SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, we're glad that you're here. And if you're a guest here, you know, thanks for taking it a risk to be here with us and for joining us this morning. And before we get into the message, I'm going to invite one of my friends up. We just have a couple things to say that I think are really exciting. I'll be honest, one of my passions, maybe the way I'm bent, the way I'm wired, the way I'm gifted to say all those things, is that I really feel that one of my primary roles is to be an evangelist, to take the gospel to the nations, to take the gospel to the whole earth. We've been talking over the last few weeks about Matthew 28 and how Jesus gave us this great commission, this great commandment. It wasn't a suggestion, it was a commandment to go into all the world and make disciples. And so I'm going to ask my buddy Mike O'Quinn to come up and join me on the stage for just a few minutes because this guy's one of my heroes. He's one of the guys who really fires me up, gets me excited about the kingdom. Yeah, you got some platforms. Good. And uh part of the reason why Mike uh is such a uh a blessing and a gift and an encouragement to me is because uh we have a kindred spirit in terms of uh just gospel proclamation. I'm learning from this guy. I watch his life uh from a distance at times, but even up close and personal in Indonesia, eating some food that I didn't know what it was. Um learning how to love people and to share the gospel with people. Uh but Mike is here because as a church family, we uh we have multiple partners in the in the gospel mission, okay? We have and we have different types of partners. And when I say partner, I mean people that we financially support, people that we just walk alongside of, encourage, that we let them speak into us. And Mike is one of those in that uh he and his wife they spent 14, roughly 14 years in Indonesia. Um two of your children were born there at least, right? Yeah, yeah. Two of them were born there. Um in fact, his kids would probably call Indonesia more home than the states. Uh and they were then just faithful gospel witnesses in Indonesia. And I had the opportunity a few years back to go with him for the first time, and then last year, last October, we took a team from here back to Indonesia, and God did some great things uh during that trip. And then we're now gearing up for another trip, planning to go again if God will allow. Um and Mike is leading an initiative called Engage the Islands. So you just got back from Indonesia. Tell us what's going on with Engage the Islands, and tell us maybe a story even from just your recent trip there.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Sure. Well, um, just to let you say, Nick, such an honor to be here with you guys and love love the mission heartbeat in this church. Um so just to zoom out just a quick second. So Indonesia, uh Southeast Asia, just right above Australia and below the Malay Peninsula, and it's 263 million people call it home.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Fourth largest country, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Fourth largest country, that's right. And um 200 million of those people are what's called uh unreached people groups. Wow. So there's uh like a large ethnic group, maybe you know, 200,000 people, and there's no known church planning movement within that indigenous group.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

And in an unreached people group, sorry to interrupt you, just so people know, less than two percent Christian is kind of the line, but those people, there's not even one percent Christian in the past.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

So where we lived, uh the Javanese people uh were we we lived on the island of Java, which is about the size of Tennessee, uh but with 110 million people on it. Uh so everyone west of the Mississippi River moving to Tennessee, just imagine that. Um so you know, when I was there uh last week, uh, you know, met a couple from Javo. I was on another island and just shared the gospel with them, and then we uh you know, we we try to share the gospel in a way that makes cultural sense to uh Indonesian Muslim. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim nation. Most people there are Muslim. Uh and then afterwards I asked this couple, young, sweet couple, they little five-year-old daughter is back home with grandma and they're working on this island called Bali. And you know, I I shared the gospel with them and I asked, what I always do, have you ever heard this story before? And almost without fail, people will say, No, I've never heard this story before. Um so uh and you know, I've met people in Indonesia, Nick, as you know, that that I was the first Christian that they've ever seen in their entire life. Could you imagine that? Wow so that just really shapes you, just this wonderful good news that we have. What a privilege to go and bring that to them. So, what this is engage the islands is an initiative uh for churches across the U.S. to send short-term mission uh teams this coming summer, summer of 2018, either in a three-week internship or a two-week trip. And I'm really so excited that you guys are considering doing this because you've already gone twice and you kind of feel if how many of you were on one of those trips to Indonesia? So uh a few of you guys, so y'all can ask those who just raised their hand kind of what it's like. But um it it it's a joy to go with the church. We believe that local church is sending teams because you kind of know what church is supposed to look like. We're trying to start churches there, and uh uh I'm just so excited you guys are wanting to be a part of this.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

That's awesome. Uh you mentioned earlier just a story of some of the things gone on with like uh A-on, for example, people. Yeah, oh it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

So even though the stats are sad, like you know, it said 200 million people in underage people groups, God has moved in powerful ways in Indonesia. I've met so many uh Muslims there who've had dreams of Jesus, where when you ask them, have you ever had a dream? And yeah, tell me more. You know, there's God is moving. Uh, the island that I lived on uh since September, there's been a move of God uh where about 1,500 Muslims have come to Christ. And in some cities in four different places, the the groups that have come to Christ have started other groups, have started other groups, all the way down to the tenth generation. So the Lord is just it's just a sovereign moment of Indonesia, and we feel like it's harvest time. Jesus said, you know, don't say six months and then the harvest, but the harvest is now. So sending people uh this summer to be part of the harvest. And what you guys would be doing basically is looking for hungry hearts. We're gonna have 16 bases all across Indonesia. Uh and whether you're there as a three-month intern or on a two-week trip, you're just looking, you're sharing the gospel a lot, and you're looking for hungry hearts, and then our Indonesian partners would be the ones who would actually disciple them and to try to start movements, not only in just where we've seen movements start, like in East Java, but all through the islands to see movements start. So your job would basically be serving people in different ministries there and also looking for hungry hearts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

So you mentioned something about internship for the summer. Uh you also mentioned the idea of people going for a month rather than just for a short-term trip. What uh what would they need to do if they wanted to do for to participate in one of those?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Okay. So the easiest thing to do is to go to engage the islands.com, and which just went live uh, I think yesterday. So uh, and uh I have some cards I could give you, but basically we're just wanting local churches to send teams. So we're we're we're praying for 3,600 people to go this summer. Uh and uh all across the U.S. Uh so I'm on a team with other people of a network called Antioch, and we're we're looking to just churches that send teams basically. Because we don't we don't know your church, but you guys know, so you would have your own application process, yeah, and then you'd have to raise money. It'd be about $3,000 for a two-week trip and about $6,000 to go on an internship. And what I'm doing on my team, and why I was there is we're working on the infrastructure of the bases, the scheduling, um, the translators, and the training. So basically, you would show up to Bali for two days of training, you do a two-week trip or ten days, you'd show up to Bali for debriefing, then you'd go back home. Awesome. Yeah, awesome. So we're just trying to make it easy for churches because a lot of us feel like, gosh, I I I feel God's heart for the nations. I just don't know what to do about it. So we're trying to make this as a plug-and-play experience. Um, your church would go and it would be, you know, a bonding experience, and hopefully on the way home, you would be even more impassioned and emboldened to share Christ here in Austin.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

It's awesome. Well, a couple of things as we we kind of close out this discussion, I want to pray for Mike and ask God to help us as we get into the Word. Um, we as a church family, we we've been talking about discipleship, and I want you to understand, I think we made this clear through the series, but if not, hear this again. Uh, when we talk about discipleship, we aren't talking about just making Christians smarter. We're not just talking about trying to become more theologically sound Christians. We're saying that God wants us to grow up so that we can engage in his mission, that we could take the gospel message, the good news of Jesus, all over the world. Uh, it starts right here in our backyard. In fact, this week you may not be aware, but Tuesday night is neighbor night out or national night out. And we have an opportunity to engage right in our own neighborhoods this week by just simply getting out, meeting neighbors, looking for spiritual opportunities to have conversation, pray, get to know people, build bridges with people relationally so that when the wheels fall off, because they will, people will eventually go through suffering, hardship. They know, hey, I I've got a Christian friend on my street, maybe I should ask them. Or whatever it might be, maybe God will lead you to literally share the gospel on Tuesday night. I don't know. But if we go out there with a willing heart and a prayerful spirit, God will use us right here in our city. But he also wants us to go to the ends of the earth. And he says in Matthew that the gospel will be preached in the entire earth, and then the end will come. That's what it says in Matthew. And I want to be a part of seeing the end come because that means Jesus is coming back. And I think that at that point uh we're gonna get to be with Christ, which can be awesome, but I want to see people, as many people as possible, have that opportunity to hear about Jesus before that day comes. Um, I know that when I came back from Indonesia the first time, uh, my heart was aching, like just aching, because what I realized is that in America, we're not an unreached people group. We're an unresponsive people group. That we have heard the gospel, maybe so much that we're inoculated or indifferent to it. And we're gonna speak to that here in a minute in John. But I think that the reality is that going on trips like this is so good for what it does in our own hearts in terms of expanding our view of God and expanding our belief that the gospel actually is transformational, that it actually does change people's lives. And when you preach the gospel and you hear somebody say, wait, like a 17-year-old girl that I got to listen to my wife share the gospel with, and she says, Wait, I can be forgiven? I I mean, there just one sacrifice and it was done in Jesus, and that's enough? Man, it it just totally takes all your categories and boxes and the ways that you tend to process your salvation, and it blows it away. And it's just it's uh it's awesome. So I can't say this enough. This is me talking here, so uh, you know, just being honest. I would love it to have to shut down point for a Sunday because we're all over in Indonesia. Okay, that's that's me. Uh, but here's the thing, I know a lot of you are are fearful of even taking a trip like that. You hear the word Muslim or you hear plane flight for that long. I mean, you're immediately thinking, no, I can't do this. All I'm asking you to do is to be prayerful and ask God, God, do you want me to go in this? And I believe that if you will go and if you will step out in faith and if you'll join this work, uh your life will be changed forever. Uh, it will be transformed by the opportunity that you will have to grow in the gospel and proclaiming the gospel and really um seeing people's lives you know transformed. So uh I can't wait personally. I'm excited and uh looking forward to it. But thank you, Mike. Thank you. Um let's pray for him before he goes. Um God, thank you so much for Mike, and just really humbled for this man to be uh with us today as he is he's giving his life and his livelihood, he is sacrificing for the sake of the gospel mission. And uh it's such an such an encouragement to me. Um but it's also just uh a good example of how uh when we follow your call, Father, uh we find there is such joy there. It's not a beat down to take the gospel of the nations. It's a joy, it's a blessing, it's an honor, it's a privilege. And and yes, God, there are safety concerns or there there are financial sacrifice concerns, but God, those pale in comparison to the opportunity to engage in the work you've called us to. And we see how God, you've you continue to remind us that we are to be disciples on mission, taking the message of Jesus to the people who are on our streets as we think about those who have never heard the message around the world. And I pray that you would just help us to be faithful wherever you call us to be, to love others well and to point them to Jesus. So I pray you bless Mike in this role of leading up, engage the nations. I pray that you provide all that he needs and for his family, and even as they consider moving back there when this is all said and done, I just pray that you would bless them and lead them by your spirit. May it be an effective, productive mission this summer of taking uh 3500 people across the world to share the gospel. Praise in your name. Amen. Thank you, Mike.