This sermon delves into the historical significance of the Moravian missions, highlighting their radical example of missionary work and the impact they had on spreading the gospel. It emphasizes the importance of personal surrender to God's will, seeking a revival in the church, and the need for a deep burden for souls. The speaker challenges the listeners to pray for a visitation of God's Spirit and to actively engage in evangelism, drawing inspiration from the Moravian's sacrificial commitment to missions.

Sermon Index Classics, featuring the vintage audio sermons from the past century. Welcome again to Sermon Index and today's program featuring some of the best sermons preached in the last century. This program is provided by the Ministry of Sermon Index. For more messages, log on to our website, www.SermonIndex.com. Now, here's today's program. Praise the Lord. Greetings to each one of you this morning. I also want to express my gratitude to the Lord and to so many for all that has gone into these few days that we could spend together. It's amazing. You know, I can remember, Brother Moses, when about nine men got on their knees in a brother's meeting and said, Lord, do you want us to go to Africa? Please, show us a way. Do you want us to go to Africa, Lord? I think it was two days later that Brother Luke Zimmerman got a letter from Africa. It was a Macedonian call. Please come over and help us. That was a long time ago. A lot of things have happened in those many years. We've made a lot of mistakes. Somehow back there, because we were reading this book, we saw little glimpses of what God's heart was. And we saw that in God's heart, it was God's will that His church be involved in missions. That's what we saw. We didn't see it very clearly. We didn't know a whole lot. We didn't have anyone to come along and teach us. But we saw it in the Bible, and we stepped forward, and we thank God for that. As we look back over the years, well, let's pray, and we'll get into this message this morning. God and our Father, we look up to Thee. Again this morning, we look away from ourselves, Lord. We recognize those things we've already heard today. We recognize that we are an earthen vessel. So we look away from ourselves, O God, and we look unto Thee, with the excellency of the power of the God of Heaven, to come beside us and help us this morning, to come and take Your finger and write upon the tables of our heart the things that will change us for every day from this day forward and into eternity, Lord. We recognize that, God, that this ministry of the Spirit is something that is done by You, as You write upon our hearts the dreams and visions of Your will and Your purposes for our lives. O God, we pray, come again, Lord, by Your Spirit, and write upon our hearts the things that are in Your heart. We trust You to do that, Father. Fill us with the Holy Ghost, all of us, Lord. Not just the man who speaks, but, O God, all who hear. For if we are not filled with Your Spirit, we will not hear right. Fill us with Your Spirit, O God, and give us Your heart, we pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. All right, the title of my message this morning is... I changed the title a little bit, but... The Radical Example of Moravian Missions. I am grateful for this assignment that was given to me by the mission board. I'm not used to getting assignments, topics. I usually just get to pray about it and just share whatever God lays on my heart. But this assignment was given to me by the mission board, when it was given, I must say my heart rejoiced at the opportunity to dig a bit deeper into Moravian history. 276 years have passed since the original Moravian church received a visitation of God's Spirit in 1727. That's not a small part of Moravian history. They received a visitation of God's Spirit in 1727, 276 years ago. The Moravian church today is very different than the one that I found in the history books. In my estimation, it doesn't seem right to call it by the same sanctified name of the original. But then, they are not the only denomination where this could be applied. Most of them have lost what they had in their beginning. Oh, the challenge to each and every one of us in our churches, lest we also go the same way and lose the testimony of our sanctified name. Though this has happened repeatedly down through church history, with many different groups and movements, we are still admonished in the scriptures to study the history of God's people who have come and gone before us and see what we can glean from them. Reading just for a moment here in Psalm 48, we see God's encouragement to us to keep looking at Zion. That's the church, by the way. Just keep looking at Zion. Psalm 48 says in verse 12, Walk about Zion. Go round about her. Tell the towers thereof. And that word, tell, means get a good long look at them. Tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces. Why? That ye may tell it to the generation following. Why? For this God is our God. Forever and ever, He will be our guide, even unto death. And as I understand God's heart in these verses, God is telling us that we should be looking back to see what Zion was like, to remember what God did in days gone by, and that we should bring that before our children so that we can also recognize that the God of the Moravians is also our God today. And the things which God did a hundred years ago, God can still do today. I believe the challenge comes to our hearts even this morning, that we can be challenged by what God's people did, by the grace of God which is in Christ Jesus in the days gone by. But we can also be challenged that we may stir the next generation on, that they also can grow up dreaming dreams and seeing visions of beautiful things which God can do. I see both of these in here in Psalm 48. They are for our challenge, and they are also for the blessing of our children. And I agree with Brother Rick. It's so good to have our families here that these impressions can be made upon our children when they are small. I remember just yesterday one brother coming to me and saying how that he remembers the deep impressions that God placed on his heart when he was a small boy, just eight or nine years old, and how those impressions never left him as he sat in meetings where the gospel was proclaimed, where our responsibility was proclaimed, where stories were told of beautiful things which our God did, and they stirred inside of his young heart a vision of wondering what God would have him do with his life. Oh, what a beautiful thing! What a wise bunch of fathers and mothers we are to put our children in an atmosphere like this from time to time. The God of the Moravian Church at Hernhut, Germany is our God, brothers and sisters. The commands and promises that they believe are the same ones that we have today. Hallelujah! Sixty years before William Carey set out for India, 150 years before Hudson Taylor landed in China, God took a group of believers with very diverse backgrounds and fast-forwarded them out of the Dark Ages way beyond all the rest of those who were around them. God did that as an example to all of us of what he would do with one local church, brother Emmanuel, one local church that sells out to him lock, stock and barrel and trusts him and obeys him and is willing to do what he says, even though you can't see your way through it all. The Moravian Church is a good example of that. By the time Hudson Taylor was ready to sail to China, this one church, this is the one in Hernhut, this one church had sent out 2,200 of its members all over the world. You know, the history books don't say a whole lot about them, just a little snitch here and a little snatch there. I believe I know some of the reasons for that, but historians do funny things with history sometimes, you know. Oh, it's not that they tell a lie, they just don't tell all the truth sometimes. But you think about that. A hundred and fifty years before Hudson Taylor sailed to China, here's a church, the Moravian Church, which was birthed in 1727 by the outpouring of the Spirit of God. This one local church had grown and expanded, had evangelized in the local area and sent out 2,200 missionaries out of its membership to overseas missions, by the way. The church had grown to tens of thousands in their local area and they were tithing one-tenth of their people to foreign missions. As I studied the Moravians, and by the way, I never really have studied them much, you know. You get a little paragraph here and there as you study mission history in a small article of two or three pages, but I've never studied the Moravians in detail. One shocking revelation came very clear to me. The writers of history let a lot of things out that they didn't agree with and just kind of put the thing up there, you know, and didn't mention it. It may surprise you, it did me, but the Moravians lived in communities. They shared with one another and they shared in the work together and they shared in the work of God together. I didn't know that. Did you know that, Brother Moses? I never knew it. Historians called them Protestants, but I wasn't sure that I could give them that name after I studied a while. They believed in suffering love and wouldn't bear arms. They would not serve in the government because they were too wrapped up in another kingdom, a glorious one, bless God. They saw that clearly in their hearts. They would not swear an oath. They watched one another's feats. They believed in a double-layered garment and simplicity and modesty. The women wore white coverings. They were against slavery. And it seemed to me as I studied them, they were a bit more Anabaptist than they were Protestants, but that's where the history books put them. Their roots reach back to John Huss, who was one of the first martyrs of the Reformation, and then beyond even him to the Waldensians. That's where they look back to. But they did baptize infants, and I think that's because there was a lot of Lutheran influence among them in their beginnings. But two things stood out to me far above all these other things. Even though I rejoice to see many of the convictions that these people had, two things stood out to me way above the others. One, they loved the Lord Jesus extravagantly, and number two, they had a consuming passion for lost souls. A hundred and fifty years before everybody else figured out what was going on, they were consumed with a passion for the lost humanities of the world. Many of us know those famous words shouted out by those first two missionaries that were sent out of the Moravian church. Those were the two young men who sold themselves into slavery to go to St. Thomas Island to win the slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ. There they were, moving away. The boat was heading away from the dock, and the church was on the edge of the water, and the boat was leaving away, and the last words that those two young men cried out to the church that was staying at home were beautiful words. They've been made famous so many times over and over again, but I'm not sure if we realize the depth of the words that those two men said when they cried out to their fellow believers, May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his sufferings. That was the cry of their hearts. These words were much more than a nice thing to say as they left their brothers and sisters, but it was their theology of mission which they were crying out of their hearts as they waved goodbye to people that they never saw again. May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his sufferings. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 5 as we look at a few verses which were foundational verses to their mission theology. Revelation 5, verses 5 and 6. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, John. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. Now, I want you to notice that that elder told John to behold. Now, Emmanuel told us what behold means. It's not just a quick glance. It's a look with a gaze upon it. And that elder told him to behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, of the Root of David. And John turned to look, and he didn't see a lion at all. He didn't see a lion at all. In verse 6 he says, I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. Or may I just say it this way, a lamb that was slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. Also verse 9 and 10. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And thou hast made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth. These were beautiful verses. These were precious verses to the Moravian church. Also, Revelation chapter 7 and verse 9 was another one of those verses. These were guiding verses to these Moravians long before anybody ever wrote any textbook on missions. These verses were guiding verses to the Moravian church. After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb! Beautiful pictures, words that our hearts have thrilled over many times already through this weekend mission conference. But I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, these were the verses. This is where the Moravians got their missiology. There were no books to read, but, bless God, they had one better than all the books that had ever been written. And it's right here. It's called the Word of God. That's where they got their mission theology. Because of the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon them, God opened up the eyes of their understanding and revealed to them the burden of His heart. And they moved on that thing and became a beautiful example to every one of us, a challenge, a stirring challenge, and an example which renews our own vision to keep on going forward. And it's like signposts along the road saying, this is the way, keep walking in it. Where did this theology of missions and this reality of missions come from? Well, it can be easily traced in all the history books. This part is very much recorded in many, many places. In 1722, persecuted brethren began to gather on an estate owned by a wealthy governor in Germany called Count Zinzendorf. They were part of the remnant of their day. They were fleeing persecutions. There were Lutherans, Anabaptists, Moravians, and even converted Catholics. And they all converged together at Herdhut because the Count was willing to give them a place of refuge where they could live peacefully and serve the God of Heaven. This little group quickly grew to several hundred people. Those first five years from 1722 to 1727 were very shaky. Several times it seemed the whole community would be totally destroyed as the strong opinions of this diverse group continually clashed with one another. Well, I think it ought to be this way. Well, I see it this way. This is what I believe about communion. Well, yeah, well, this is what I think about Mary. And back and forth and back and forth this went for five years. They all believed what they believed. Amen? And yes, Daniel, they spoke about it. Many of them had martyrs in their family heritage. Think about it. Just put yourself in their shoes. Many of them that were there, maybe they saw their own father lose his life over what he believed. And now they believe what my dad believed. And they all came together in this place seeking refuge. Just like the remnant today, they were a people of strong convictions. They had, I mean, they had strong stand-alone muscles. They had been standing alone for a long time. And those stand-alone muscles were really strong. But the blend-together muscles were not very strong among them. And Count Zinzendorf found that out very quickly during those first five years. In May of 1727, after much prayer and fasting and admonition and teaching from the Word of God, Zinzendorf was able to persuade them to lay down their theological guns and look to Christ, the head of the body, and love one another just the way they were. Somehow he was able to convince them, through the Word of God and much prayer, that they will never be able to stay together if they keep fussing about all these things. That was in May of 1727. From that point, the Holy Spirit began to brood over their meetings in a new way that people began to sense that God was drawing near. Unified prayers began to rise up out of the hearts of this divided theological people. And in August of 1727, a visitation from God came in the midst of a unified communion service. And they were never the same after that. Suddenly, God came to His temple. The whole church was baptized in the fullness of Christ, Brother Raymond. Not one here, not one over here, and a whole bunch of other ones that aren't. But the whole church was baptized in the fullness of the Holy Ghost that day. The whole community was lifted into heavenly realms, and they began to walk there continuously. That day, in the midst of that communion service, they got a glimpse, by the revelation of the Spirit, of the Lamb that was slain! They saw Jesus! They saw Him slain! They saw the beautiful gospel like they'd never seen it before! They saw the wound in His side! They saw the blood that flowed out from His side! They saw the power of that blood! They saw the victory that was in that blood! They saw the glorious gospel that was in that blood and the wound inside! That's what they saw that day. And the whole congregation was lifted into a heavenly realm where they had never been before. That was in 1727. By 1732, their missionary theology and their passion for souls constrained them, and they sent out their first two missionaries, which was those two fellows, that they sent to St. Thomas Island. In the following twenty years, this is awesome when I think about it, in the following twenty years, for the most twenty years, two hundred missionaries were sent out. The West Indies, Greenland, Georgia to the Indians, Pennsylvania to the Indians, Suriname, South America, South Africa, the Arctic, Algiers, Sri Lanka, China, Persia, Abyssinia, whatever that is, and Labrador. That's 1727 language. I don't know what Abyssinia is. Anybody know? Imagine with me for just a moment the enemy's perspective before this visitation came upon those dear people. Imagine from his perspective. Oh, can't let these people get together. Man, I'll really have trouble if they get together. Can't get them to smoke. Can't get them to drink. Can't get them to live in lust. What am I going to do? Can't get these people together. If they get together, we're going to have trouble. Well, he tried, as he always does, and just like we heard this morning, his goal is to keep those souls blinded. But God overruled. God overruled in His sovereignty. God overruled in His grace. Men obeyed and responded to what God was overruling in, and God knocked down all the barriers and the walls, and they came together and began to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb that was slain. And the Holy Ghost came and transformed that church into a missionary church. Well, the enemy didn't get his way. Instead, it was just like Emmanuel's drawing on the board. Remember? The body came into experiential union with the head. They saw the slain Lamb by revelation of the Spirit, which, by the way, is biblical. They looked out on the peoples of the world, and they began to go. They also had a pastor whose name was Zinzendorf, who had a burden for the lost, and he continued to motivate the church, which stayed home, to be involved, to get underneath the burden, to carry the burden of those who had gone, and motivated them to also prepare. Because they continued to walk in this fullness, they kept on going. And some went, and then more went, and some died, and others rose up joyfully to take their place, and others went. And because they continued to walk in this fullness, which God had poured out upon them, they continued to go. And I believe that's the only way that we'll continue to go also. Let's look at some practical Moravian church life. Now, remember, this is the radical Moravian missions, right? Several points I'd like to look at. This is supposed to be historical, but I'm also a preacher, so you're going to get some history with preaching in the middle of it, eh, Ben? Number one, missions was a church responsibility. Everybody believed in missions. They believed and saw without a doubt. They saw that the New Testament taught that a New Testament church is involved in missions. They believed that. Long before others even thought of having a missionary society, which, by the way, those societies grew up because the men who started getting a burden for missions knew they could never sell it in their church. So the missionary societies began to form. But long before those missionary societies were formed, here was a people who believed it was the responsibility of a local church to be involved in world missions. Think about that. You know, many, many people don't even think of that. It's not even in their mind. Oh, that's not for us. We just listen to the stories when the missionary comes, put a little money in the offering plate, pray our little prayer on Wednesday night for the one that's up for prayer this time, and that's all we do about it. But this church saw what the Bible clearly reveals, that a true New Testament church is a missionary church. They believed that. The church was filled with evangelists. They began from the beginning to train their people to be evangelists. Not just evangelists to go away somewhere. The church was filled with evangelists. Do you know what an evangelist is? That's somebody who has a burden for souls and knows how to win souls. That's an evangelist. Sometimes you put that one up there too high, too, you know. They were trained in evangelism. The church was filled with people like that. Local evangelism, and also then that overflowed to the other. They tied their people and more to overseas missions. I don't know how many people are here this morning. I'm going to take a guess. Maybe there's 1,200. So if there's 1,200, that means 120 of us need to go. That's how they looked at it. This was the strong conviction among them. You know, you tied your money, you tied your time, and you tied your people. Amen? That's how they looked at it. 10% of the monies went to overseas missions. The local work came out of their pockets above the 10%. But the 10% went to send the people across the sea. The whole church was under the burden of missions. Giving, praying, writing letters, listening to letters. They even owned their own boat, which was run by a captain that one of the Moravian missionaries led to the Lord. When he was on his way from one place to the next, he led the captain to the Lord. The captain went back to Germany. They got their own boat, and he was the captain of the boat. And they used that boat to take things out to the missionaries and go out and take more replacements there. They used it for all kinds of things. It's kind of like Moses' truck. They used it for all kinds of things. Out and back and out and back. They believed. All of them were called. They believed that every one of them was called. Now you get this. This is no little thing. This is awesome. All of them were called. And because they believed that all of them were called, all of them prepared. All of them prepared. They longed to go. They dreamed of the privilege. They chose who would go by lots. So that means it's none of this, oh, we think maybe you can go, or would you like to go, or how about you over there? And everybody else just kind of sits there and hides and says, I hope my name never comes up. But it wasn't that way among the Moravians. Every one of them sensed the call. This is God's call on my life. And every one of them prepared to go. And when it was time to send more missionaries, because a dozen of them died on St. Thomas Island, they just cast lots. So you better be ready, because you never know when you're going to go. Wow! Wouldn't that change things fast? Bless God! You never know when you're going to go. A good number of the youth did not marry. All for the missionary call. For the missionary call. And it was an honorable thing among them. They recognized in those days, some of these places where we need to send missionaries, it is not a place for a man and his wife and a bunch of little children. Some of them did not get married. And it was done. And it was done willingly for the sake of the call that they all felt they had on their life. And they were honored because of that. They raised their children for missions. And they sent them out mature and stable in their early twenties. That's what they raised their children for. And think about it, brothers and sisters. I mean, we really have it nice today. But you think about it. Twelve missionaries just died. And your son is going there next. You will probably never see him again. And they said goodbye to their sons. And they said goodbye to their daughters. I mean, dozens and dozens of times. And they never saw him again. And they knew when they left, they could be dead in six months. In one of their missions in the country of Guyana, where Andrew and Elizabeth are, they lost 75 missionaries. Seventy-five of them died from the diseases and from all of the corruption that was there and from the mosquitoes and the malaria that came along with it. Seventy-five of them died. One-third of the missionaries they sent there died. And they raised their sons and their daughters to send them away knowing that they might only live for six months. But it was, May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering, was motivating their heart and their life. Beautiful example. Radical example, isn't it? They trained in many areas of skills so that they could use these many fields when they got on the mission field. Carpentry, basket making, pottery. Pottery. They learned many skills. And they learned them. Why? Oh, I'm going to start the biggest pottery business in the whole area someday. No. I want to be able to use my hands to make pots on a mission field somewhere. That's what I'm going to learn, to make pots. That was the motivation. Quite a bit different, isn't it? Quite a bit different. Most of them were self-supporting missionaries. There was no problem with this rich-poor distinction where all the dependency problems come from. They didn't have any problems like that. They worked right alongside the natives and preached to them while they worked with them. And the natives just looked at them and said, They're just like me. We're equal. I don't have any money. And he doesn't have any money. But he loves Jesus. I wonder who this Jesus is. They didn't go and build some big fancy house next to all those poor huts. They didn't do that. They went as self-supporting missionaries. And you know why they did that? Because they looked at it back home and they decided, You know, if we go and figure out ways that we can support ourselves, we can send more missionaries. Let's do it! That was their motivation. Beautiful motivation. They went. They went to the hard places where you wouldn't want to go. You know, they looked at the hard places and I'm sure they recoiled just like we do when we think about going to hard places. They looked at it and thought, Oh, there? But something compelled them that said, You go anyway. Worthy is the land that was slain to receive honor and glory and dominion and power. And if you will go there, someday there shall be gathered round about that throne some of those natives, some of those Eskimos, some of those natives down in Africa, some of those in Suriname, South America will be around the throne. You go. It doesn't matter if it's hard. Went to Greenland. Oh, my. Imagine being a missionary in Greenland in the 1700s. They froze. They froze their fingers. They fell in icy water. Some of them lost their lives as they were trying to get from one place to the next. And the icebergs came together and crushed the boat. And everybody died. What did they do with us? When the news got back to the home church that so-and-so and so-and-so was lost and crushed in a boat between two icebergs, two more people stood forward and said, Put me in the lot. Put me in the lot. I want to go. They went to the hard places. They suffered tremendous losses. I read about it. I couldn't believe some of the things that they just patiently bore for those lost souls of humanity. They just patiently bore it and just kept on going. And you think, Man, I would have given up and went home. But they just stayed right in there. I mean, when they could hardly walk, one missionary couldn't remember what he did five minutes ago. He was so delirious because he was so sick. But when the boat landed with some others on it, you know, to give help, he wouldn't go home. He wouldn't go home. No way. Just let me die here. That's fine. I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, they saw something. They saw something. They believed something. The gospel was glorious. And it moved them beyond what we could even imagine could be moved. They went to the hardest places. Dozens of them died and dozens of them took their places. They had a 24-hour-a-day prayer watch that lasted for a hundred years. Why did they do that? Because of missions. That was their burden. 24 hours a day they carried this. And I studied that one a bit. I wondered, you know, now how can this be and how did this work out? This wasn't just at Hernhot, but that kept on going. Wherever a church was established, then that church picked up the same burden and began to pray the same kind of prayers 24 hours a day for those that they were reaching out to. So, in the process of time, a hundred years, there were literally thousands and thousands and thousands of Moravian Christians that were praying, some of them every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, that God would prosper the missionaries and saved souls and bind the hands of the evil one who is blinding their eyes. That's what they did. One hundred year prayer meeting. They lived a simple life for the sake of the cause. They did not live extravagantly. Oh, no, no, no. We can't do that. Missions, missions. Those that were at home worked and sacrificed and lived on lower levels so that they could give for the cause. They believed every church must be involved in missions. They didn't just believe that the church at Hernhut must be involved in missions. They believed every church must be involved in missions. And that is how they grew so fast. Way ahead of all these other Protestant missions, you know, scores of years before they were thinking about going. They were just breaking out in every direction because they believed. Okay. You send. You send. You planted church. That church gets on its feet. That church becomes mature. There become believers there. There are leaders raised up there. When that church gets on its feet, then it does the same thing all over again. And what happened was in every area where they sent their missionaries, a church was established. And then churches grew up around that church which was established. And then churches grew up around those churches which were established. And that's the New Testament pattern, brothers and sisters. That's it. And that's a good challenge to every one of us. Whatever churches are represented here this morning, you know, this isn't just, we're not just talking about a foreign mission field somewhere now. God wants us as congregations to reproduce ourselves again and again. And to raise up more leaders and just do this thing over again and again. Each mission church became a sending church. And the work expanded quickly. Please note this also. It was a lay movement. Can I use that word? I don't like it, but it was a lay movement. That's it. 142 years before they put up a Bible school somewhere to train their missionaries. 142 years. Before that, they just sent them. They just sent them. Full of the Holy Ghost and full of the Word of God. Full of the character of Christ. Full of a passion for souls. And full of a love for Jesus. They sent them. Some of the critics, they probably have something to criticize. Some of the critics criticized them that they sent people out that were not trained. I'm sure that happened. But the Bible schools aren't doing too well either, by the way. You see, the answer is not the training. The answer is the Holy Ghost. Like we heard about last night. I'm telling you, God can take a fisherman and fill him with the Holy Ghost and turn the world upside down. Do you believe that today? Do you? Then let's get filled with the Holy Ghost and go do something. Amen? I mean, that's what God did in the book of Acts. He's still the same God as far as I can see. In this Bible, He hasn't changed. But I just wanted to let you know that it was a lay movement. Young men, young women, older men, older women, filled with the Holy Ghost were sent out to plant churches in mission fields far away. Lastly, and there are many more, but this is enough. 17 of them is enough. Daniel. They didn't believe in missionary heroes. They did not believe in missionary heroes. And by that, I mean it was a conviction among them. Nothing special about that one that went. We're all waiting to go, too. Let's not make a hero out of somebody that goes. It's only his reasonable service is what they believed. So, no little boys around there could say, I want to be a returned missionary because of all the good things that happen, all the nice things they tell me. And I'm not saying don't encourage our missionaries. I'm not saying that. But there was a conviction which had settled down upon all of them. I mean, it had settled down upon them. It was the norm to be a missionary and therefore, it was just flat. Amen? That's the way it should be. That's the way it should be in our homes. That's the way it should be with leaders in the church. It ought not to be some high and mighty wonderful thing that there's a man who can preach the Word of God in the power of the Holy Ghost. There ought to be so many of them that it's normal. And it was normal to be a missionary and therefore that it made heroes out of them. Lord, help us. Give us wisdom. Remember, this is the radical example of the Moravian mission. Amen? It's pretty radical, isn't it? May God help us. It seems to me that they knew deep in their soul they knew this is the only reason why we're here. They knew this was their lifeblood. Remember what Daniel said? They knew this is our lifeblood, just like food and water and air are essential to an ongoing physical life. They knew that the centrality of Jesus Christ, the fullness of the Holy Ghost and ministry and evangelism was the lifeblood of the church. And they moved in those things just like we move in food, water and air. Amen? I mean, bless God, nobody has to twist my arm to get me to sit down at the table. How about you? That's how they looked at this whole matter of missions. It was the health of the body of Christ and it is today also, brothers and sisters. It is the health of the body of Christ and a body who does not get a hold of all that we've been speaking and hearing here, all these beautiful messages and all that we've heard, a body of people who do not get a hold of this will soon dry up on the vine, I guarantee. I believe that's one of the greatest causes for all the dead religion that's around here. Think with me for a moment. The all-consuming passion of God before the foundation of the world has always been to gather around Himself a people who love Him out of every nation and kindred and tongue and people. Is that not the all-consuming passion of God? All through the Old Testament we see Him pressing into this one thing. It's right when you say this whole book speaks about one thing. That's the Lord Jesus Christ and what He can do for you. That's what this Bible is all about. It is God's all-consuming passion. God so loved the world that He gave the most precious thing that He had, His only begotten Son. It was His all-consuming desire, so much so that He was slain before the foundation of the world in the heart of God. And God the Son, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross despising the shame. You know what the joy was? Nations and peoples and tongues gathered around the throne someday worshiping God. That was the joy that was set before Him, the Son! And God the Spirit was sent to draw men to His Son. What else could a healthy body do that is in union with this God, this Godhead? What else could a healthy body do but evangelize? And I believe that was the secret of Moravian missions. God, through a set of circumstances, men, they had to yield themselves to it, but God brought a group of believers into vital union with His Son. They were filled with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost overflowed them. They got a revelation of His beautiful Son. They saw the King in all His beauty, and they were never the same. You know what? They were brought into experiential union with the Son. And guess what? When the body and the head get together, it starts winning souls, because that's all the head wants to do, is win souls. Brothers and sisters, I know we can take that and just make it theology and send it right on over your heads today, but I'm telling you, we need to come down to grips with that very fact right there. If the body is in tune with the head, it's going to be winning souls. Do you believe that? You know, you know that song, and I like the song, and I sing it, so I'm not criticizing the song, but I've been thinking about that song a bit, you know, the one that Melvin sang here earlier, you know, my house is full and my fields are empty, you know. I've been thinking about that, and man, something just doesn't ring with that song! Could this be true? All my children just want to sit around my table, and nobody will go work in my field? Is this true? I don't think that's right! I think there's something wrong with a crowd of people who just keep sitting around the table and never go work in the field! And I'm not sure if we've come to grips with that yet in our personal lives. Oh, that God would do such a work in our hearts that not a one of us could raise our hand the next time we're together like this and say, I haven't led a soul to Christ in a whole year. I'm telling you, there's something wrong! There's something wrong! It is the passion of the Godhead to win a lost humanity unto Himself and gather them around His throne someday in loving adoration. Konkombas, Dagombas, the Kirin tribe, and all the others in Burma and all around the world. It is the heartbeat of God to do that. Acts is the inspired example of this, brothers and sisters. You think about it now. When the body and the head got together at Pentecost, I tell you what, that body went to work. Nobody had to motivate them. There wasn't any soul winning programs in those days. They didn't have a list of who's going when with who. There was none of that going on. They went everywhere preaching and teaching the Word of God. They believed, and therefore they spoke. In fact, they believed so much that they were threatened if they don't stop speaking, they're going to be in trouble. And they just had to say, whether it's right in the sight of God to you, or you have to judge, but those things which we have seen and heard, we cannot help but speak about them. That's where they were at. They were believing so much they were believing that they couldn't help themselves, even though they threatened to throw them in jail, or maybe hang them on a cross like the Lord Jesus. It didn't matter to them. They couldn't help themselves. That's the way it was. The body was in tune with the head in vital reality, in vital union. The Holy Ghost was the glue that kept the body and the head together. And together they, Jesus and His church, they turned the world upside down. Brothers and sisters, God has not changed not one bit. He has not changed. I'm telling you this morning, God wants to do that. God wants to do that in our hearts and our lives. We're going to stand before God someday. He's going to judge us out of this book. Dear brothers and sisters, we are going to stand before the throne of God someday. And He's going to judge us out of this book. He's going to say, you know, you heard all those sermons. You heard Brother Raymond's sermon the other evening. And you'll say, yes Lord, I did hear that sermon. Why didn't you do anything about it? Why didn't you weep long enough until yourself was dead enough that you could be filled with my spirit long enough and walk in my fullness long enough to win a soul to Jesus Christ? I tell you, that is not going to be an easy day if we continue on as the months turn into more years and we don't win anybody to Jesus Christ. And there's no burden for souls. I'm telling you, that's not going to be a good day. Say, brother, that's pretty heavy stuff. But it's true. It is true, isn't it? Acts is the inspired example where the head and the body got together by the Holy Ghost. And they turned the world upside down. And I believe the Moravian church at Hurnhut is another example of the same thing. Yes. Do it again, Lord. Do it again. I know I was thinking, thinking about our children. And, you know, that's been on my mind quite a bit with the home meetings and all that. But one thing that God just riveted into my heart as we went through those home meetings a couple of weeks ago. I saw it so clearly like I've never seen it before. This whole subject of revival and the whole subject of the home and the subject of evangelism. I tell you, they're all tied together. They're tied together. I'm not sure that you can have the godly home that you want to have if you don't do, if you don't raise those children to do what the Moravians raised their children for. I'm not sure if you can have a godly home. There's so much more to a godly home than having a bunch of nice little children that sit so nicely on the front bench of the church and say, yes, ma'am and yes, sir. My dear brothers and sisters, God has given us those children so that He can make prophets and Nazarites out of them. They're God's, not ours. He gave them to us. He gave them to us that we might raise them, that we can send them away someday. Oh, I wonder, I wonder if that isn't why so many are losing their children everywhere because one time the blessing of God rested upon them and God gave them children, but they didn't raise their children to be those prophets and Nazarites like God said in the book of Amos, but they just let them grow up and, yeah, go be a big businessman and go make a million dollars and my son has a big business and I'm proud of him and all those things go out from there. That isn't what God gave you children for. My dear brothers and sisters, God formed every one of them in the womb for a purpose! And it wasn't to be a businessman. Now, you might be a businessman, but that wasn't what God had in mind. He had something so much more than that. But I believe if we are going to live in the reality of the kind of homes that we really want, we're going to have to maybe change our goal. My children belong to God. They belong to God. They're not mine. Someday, amen, someday we'll sit around a table, bless God, for all of eternity and rejoice together. But for now, they're not mine. They're His. They're His. I believe if God would pull back the veil and let us see what could have been, it would move every one of us to change our lives from this day forward. What about barrenness, brothers and sisters? We need to let our barrenness grip us till it puts a burden on our heart. We need to let that burden settle down deeply until it rots poverty and spirit within us. We need to take that poverty of spirit and become a beggar before the God of heaven. Seeking and yielding our heart to Him and saying, God, what do You need to do in my life, Lord? I want to win souls, Lord. I've never lent a soul to Christ. I don't know how to do it. I've never had a burden for souls, Lord. Change my heart. You see, my dear brothers and sisters, it's one thing for us to all gather around this place and look at the slides and all those things, you know, and just thrill and look at all these pictures and all these things are beautiful. I love it. It's just wonderful that we have this. You know, there's a danger. There's a danger of us slipping into that little channel that says those are missionaries and I'm here. I don't see it that way when I look into the Bible. I see it rather that God has called every one of us to be an evangelist. Every one of us to be filled with the spirit of the living God and burdened about souls and out of that kind of reality, missions overseas, missions comes forth. As we let our barrenness work a burden in our heart and that burden creates a poverty of spirit and that poverty of spirit creates a seeking, yielding heart. This brings the anointing of God upon our lives and when the anointing of God comes upon our life, the result of that is fruitfulness. This brings more grace into our lives and as we walk, grace just keeps on coming and as grace keeps on coming, more souls keep on coming and as more souls keep on coming, more grace keeps on coming and this thing just keeps on working back and forth and goes on and on in your life. This is God's will. Brother, there are two challenges I want to leave with you. Two. One, Brother Moses gave us already this morning. Let's go home and seek God personally and ask God, Lord, give me souls, Lord. Let me win a soul. Let me know what it is to disciple somebody after I won them. You know, God, if you're sincere and you pray a believing prayer like that and bring it up before the Lord day by day, I believe that God will prepare you and God will give you the desire of your heart. I believe that. So that's the first challenge I leave with you, to do that. But the second one is this. Your church, your church, pray, pray for revival, pray for a visitation of God's Spirit, that the church was never the same from that day forward. Pray for that. I believe that is fitting with the will of God and the Word of God. What God did to that church back there in 1727, God wants to do with every local New Testament church. He is not a respecter of persons or of churches. What He did there, He wants to do again. He did it as an example to us. He showed it to us in the book of Acts as an example. And He did it again there as an example, to be an encouragement to us, that we can look at the history of that and say, this God who did this to the Moravians, He is my God also. What He did for them, He will also do for me. And somehow, let us gather together as brothers and sisters in our local church and seek God and sigh and cry and pray believing prayers. Don't just cry, pray believing prayers. God wants to do it. He is looking for a people who will get serious enough to hold on to Him long enough that He will pour out His grace like you have never known. And brothers and sisters, it is right to pray those kind of prayers. The end is coming. Jesus is coming. You will be glad you prayed those prayers if you get a visitation of God upon your church before Jesus comes. You will be glad you prayed that prayer. I assure you, you will. God bless you. Let's learn. Let's learn from history what can be done. This God is our God. He is our God. Shall we pray? Bow our heads together and pray. Oh Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name this morning, Lord. We hush ourselves, Lord, in Your presence. You did it, Father. You've done it before. You've given us an example, Lord. Oh God, if You don't take these words and bury them deep in our hearts and write the desire like a flame of fire in our hearts, it will just be another message, Lord. It will go on the way we were. Oh God, do what no man can do. Strike a flame, Lord, in our heart. Fill us with that sanctified dissatisfaction. Open the eyes of our hearts that we begin to see what You want to do in our day, in our land. Oh God, I trust You to do that, Lord, in all of our hearts. I pray in the name of Your Son, precious Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, Brother Denny. Just a little bit on Moravian history that I encourage you to look into. Some very, very very, very important and heartbreaking things that happened here in the United States. I wanted to first mention that Lititz, about eight miles from here, was settled as a Moravian community and also Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was a major Moravian work and community there. Both of them are historically preserved somewhat and you can get a tour of some of these buildings and get a hold of some of their writings in the literature, but one of the most phenomenal things was their burden for the American Indian, which was superior to any other group of people that immigrated to the U.S. in the 1700s. And the incident at at Naughton-Houton in Holmes County, Ohio is a very interesting matter there that is just a heart-rending situation, but the Moravians traveled to Fort Pitt or Pittsburgh, what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and holed up there for a time and then sent missionaries west into the Ohio Valley to evangelize the American Indian there and accomplished their goal to a tremendous result there of bringing converts, families, actually Indian families, fathers and mothers and children. The men I hear wore beards as much as Indians can and women wore coverings and they begin to raise godly children there in a community of Naughton-Houton in Holmes County, Ohio I think it's still in Holmes County maybe it's the other county next to it and the American soldiers came upon them one day in their pursuit west and wondered what's this? They debated for a while what to do with them they didn't act like Indians they didn't look like Indians in that way, but they were Indians and of course they were out Indian hunting and Indian slaughtering and all of that trying to pave the way for the American enterprises and expansion and they came upon these non-resistant Indians and 90 of them in that little village there of a little community that the Moravians had planted and formed and had discipled them to this degree they took a vote among the soldiers as to what to do with them and the vote carried to slaughter them and they took them one by one into one of the rooms there and hacked them to death that's the blood run down to the floor and virtually all of them except for a few escapees gave their lives for their faith actually more so because they were an American Indian even though they had been converted and thereby stands a memorial to the cruelty of our American forefathers and some of their exploits and the marvelous result of American missionaries who took the gospel to the American Indian and you know the saddest part of that, that that is something the Anabaptist world cannot touch the Anabaptists were never able to touch the American Indian and that is because from my studies that they are already that fallen in their love of the gospel in Europe it was tremendous it rolled without Bible school, without seminary training through Europe in one of the most phenomenal demonstrations of mission work in church planning in the world history but when it came to the United States they had already lost it and they built farms and planted vineyards and orchards and cleared land and got cold and indifferent by the time of the 1810 to 1880 was a very very dark time in America for the Anabaptist expression and that's where I said but the Moravian work there in those pioneer days is a heart-rending experience heart-rending part of history but I appreciate the challenge again and I think that's right this should be I don't think it's worth having a church just to have a church to gather Sunday morning it just tends to be dry and dead I've been in those churches I've been one of those members and it's kind of a you wouldn't think of staying home because of what the people say but you don't really feel like going and it's evident the preacher preaches his message that way the Sunday school teacher teaches his Sunday school class that way and you go home and you wonder why you've been there and that is not what God wants to just fill the pew on a Sunday morning when all of this can be ours it's more exciting than as we often say climbing Mount Everest or going into our rain forest and experiencing Livyongo Our prayer is that you've been blessed and encouraged by this sermon to download full sermons go to our website www.sermonindex.com you can contact us through the website and please share a testimony of how this sermon has ministered to you Thank Darkness Your love I share