to actually do the work of the mission. Like somehow we're responsible for saving people. Whose harvest is it? God's. Who's the one who saves people? God. That's right. Whose power does this mission rest on? God's. That's right. Good job, teens. So here's the deal. In our lives, when I don't see God's power is big, I don't engage in the mission because I think it's on me. And the truth is, if it's on me, it's not gonna get done. Because I'm a weak individual. And my flesh is weak. When we don't see God's big grace, we'll believe that people are too far gone. When we don't see that God's grace is big and massive. Now, anybody in here who's really honest with yourself, you know before Jesus met you, you were a train wreck. You were a mess. You were on a path to destruction. And thankfully, by God's grace, he rescued us. Thankfully, by God's grace, he rescued this wretched man. That's why we love the singing Amazing Grace. Such a great song because we resonate with it in our hearts and we know I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see because God's grace is amazing, and it's big and it's awesome. We're told stories like the story of Saul in scripture, where Saul was an enemy of the kingdom of God. And what happens? He becomes one of the greatest missionaries to ever walk the face of this planet, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote half the New Testament. Why? Because our God is a gracious God who can reach into yucky, messy, jacked up lives and say, I love you, I'm gonna pluck you out of that, I'm gonna use you for my glory, in spite of all the things that the world says, you could never follow Jesus. You could never be a believer. Who in your life have you given up on because you don't think God's grace is big enough to reach them? Who have you given up on in our planet, in our lives? Maybe it's a family member, maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a people group on the other side of the planet, like we experienced as we went into Indonesia. And you say, God, you can never reach them. Listen, our view of God's grace is too small. But when it's big, we'll say, God, you can change even the hardest heart, the coldest heart, the most indifferent person can be saved. When we don't see God's big provision, we will fear that we won't have enough to live. It's interesting in this text in verse 4, he says, Don't take anything with you. Don't take anything, right? Literally, he says to them, he says, verse 4, he says, Don't carry a money bag, a traveling bag, or sandals. I mean, don't even take shoes. You know why? Because he wants us to rest in his perfect provision. Because our God can provide everything that we need according to his glorious riches. That's what the text says. That's what God says. But when we don't see God's big provision, we're fearful because we we fear we won't have enough. God's gonna let us starve and die. God's not gonna take care of our needs, he's not gonna even provide our daily bread. And I just want to say this morning, God is a God who loves us and as our Father, He will provide everything we need. To say it differently, there's people who don't go on mission trips like the one we just went on, and I hear them say, Well, I just can't come up with the money to go on a trip like that. And I would say to them, Listen, because you haven't stepped out in faith and let God provide, you're trying to do it in your own way, in your own mind, in your own provision. Our God is a God who provides. One of the things I love about interacting with missionaries around the world, different parts of the world, is you get to see how big their faith is in God's perfect provision. They don't know how they're gonna figure everything out. They step out in faith and God always, always provides. See, when our when our view of God's provision is small, we will live as if we don't have the resources to accomplish the work God has for us. But when we understand it's big, we will trust that He will provide everything that we need. Are you tracking with me? I'm just trying to make sure this is practical. It's not just that we we see God big and that that's a huge thing. We need to understand how practically this works out because how we view God changes everything. And the teenagers have been talking about that this weekend and their retreat, and talking about how the most important thing about a person is how they view God. And if we don't view God rightly, it's gonna impact every facet of our life: our marriage, our parenting, the way we handle money, the way we handle our everyday life and our time, the way we view politics. Because we put our hope in things that aren't God and we we reap the consequences of that. But God is so good. I would say the same thing a little bit differently and say this worship is the fuel for mission. Worship is the fuel for mission. Jesus sent these 70 out and he said, I want you to go, right? And I want you to tell them about me and tell them that the kingdom is here, tell them that the kingdom is coming. And guess what? He sends us out. If you have put your trust in Jesus, and I don't know all of your stories in this room, I know some of you, but if you have put your trust in Jesus, you've called on the name of the Lord, which by the way, the scripture says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And at that moment, you went from death to life. Not just from bad to work to better, but you went from death to life, from darkness to light. And in that moment when you went through that exchange process where God starts to view you through the lens of Jesus, and he puts your sin on the person of Jesus that was crushed at the cross. And in that moment, you become a child of God, and you have a mission. I have a mission. Are you with me? Listen, let me tell you what the mission of a Christian is not. The mission of a Christian is not to be a consistent church attender every Sunday. The mission of a Christian is not to just be a good mom or dad. The mission of a Christian is not just to put a little offering in the offering plate. The mission of a Christian is not just to read my Bible and pray every day. The mission of a Christian is to worship Jesus and make sure everybody else gets the opportunity to worship and know Jesus as well. That's what a mission of a Christian is, to go into all the world, to make disciples, followers of Jesus. That's what Jesus said. So that's what we're gonna go with. Okay? That's what we're gonna go with is he said, go into all the world and make disciples. And so we want to do the same thing as the disciples did, following in obedience to that mission. So, you guys remember a story? I read this to the teens yesterday from Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6 is this section of scripture where this prophet Isaiah, he's in the temple, and he's there and he's worshiping God, and he gets this amazing glimpse of God. It says the train of the robe of God fills the temple, and the glory of God is there, and it just is just blows his mind. And you know what he does when he experiences the power and the presence of God? Just the train of the robe. He hits his face and he says, Woe is me, I'm undone. I am unclean amongst the people that are unclean. So literally, even though all of us in this room would say, Man, we will look, we want to see God, I can tell you that seeing God in this flesh would be very painful for us. Because what it does is it undoes us. It reveals our depth of depravity and sin and brokenness in a way that you can't even begin to imagine. But when you see God's purity, you see your impurity. When you see God's holiness, you see your lack of holiness. Are you with me? But notice what happens in that text. It goes on in Isaiah 6, where he sees God rightly and he's like, woo, I am undone, and he falls into the mess heap of the floor. God sends an angel, he purifies him, and then God says, Who will go for me? Who will go? And tell the people who I am and what I'm all about. And Isaiah has no problem in that moment saying, Here am I, send me. You know why? Because he had a right view of God. He worshipped God, he saw God for who he was, and he's like, Why would I not want to obey this God who is more awesome and more powerful and more amazing than I can even begin to understand? You see, that's why I say that what we have in America and what I have in my own heart, and what we have globally as Christians who are not living on missions, sharing the gospel message with others, is a worship problem. We've lost sight of this beautiful, glorious God who's all that we need and more, who supplies everything that we need and more, who loves us more deeply than we can begin to imagine. That's the God we serve. A big view of God will result in a big involvement, investment in the mission. And when we don't, Share the gospel. We don't tell others about Christ. We don't share the good news. It's because we've lost view of God and what he has done. We've lost view of Jesus and what the price that he paid for our sin, for our rescue. I um I don't have any problem talking about Texas longhorn football. Now it's been rough for me the last five years, I confess. But you know why I talk about it all the time? Because it's it's on my mind. Like when I have time to like, which is rare, but just time to just sit and think about whatever. I think about it. I go to ESPN.com, I'm looking at recruiting, I'm checking things out, I'm like keeping up with the longhorn football. And so when we get into a room of people and strangers or friends, like guess what? I'm I'm like, hey, do you see the longhorns? Oh, you see they got this recruit. Like, it's on my lips because it's on my mind. You know the reason why Jesus is not on my lips because he's not on my mind. You want to know why you and I don't talk about Jesus more often to people around us is because we're really not that excited about him. We're really not that passionate about him. But when he becomes our passion, it will overflow from our lives. It will. And no fear of man, no lack of um provision, anything will keep us from talking about the beauty of the gospel and the beauty of Jesus Christ. I'm gonna talk about that more in just a minute, but I want to ask the team that came, went to Indonesia to come up on stage. So we got some chairs up here. You guys come on up and um nice. The teams welcome them up. I mentioned that we had uh 14 of us go. Some of the the team was actually from another church uh where my brother-in-law is pastor, and they joined us for this trip, and we also had a young baby that went, an infant. Uh, and so what I've asked these guys to do, they came over to our house for some burgers on Tuesday night, and we got to catch up a little bit about what God was saying, and so not everyone will share, but uh we've asked them just to share maybe one thing that God spoke to them through going to Indonesia. And I can tell you um that these guys are awesome, but none of them are super rock star Christians, okay? Just like me. We're just average, normal, everyday people, and to watch what God did through normal, average, everyday people is just amazing. In fact, I would even say to you, it was so cool, uh, because these guys won't talk about this particular story, but the girl that was on our team, from not from our church, who was probably the most timid and shy person on our entire team and was actually the most fearful of sharing the gospel, is the one who got to lead the Hindu priest to the to Jesus. And so it was an incredible thought that that the one who God in his sovereignty and God in his goodness, he uses the weak things of the world to shame the wise. And so we just want you to know that you don't have to be a rock star, superstar Christian in order to go on mission and to live for the glory of God. So, anyway, Alan, why don't you get us started and share a little bit what God said to you uh through going to Indonesia and being on mission? Just use that as one if you need to.

SPEAKER_05 25:00

After coming back from Indonesia, what I really what God's really put on my heart is to just be on uh to have a willingness to be on mission more in my everyday life because uh this is actually my second trip to Indonesia and uh with each trip that I've taken, uh just to see God working uh in the lives of the people that I've spoken to and and in my own personal life uh it's just been absolutely amazing. And um I just want to continue um to do that uh in my life. And so when we were going to Indonesia this time, I had a lot of fear uh not to go to Indonesia itself because I'd been there before, but uh I had an opportunity to go to a really remote island uh and I had made some friends uh in Indonesia last time and they had moved out to Flores, and so uh they invited me out there. And when I got there, uh well prior to going, I just like I said, I had a lot of fear of going and I spoke with Nick about it, and I just had this reluctance of going, and I but just in the back of my mind, I had this boy saying that he wanted me to see something uh when I was there, and so I finally just uh had the willingness to go, pulled the trigger, bought my tickets, and I flew out there and uh met my friends that were there, and they gave me a couple options of different things that I could do, and one of them was um to go snorkeling, uh, which I thought would be an awesome thing to go do. Uh, and then just on down the list, and finally there was one that uh there was this really remote village, uh, and there was some sick people out there, and um, so it was an opportunity to go and and pray for the sick. And uh being the germaphobe uh that I am, that was not high on my list of things to do. And I kind of knew instantly that that's where God was calling me to go. Um, but you know, I told him, well, let me pray on it. Um just because I I just had this fear about going uh out there, and so but finally I just said yes, let's that's what we need to do. Let's let's go out there and do that. And um and it was pointed out to me that you know that's what Jesus does. And uh, you know, he traveled to these remote villages and towns and sat down and ate meals with these people and talked about God and himself and um and put his hands on and prayed for the sick. And uh and so you know I've gone to hospitals and prayed for people and gone to people's houses and ate meals and talked about God, but this was just this laser-focused um this is just what I need to be doing, and because this is what Jesus did, uh and to call myself a Christ follower, um, to be able to actually uh do what he did was just it was just this amazing experience, and and through that process, um this one woman came to faith, and uh there was some healing that was done there, but what really struck out to me the most was one of the homes was the home of the village's witch doctor, and she had this skin disease. And after coming back, I realized or I learned that in Jesus' day, a lot of times they used leprosy as just this blanket term to cover all kinds of skin diseases, and so that it just really um honed it in on me about having the willingness to to do this. And so I was really reluctant, but finally I just I put my hands on her and we prayed for her, and um there wasn't any specific healing uh in her skin disease, but uh she said that she felt joy. And I just thought that if Jesus could bring joy to a witch doctor in Indonesia, uh how much more can she bring joy to myself? And um just because my base state is normally one of being a little bit sad, depressed, and you know, I have my highs and my lows, uh, but I I just returned to that base, and uh but ever since that moment, my base has been more of a state of joy, and um you know my wife attested to that, you know, that when I came back that I was just I was just more joyful, and um so anyway, so he just really put it on my heart to just live my life to be more on mission because I really didn't do anything all that special. I I just I had the willingness to go into the village and um talk just gave my own personal testimony and you know through that process there was just some amazing things that God did in the lives of the people around me just from having that willingness.

SPEAKER_07 29:55

Um this was my first trip. Nick has gone before and came back so radically changed that um two years ago I decided if the opportunity came up, there was no question I was gonna go. And so um as we went, um, it's already been said, and I know that's the Lord, it's this the Spirit working this morning, just how focused we've been on the person of Jesus. And um that's where my heart and my mind were, um, especially there, obviously, as we were focused on sharing that with others. But as we've come home and I've processed what the Lord has been teaching me, um the first group of people that we had the opportunity to share with was more Muslim, educated, young individuals. And um, it really broke my heart that they saw us just because we were American as very repulsive, as like very immoral, and they couldn't quite not that they weren't friendly to us, they were very friendly, but you could tell that they were like, you're American. And and so they they had most of these students were gonna get the opportunity to travel, and none of them wanted to come to America. But um as we got to share Nick and I together to some students and talk about they wanted to know about American culture, but you know, we often were like, well, um sadly, American culture is moving further and further away from God and away from his principles of his word. And so we live by a Jesus culture. So we can tell you about American culture, but that doesn't define us. I mean, sometimes they look some similar, but most of the time our lives look different under a Jesus culture than American culture. And we just saw this like realization happening that maybe they had misjudged. Um, but at the same time, there was a conviction that came to my heart as of process. Like, do I look different? Do I? Do I represent Jesus in such a way that I look more like Jesus than I look like American? And sadly, I've just been convicted that there is a lack of holiness in my life sometimes that makes me not stand out. And when we really focus on the person of Jesus, he stood out, he was different, he was bold in love and in grace, but also in truth. And so the Lord's just been really moving my heart in that, and I've been really asking him to clarify what that means for me personally. Um, one other quick story that centers on the person of Jesus. When we went into the smaller village with the Hindus, um I had the opportunity to share Jesus with this 17-year-old girl. And um I started, Nick was sharing with her dad, and I was um sharing with her, and I got to the part that talked about a holy God and sin separates us, but then there's a person of Jesus. And so I started sharing about that, and she was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what are you saying? And I said, Jesus, have you ever heard of him? No. No, I don't know what you're talking about. And she wanted to camp out, like she kept, I knew we were on a little bit of a time crunch, and she kept wanting to camp out on the person of Jesus. And by the end of that conversation, I saw this light coming into her eyes. And sadly, our conversation, our conversation got shut off because her dad was actually moving closer and closer towards me. I didn't realize it, but he was kind of standing behind me by the end of the conversation, basically like, mm-mm. And so the end of that conversation didn't end the way I'd hoped it would, but I was certain that the person of Jesus had changed her in that moment. And I don't know, I don't get to see the fruit of that. Does that mean salvation? Does that mean that God doesn't need me to finish that work? That the person of Jesus was planted in her heart and that he will finish that work. But again, it just centered me on Jesus is awesome and radical and amazing and life-changing. And am I letting him change me? And am I confident that who he is will change other people around me? And so um that's my ponderings. And I'm sorry, I probably went over a minute.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

We only have a minute. I think so. So uh going into this this mission trip, um the thing that I really saw in my the way that God worked in my life a lot when we were there, um, I don't really have any trouble, I didn't really have like timidness or trouble talking to people. I don't really have trouble talking to people. Most people tell me shut up. But but uh what was amazing to me was just how Christ really def redefined what, you know, he's daily redefining what the gospel is in my own life. And I think so many times, uh, I mean personally, just when I, you know, when I was a kid and everything, you know, we're just taught that, or we we're made to believe that the gospel is just a prayer that you pray, and then that's it. And you're saved. I'm a Christian, yay. But the gospel is so much more than that, and it's and it's a living, breathing thing that is redefined in your life every day. Um, and to see all the different people that were there, the different types of people that were with us, um, you know, just to see how God was able to use strengths, weaknesses, and all of our brokenness to really communicate uh the good news of Christ to all these people was just personally incredible to me, realizing how how meaningless, how meaningless my strengths and what how meaningless I am in the whole scheme of things. And that meaningless to me sounds kind of weird, but that meaningless to me is what drove me to even want to be a part of it. Because, like you, like Nick said, it's God's harvest and he's gonna send workers. Um and I, as I saw that, I desperately wanted to be one of those workers and wanted to be one of those people, and I didn't want that to pass me by that opportunity. And so I would just encourage anybody that hasn't had that opportunity uh to really take that opportunity because it can really it can really redefine what your own view of your own salvation and your gos and what the gospel is in your life.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

So they told me I had a minute, so uh we'll see how this goes. Uh but uh yeah, so my biggest takeaway uh from this trip, and it was really hard to just choose one, uh, but being in the two different major cities that we were in, uh both were just completely uh like culture and religion is is kind of one and the same. Uh you can look around and everywhere you everywhere you look you see some sort of religion. Uh you know, in in Malong, the first place we were at, it was mostly Muslim, and there was you know lots of people with the head coverings, or there was you know a lot of mosques and stuff like that. You heard the prayers you know five times a day, and that's really you know catches your attention. And so, you know, throughout throughout our time there, um, you know, it's just constantly focused on religion. Uh the Hindus in Bali, uh every house has some sort of temple or shrine everywhere you go, the cat, you know, the taxis, uh they have little shrine and offerings that they're doing constantly. There's prayers there three times a day with uh for the Hindus and stuff like that. And so just everywhere you look, it is just constantly um focused on religion. And at first, kind of my my culture shock was wow, this is just insane to look around and just see um that there's religion everywhere here, and wow, look at all these lost people, and they're all worshiping all these gods and um putting up all these different offerings to to you know to things that are not the one true God and who they should be. Um and so that was just to me like wow, this is so different than what America's like, and this is so different from what I know. Um and then I just kind of after processing through some of that, and I just feel like uh God really put on my heart the fact that here in America it's really not that different. It looks a whole lot different, um, and you know, we don't see shrines at everybody's houses and whatnot. Uh, but here, you know, they're they're worshiping in Indonesia, they're worshiping all these different gods and all these different religions, and here there's the same level of worship, the same amount of distractedness in worshiping these different idols or um gods, if you will, uh, but they just look a whole lot different. You know, it looks like a house or it looks like a really nice car, it looks like um, you know, our cell phones that are in front of us like 24 hours a day, and you know, our Facebook profiles and all this stuff. And so while there's not this overwhelming look of like, wow, look at all these different religions and stuff like that, there is this worship problem here, the saying that there is there. Um, this problem that we are spending so much time, Nick touched on this today, just spending so much time thinking and focusing and talking about and working so hard, you know, get that American dream and make a lot of money and spend it on all the right things, like a big house and you know, uh, you know, a good lake house or something like that, and just so many different things that are constantly distracting us from what our purpose is or from what God is. And and church can be one of those those gods, those places of worship that we are so distracted of knowing all the great praise and worship songs and um you know just looking the best and leading all the Bible studies and stuff, but that can be our distraction. Um and so I just feel like God put on my heart to the reality of you know, over there it's like, man, there's all these lost people. I just really need to be on my game and just really focused. And God, you know, you tell me who you want to talk to because there's so many lost people around me, and um, you know, I just want to speak to all of them. Well, it's the same thing here. Um, looking around, there's so many lost people here, um, so many Christians, um, so many people in the church that are that are lost or just you know, um just distracted and not focused on um just who Jesus is and and what he's done and what our mission is, like Nick talked about this morning. So uh, you know, I just feel like the what God put on my heart and my encouragement to all of you is just kind of take a moment and look around and think, okay, what am I worshiping? Um, what am I spending my time thinking about? Um, you know, what are my idols, what are these temples uh that I that are around me all the time, and who are the people around me that are focused on all the wrong things? Uh and so yeah, I would just my encouragement is this is a great mission field, and we're called to go. And yes, sometimes that means going overseas, but a lot, I mean, very, very easily that that means go to your neighbor, go to your workplace, and uh share the gospel with all of these people that are worshiping all of these things.

SPEAKER_06 41:04

So okay, so my story is a little different. Um, I didn't really feel called to go to Indonesia. Um, JT, we were engaged when Nick and the first team uh shared. That was like two years ago. And JT was like, I'm going, like, I'm for sure going, I know I'm supposed to go. And I was like, I am not going, I do not feel called to this. Like, I feel great just sending JT off and staying here and making sure everything is great. Um so this summer, uh, when they we were they were they were deciding who was gonna go and everything, and I was like, no, I'm gonna stay here. And um and then just God started working in my heart, and I was like, okay, like a lot of things happen, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna go, and there's people who I love that were really fearful of me going, and I was really discouraged, and I was like, oh gosh. But I um I went and I feel like God really showed me um that it doesn't take like a really spiritual person or a really religious person or a missionary or like a pastor to make a difference. Um and He He really meets you in that, and I just feel like He really showed me that. And then also I feel like He really um solidified in my heart and just taught me that Um we're all called to go, we're all called to pursue that. Um it's just if we're if we're gonna pursue that call every day.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

You guys still with you still with us? Okay. Okay, awesome. Uh I think the one thing that God really pointed out to me was that um you can't really share the gospel with someone unless you love that person as a human being and as an individual. And so in my life before I went to Indonesia, I'd known two Muslim people. One was in middle school, and you know, he was a young guy, and then I had one friend in college that wasn't really uh like very religious, and so you know I was kind of scared to be honest to go to Indonesia because in my head, you know, you think I'm going to this country where you know they probably hate me just because I'm an American Christian. And I w and I was, you know, a little nervous about safety, about it being dangerous. And uh and I realized that a lot of my fear was because um I wasn't thinking of these people as individuals, as human beings. It was more of just this this idea that that created fear in me. And and you know, Jada, we we all went to the same university, and when we talked to these students, like, you know, my fear and my hesitancy to go to Indonesia, they had the exact same fear about coming to America. They don't want to study in America because they're afraid that we hate them, because they're Muslim, because they're different. And so, you know, I had the opportunity to come face to face. Faced with prejudice that I didn't even know I had, because it's a lot it's a lot easier to say in theory that, yes, Lord, you know, please you know work in uh work in the lives of the Muslim people and please bring them to salvation, just don't to me because I don't want them, I don't want to be hurt. And so getting to go, many human beings, men and women that are are just like us, they're asking the same questions that we are, and they're just as in need of the grace of Jesus Christ. It's not like you know, we went and we're like, oh my gosh, everything is so amazing in Indonesia. Like they're broken people. We are broken people. Um and sadly, they're looking in a well that isn't they're not gonna find water there. Allah is not gonna provide them peace and salvation. But it was it was wonderful for me to be able to meet these people and say, they're human beings, like they're just people. Um a lot of them are like, you know, Easter Christmas Christians, they're Easter, Christmas Muslims in Egypt, there's nominal Muslims. You have to put on your ID card like what religion you are, and there's people that have Muslims on their ID card, and they're not um it's it's it's crazy, and and it was such a blessing for God um to point out to me that like don't ever paint any group of people um with a brush, with a brush of fear. Um that we are called to love people and love individuals as the Church of Jesus said. That's no that's uh so important even in the day and age that we live in, that we are to be marked by um loving individual human beings, no matter what group uh or tribe that they belong to, because everyone um is a person and everyone is looking for for something, and we just happen to know that in Jesus what they are looking for. Um and so I was grateful that God helped me uh helped me to be just the Muslim people with a lot more tenderness and and love. And I was grateful for that.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

So I think my biggest fear in going was probably fear itself of like sharing with with people I didn't know the gospel, like just going for it. And I think the thing that has left the biggest mark and spoke to that was the missionaries in Bali are solid gray to build Jesus followers in their devotional life every morning is spent in prayer that isn't kept in a time frame and just spent in time with thanking the Lord for things from the day before. So we spent a lot of time talking about that, especially with Janine, the missionary wife. And um that has left a really big mark in coming back, just realizing that or being reminded that I'm gonna share Jesus with people when I know who he is and remember how much he loves me and loves them. So I think it's simple and we all know that, but just being reminded of in the quiet place with him in the morning how much he loves us and wants us to share him with other people. So it's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

It's awesome. You got to think about it. Yeah, take care.

unknown 47:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:26

I love getting to listen to these guys share because a lot of times when I stand up here as a pastor and I talk about mission, you're like, well, yeah, you're the pastor. Sure, you talk about mission, sure you talk about sharing the gospel. And I want you to know that in my own heart, every day I face fear of sharing the gospel. In fact, this last week I was at Radio Coffee Shop and I went there really not intending to share the gospel with anybody. I went there because I was meeting another guy coming from Ohio. And uh when I was about to get out of my car, I felt the Spirit prompting me just simply to say, Nick, be available, be open. So I said, Lord, I'm here, I'm available, I'm open. I sit down and I got my computer out and I put my earphones on so I could block out everybody around me and do my individual American thing, and got my Americana and was like, This, I love radio, this is awesome, beautiful weather. I don't have to talk to anybody, I can just be here and do my thing. And I look up and there's this couple, a lesbian couple, sitting right there in front of me, and God says, go and talk to them. And I said, God, when I said I was available, I didn't mean like really available, right? I was just saying that because that's what you wanted me to say, right? And in a moment, God said, No, I want you to go and talk to them. So I put all my stuff away, I'd just gotten it all out, and I walked over awkwardly, to be honest. It wasn't smooth, it wasn't slick, wasn't cool. And I said, Hey, my name's Nick, and I I felt impressed to come talk to you. And I sat down, or I asked them, is it okay if I sit down? Are you guys a are you ladies a couple? And they're like, Yeah, we are. In fact, and they kind of went on a tirade about fear that as Donald Trump, if if he became, this was before the election, if he became president, that their whole life was gonna go to hell in a handbasket. They weren't gonna have a livelihood, their marriage would be annulled and not validated, and a lot of other things. And they, I literally was like just blown away by their fear. And I said, I want you to understand something deeply. First off, I'm really, really sorry and sad that what your interaction with Christians has been like has been so bad, and that you've had family members, literally, the dad of one of the ladies, who had treated her so poorly in the name of Jesus. And I said, I want you to know that that's not right, and then I ask for forgiveness on behalf of the church that you've been treated that way. And I want you to know that the Bible tells me that there's a God who loves us and that Jesus Christ died for all people, including you. And he loves you more than you know. Have you ever read the Bible? No, we've never read the Bible. Let me tell you the story of the Bible. God creates people that man rebels against God, but then Jesus comes and he saves us and he pays the price. Even while we're enemies, he died for us on the cross. And now, if we receive him by faith, we can have eternal life. Have you ever heard that? No, I've never heard that. Heard about religion, I've never heard that. I said, Well, I want you to think about that and pray about that. I don't know if you're interested in that. Like, well, we're not really interested in God, and kind of went back on a little bit of a tangent about religion and about politics. I said, Well, I want you to know that the reason I got up, come over here to talk to you, is because I believe God loves you. And I'm no better than you. Not any better in any way, shape, or form. I need Jesus and I need salvation just as much as you do. And thankfully, Jesus is our rescuer, he's our redeemer. So I want you to think about that. I want you to consider that as you go home. And again, I'm really sorry Christians have treated you so poorly. And the girl's like, now what do you do? And I'm like, I'm a pastor. She's like, Yeah, you are. And then she says, Well, your church must be bad A, okay? I won't say that out loud here. And I'm like, I guess that's a compliment. I don't really know. And I said, But here's the deal, you know, that's the God we serve. The good news is for everyone. But here's the thing: I I tell you that story because every day we're reluctant to open our mouths and share the gospel, but are we listening to the Spirit's promptings? Are we listening to that Holy Spirit that we have received that is telling us, hey, there are people in front of you who are lost and they need to hear this message? I don't have to agree with them. In fact, I even told them, I know that the word of God teaches that this is not right. That God doesn't call two women to be together. That's what I believe, but it doesn't mean I don't love you. Doesn't mean that I'm not for you. It doesn't mean that Jesus didn't die for you. So we don't have to agree with people's sin in order to call them to the love of Jesus. Are you with me? And I and I tell you that because be hopeful, God will use you if you will be available. Three things as we close out. Three steps. What are next steps for you in the mission? Number one is this Jesus said, pray for the Lord to send workers into the harvest. Guess what we should be doing? Praying for the Lord to send workers into the harvest. And as I said, hopefully we might become the answer to our own prayers in the process. Because I believe as we pray and as we seek God, God will move and stir in our hearts. In fact, I've seen it over and over and over again that when I go to God in prayer, he stirs my heart to engage the lost around me. And if I'm not engaging them, it's probably because I've not been praying, not been really seeking Him. Not as a five prayers a day so that I can get God's approval, kind of a Muslim thing. Not as a Christian thing if I'm supposed to pray and pray before a meal and pray when I wake up and pray with my kids before bed because that's what a good Christian does. No, praying and seeking the heart of my Father and saying, God, I need you. Would you help my heart want to care for people, to love people the way that you do? When I pray and I get near to God, I start to feel about people the way that He feels about people. Prayer's the way that I get there. So we pray. I'm gonna ask you to do something really practical. I'm gonna ask you to memorize this week Luke 10, 2. It's a simple verse, Luke 10 2. Some of my missionary friends have done this, but I think it's a great way to remember the harvest and remember the work that God's doing. Memorize Luke 10 2 with your family. Your kids can memorize this verse. Super simple. Pray to the Lord of the harvest, right? That he would send out workers into his harvest. So memorize that verse. And I want to ask you to find a way, creative way, whatever that means, to set an alarm every day at 10.02 and to pray with me. To pray with me that God would send more laborers into the harvest. Not just in Indonesia, but right here in America, in Butah, in Kyle, in Austin, in the surrounding area, that right where we live, the geography that God's placed us in by his sovereign hand for an appointed season of life, that God would use us, that we would pray, Luke 10.2. So if you want to join me in that every day, my nice little nifty Indonesian watch that looks really cool, but it was really only $12. Um, that I will set that alarm and every day at 10.02 I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna pray. God, would you help there to be more people who go into the harvest because the the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. So we're just gonna pray. Pray that God will work and He will move in that. Second thing we can do is we can prepare. And prayer is part of the preparation, but I loved what Lara said. What Lara said about the missionaries that were there, you want to know why they're so committed to the mission, because they're spending time daily with God. And when you spend time daily with God, you can't be the same person. Over time, God's going to change you, he's going to transform you. We don't have a time with God so that we can check the box and say, I had my quiet time today, God, I'm a good Christian. We spend time with the heart, with our with our Father, so we get to know his heart for people and for the world and for our mission, and we are stirred for that. Your personal walk with Jesus is the greatest preparation for the mission God has for you. Your personal walk with Jesus, my personal walk with Jesus. Another way you can prepare, though, is we want to invite you into a conversation. It's not for everybody. I realize this, even though everyone's invited, but tonight at 5 p.m., right here across in this little portables, we're gonna meet, and whoever wants to join me, we're gonna ask the question, God, how do we start moving more into action, not just talking theoretically about mission? I know I've heard sermons on mission, I know I've heard scriptures on mission, I've heard other people talk about mission, but how am I actually engaging in the everyday mission? Part of that's gonna be tuning into the Holy Spirit that is leading us in that process. And so tonight at 5 p.m., you can join us. We're gonna be right over here, and we're gonna be talking about how do we grow in boldness. Because if the apostles in the early church had to pray for boldness, guess what? Guess who else is gonna have to pray for boldness? Me, you. And if so, if you want to join us tonight, and regardless of how many that people that show up to do that at 5 p.m., we're gonna talk about what it means to actually engage in mission. For some of you, your biggest mission field is your children in your home. Some of your children don't know the gospel yet. Don't miss that mission field. Some of your biggest mission field is your neighborhood, some of your coworkers, some of it's the people that live and do life right around you. But all I know is this is that God wants us to take another step, and we need to prepare to and to be ready for when he says go. And ready when he sends us and when those conversations come up, like mine at Radio Coffee, that I know what to say and how to engage them in the mission with the gospel message. And thirdly, is to participate, to participate in the mission when God calls. I've already told you this, and I'll say it again. Every single one of you, if you're a Christ's follower, you're sent. Whether you want to be or not, you're sent. We're all missionaries. Now, some of us in this room are really bad missionaries. That's okay. That's where we are right now. God wants us to grow. He wants us to take another step. And so participating. A few ways you can participate. January 14th, mark it on your calendar. We're taking a group of people into the prison. Bill Glass Ministries, we've got one of our elders, Tim Brown, back here in the back of the room. We've already taken some minutes. We're going to go into the prison. We're going to share the gospel with literally a captive audience, right? Because we want to share the message of Christ. It's a great way for you just to actually open your mouth and realize that Romans 1.16 is not just theory, it's truth. That the power the gospel is the power of salvation for all who believe. And so we're going to share the gospel there in the prison on January 14th. It's a practical way you can do it. It's spring break. We're going back to Mexico. Some of you guys have gone with us to Mexico, to Yucatan. We'll be taking a team down there to Mexico. If you would like to be a part of that, we invite you to come sign up. We're going to have some information about that and go with that team. It'll catalyze your personal mission back at home. That's the goal. When we go to those places, we want to share the gospel, but we want to come back and want to be engaged in mission here. We want to share the gospel here. We're going to go back to Indonesia in October. So a year or so from now, we're going to go back over to Indonesia. Some of you need to go. Some of you were stirred by what was said by this team. Ordinary people, ordinary Americans, doing life here, called by God and sent. He's not calling everybody to go to Indonesia, but he's calling some of you. And some of you have that in your heart right now, and you know he's saying you need to go. Some of you may be interested in going to China with us. We have missionaries we support over there. This July, we're looking at taking a team to China to work with children in China. A great way to cross over a cultural barrier and to look at a group of people and say, I love you. I know what I've heard about you, but as Alex said so well, that I'm not going to just buy into the stereotype, I'm going to love you as a person made in the image of God and created for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And so some of you may be interested in going on that trip. But here's what I know. Regardless of whether you ever go to prison, hopefully not because you did something wrong, but to share the gospel, or whether you go to Mexico or Indonesia or China, my hope is that all of us would share the gospel in everyday life. Listen, it is very important that we serve other people around us. It's very important that we care for the poor. It's very important that we do things with our hands. It's very important that we serve with our deeds. But guess what? The gospel is a word and it has to be spoken for people to receive it and to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Are you with me? So whoever said, I think it was uh Thomas Aquinas or I St. Francis of Assisi who said, you know, uh preach the gospel and if necessary use words. That's a great, cute phrase, but the problem is that the gospel is a word and you have to say it. And so we have to speak up. We can't just let it be actions because nobody will ever come to faith until they hear the name of Jesus and they can call on the name of Jesus and find life in Christ. And that's our job, guys. It's our privilege, it's our honor that we get to tell people about Jesus Christ. Do I know that this message makes us feel uncomfortable? Absolutely. God's all about making us uncomfortable because he loves us so much that he wants to use our lives into the harvest, the mission of every person, every man, woman, and child on this planet having the opportunity, repeated opportunities to hear the gospel and respond to it. Let me pray for us this morning. Father, thank you so much that you are a God of grace and mercy and that somebody was bold enough and gracious enough and loving enough to tell us the gospel. And I would be a fool to think that there's not people sitting in this room right now who are still trying to save themselves by their own good works. That there are people that might be sitting here this morning who are hearing about this Jesus and about this good news, and they're thinking, really, church isn't good news to me. It just makes me depressed. It makes me feel unworthy, it feels me sh makes me feel shame or guilt or fear. And that's not the message of the gospel. The gospel is a message of hope and of life. Because Jesus, you are the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through you. Your scripture says that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved. That's how we're saved. That's how we're rescued. And when we experience that rescue, when we experience that redemption, I'm convinced that we can't help but tell others about it. Can't help but tell other people the message of the gospel, the glorious, beautiful reality that we were headed towards death and destruction for eternity, separated from you, and you brought us to the path of life. And God, you've put us around people every single day who do not know that truth. So would you, by your spirit, not because of my words, not because of my coercion, not because of external pressure, not because I'm preaching passionately, but because of your Holy Spirit, would you well up within us such a strong desire for people to know and experience the life that's in you that we cannot keep our mouth shut. We cannot contain it. It would be like the prophet Jeremiah who said, Your fire, your word is like a fire in my bones, and I cannot keep it in. May that be the truth of the people who go to Point Community Church, that we are a family of Jesus followers on the mission of pointing people to life in Christ. May that be true of us, Jesus. Please, please rescue us from our small-mindedness, our temporary living, our American dream ism. And we would be rescued to be on a real mission with real stakes, people's lives for your glory, God. That's what we ask. We plead. We pray. Please stir us. Please, God. Awaken us. We love you and we praise in your strong name.