This sermon focuses on the importance of missions, highlighting the journey of a missionary who dedicated her life to spreading the Gospel in the Arctic. It emphasizes the need for vision, commitment, prayer, and fresh dedication to God's will. The sermon encourages believers to have a global vision, engage in corporate prayer, and embrace a harvest anointing for reaching the world for Jesus.

These next weeks we're going to be talking about missions. We're excited about it. This is the DNA of our house. This is part of the planting of the Lord in our systems and in our lives. When I first came here in 1970 to this church, I heard all about missions. Now at that time we didn't have any of our own missionaries yet, but what we did is we had a vision for missions and we connected with Glad Tidings Vancouver and we supported a whole bunch of missionaries. We sent our missionary money every week to Vancouver so that they could support, we could support the missionaries that were out on the field. And this morning we're really excited because we have one of those missionaries right here in our church. 55 years ago she was 22 years of age. Anybody 22 here this morning? Anybody in that category? 20? How about 20 to 25? Can you put up here? Look at a whole bunch of hands. At that age this young lady had a vision for missions and she felt the call of God upon her life. And at 22 she left Vancouver to go to the Arctic. Yes, to all of that cold country up there. And the story goes that she lived in a tent for the first 16 months of her ministry time up in the Arctic. Yes, 16 months in a tent. I don't know how many would be adventurous to do that. Maybe you do it for a month. But obviously you have to have a call of God in your life to do something like that. And so in those days she went to the Western Arctic which just went right across the Arctic to the East Arctic. She started churches. She saw many great people. The Eskimo people come to know Jesus. She saw pastors rise up. She started the church in Tuktoyaktuk and there she established a work. And just God has been blessing her life and the Arctic ever since. Let's warmly welcome Pastor Kay Gordon. Thank you. Thank you. Praise the Lord. Thank you so much. And what a delight and joy it is for me to be with you today. My, my. As I walked in here I thought, wow, am I in the right place? So many changes and look so, so high tech everywhere and all the good things. Praise the Lord. Done a great job. And it's a real joy to just be here again. And you never know what God will do. Isn't that true? And so I thank you for your kind invitation Pastor Lorne to, to come and share on the subject of missions today. You know, I just love the free spirit I feel in this place. Hallelujah. It's like old times, isn't it? Yeah. Praise the Lord. And what a joy it is to see all these young people and all these musicians and singing with all their hearts for the Lord. Woo. That's good stuff. Good stuff. God's doing great things. And I know that the vision of missions lives in this church. Praise the Lord. And we do want to remember and express appreciation for all the prayers of this church over the years to, and also the financial help that was given to Arctic Missions in times of need. We truly appreciate it. You've sowed a lot of seed and we're glad to report that God is giving harvest. And now we have harvesters in the North that are going out and doing the work of the Lord. And it's an exciting thing. So we thank you for being a part of it. Pastors Dave and Fran have made so many trips into the Arctic and always been a great inspiration and blessing to other people. And we trust there's more to come. Hallelujah. Also many thanks to several others who from time to time have visited the Arctic and blessed the Inuit people. I'm so glad that we are workers together with God in the great program of reaching the world for Jesus. Hallelujah. And so as you heard in the evening tonight, we will major on Arctic ministry and we just trust it'll be a blessing. We have a couple of DVDs and so on to show you short ones. I emphasize short ones. And also I know Pastor Lynn is going to have an inspiring report to give us. But I'm just so excited for missions. I love missions. And the older I get, the more I love it. Hallelujah. And I just love to see all these young people, you know, just on fire for God. We need to never lose our zeal for the Lord. Hallelujah. And we must never lose our message of joy and victory and overcoming faith through Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. I just think it's a wonderful thing. I'm so impressed with your theme for your conference. Cross the street and across the sea. That's powerful. Hallelujah. And when we have a passion to reach those around us, our neighbors, our unsaved friends, our business acquaintances, our workmates, those that have less than us, and all the list goes on. When we reach out to them as you do in this city and reach for this harvest that we can see, God has a wonderful way of opening doors of opportunity and help us step a little further into the bountiful harvest that's across the sea. Hallelujah. And we're going to see God do more of that because that's his purpose and plan. But that takes involvement and that takes motivation. And there is an event in the life of Jesus that always challenges me. Jesus who truly is the Lord of the harvest. In Matthew 26 and verse 36. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, sit over here while I go and pray over there. And then verse 39. Jesus went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father if it's possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, what? Could you not watch with me one hour? Now especially that 39th verse. Jesus went a little further. It seems all through Jesus' life and ministry he was going a little further and a little further reaching out to minister to people. And here he went a little further and he prayed again that God's will would be done. And he committed his life again because he said nevertheless not my will but thine be done. And as I thought about it, Jesus going a little further, I thought Jesus haven't you gone far enough already? The Bible tells us in Philippians 2 and verse 7 that he stripped himself of all privileges and rightful dignity and took on himself the form of a man. For 33 years he rubbed shoulders with sinful humanity. For three and a half of those years he poured himself out praying for the sick, casting out devils, ministering to the multitudes. And then for over three years of that time he spent endless hours patiently teaching his often faltering followers. And yet he spent all and he gave all. He could say the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Yet in the garden of Gethsemane, while his closest friends slept on, Jesus still went a little further and prayed that nothing short of the perfect will of God would be accomplished. Oh my, what made Jesus go a little further? It tells us in John 4, he said my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And there was a consuming passion in the heart and the life of Jesus to do God's will and to finish and complete his work. And for him it was to complete the great plan of redemption and throw open the gates of heaven for untold millions who would yet believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Jesus was a man with great vision. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2, it says for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and despised the shame. He could see the multiplied millions of souls that would be saved and delivered through his death on the cross. And that gave Jesus great joy. And he said with joy, he went to the cross. He not only saw the purpose and plan of God for his own life, but perceived and saw the world as God sees humanity. No wonder the Bible says when Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. Such compassion for the lost and dying that his love knew no bounds and his sacrifice knew no limits. Spiritual vision is powerful. Powerful. And what does spiritual vision do or what does it mean for us today? Well, to me, putting it very simply, it's the unveiling by the Holy Spirit of God's purpose and plan for an individual life, for a church body, for a whole body of believers, a community of believers in a certain plan and purpose, and then the big picture of global vision. It's all included in spiritual vision. And having spiritual vision, knowing God's purposes and plans for our day and our generation, knowing the will of God in our own hearts and our own lives, banding together with others of like heart and like mind to accomplish the purposes. All of these things are so important today because it helps us focus on God's plan for today and go for it. Hallelujah. Oh, when we see the world as God sees people, it makes us want to respond as the heart of God responds to the harvest today. Habakkuk wrote in Habakkuk 2 in verse 2, write the vision and make it plain that he may run that reads it. Hallelujah. And God says he wants us to run with the vision today. Oh, it's too late in the economy of time to just poke along with the gospel. We need to wait on the Lord and have our strength renewed and receive fresh anointing from God that we can run with the gospel, that we can hasten our message, that we can care about it enough to lay aside some other things in life in order to even reach one soul for Jesus. Hallelujah. It's like Esther's day. Remember in Esther's day, the king's business requires haste. And King Jesus' business today requires haste. We do not have the luxury of unlimited time. It's spiritual vision that will make you go a little further. Hallelujah. It'll burn like a fire within you. Oh, let's look at Jeremiah for a moment. You remember Jeremiah, great prophet of God? Well, in Jeremiah chapter 20, we see that Jeremiah wasn't feeling like going a little further just then. Discouragement and disappointment had brought him to a standstill. You just see what he says. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, the Lord, nor speak any more in his name. But, but, but his word was like a burning in my heart. His word, that was that revealed word of the Lord for the people of his day. That vision of God's purposes and plans. Jeremiah said, it was in my heart like a fire, a burning fire shut up in my bones. I was weary of holding it back and I could not. Oh God, give us Jeremiah's today with the fire of God burning in our hearts and in our lives with the revealed word of the Lord that God so graciously is pouring out in these days, ringing in our ears and throbbing in our hearts. I'll tell you, we'll have a message and it'll make us run with the gospel. Hallelujah. And it will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And that's just what happened to Jeremiah. He got running again. He got prophesying again, proclaiming the word of the Lord to his people and he carried on for another 32 chapters. Hallelujah. I'll tell you, there's something about when a vision or a calling of God is birthed in your spirit, it will not let you go by day or by night. It's something about it that'll burn within you, that'll stir within you and that'll keep you motivated to do the purpose and the plan and the will of God. Spiritual vision liberates you. Oh God wants us free. Hallelujah. And we can be free as we let God give us real vision and see the purposes of God and reach out to others and do the work of the Lord that he has ordained. Spiritual vision lifts you above the shadows. Hallelujah. Oh, there can be difficulties all around, but when you have vision and you know the purpose of God, somehow you'll focus on that and it'll lift you above the difficulty. It'll lift you above the challenge. It'll lift you above the problem and it'll keep you going for God. And spiritual vision will release you into a new dimension of faith and action. Oh my. Spiritual vision will give you fortitude and strength and endurance, just like Moses. It speaks of Moses in Hebrews 11 and verse 27, by faith Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible. It was because of spiritual vision and an understanding of the purpose and plan of God that Moses went through and did what God wanted him to do. And in these days it can be so similar for our lives also. Oh, there's so many. Many. There's Isaiah, there's Ezekiel, there's Daniel, there's the prophets, there's the apostle Paul in the New Testament, all having tremendous vision for God in their day and in their time. But I would like to just look at one more this morning. And one more in the Bible that had great vision. And this is a teenager's vision. A 17-year-old who caught a vision of God's purpose for his life and he became a world changer. Hallelujah. I'm alluding to Joseph. Joseph. Now, who was Joseph? He was just born the son of a nomadic shepherd, uneducated and unsophisticated. But the Bible says over and over and over, God was with him. And that's what made the difference. Hallelujah. You see, it doesn't matter what you were or where you came from. What counts is what you let God make of your life today. Hallelujah. And God will be with you like he was with Joseph. Now, you can read it sometime in Genesis 37. The Lord began revealing his vision for Joseph through two dreams and his brothers and then later his parents also bowing down before him. And this indicated that great authority would come to Joseph. It was too much for the brothers and it was too much for even the father. But you see, God had a plan. And for the youngest son of a Hebrew family, this was an impossible dream. Total and complete impossibility. But that was impossible for man. But you know, to Joseph, it was a God dream. And he believed it will come to pass. And I want to encourage you this morning. If God puts something in your heart that you can't see how in the world that would happen, you just say, all right, God, you did it for Joseph and you can do it for me. Hallelujah. God dreams come to pass. Man's dreams will fail, but God dreams come to pass. And Joseph believed it. And he believed it that God would fulfill it. So many scriptures tell us what God begins, he completes. That he fulfills what he says. He watches over his word to bring it to pass. How about that scripture I love in numbers, I think it's 2319. It says, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Has he said and shall he not do it? Has he spoken and will he not make it good? Oh, yes. Hallelujah. We can depend on the word of the Lord. We can depend on what God puts in our hearts and lives. It will come to pass if we will dare to believe. And if we'll do what our hand finds to do today for the Lord, leave the tomorrows in his hands. He will hasten his word to perform it in your life. Hallelujah. I know that because I know when God called me to the Arctic, nobody believed me, including Pastor Liesel. And he just let me wait three years and on and on this went. But this thing grew within me and it was became more obvious, I guess. And then the time came that God fulfilled it because what God puts in a heart, he'll bring to pass. But until that time, I was down on Skid Row. I was out on the street corner in the meetings in those days. And then out in Abbotsford, we started that church there. We were busy doing something for God today, whatever our hand found to do and the tomorrows were in God's hand and suddenly it happened. Hallelujah. And that's to encourage you this morning. Praise the Lord. Well, even after spending years in prison, Joseph still believed his dream. Hallelujah. And the proof of that was when the Kings, Butler and Baker came, were thrown in prison and they had dreams and they couldn't understand them. Who was there to help them? Joseph was there to help them. He knew about dreams. He believed in God dreams and he told them their dream and it was accurate. And he still believed, even though nothing happened for him, he still believed. And finally, after years in prison, as you know, his time came. And the Bible very clearly puts it in Psalms 105 and verse 19, where it tells us, until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. The King sent and released him. The ruler of the people let him go free. He made him Lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions. Just think about it. Joseph, after languishing all those years in that horrible Egyptian prison, suddenly one day is taken from the prison to the palace. Hallelujah. And he enters into the ministry that God has called for him. And one part of the declaration of Pharaoh, it seems, actually, as you read it in detail in in Genesis, it almost seems it was a matter of hours after he arrived at the palace that Pharaoh declared him to be Prime Minister of Egypt. And he took off his ring, gave it to him and everybody, one thing was, everybody must bow the knee to Joseph. And that was getting ready for the fulfillment of his dreams. Later on, it did come to pass, as you know, the brothers came and they bowed the knee to Joseph. And everybody that came had to bow the knee to Joseph. And his dreams were fulfilled. But you know, he was not only called to look after his family and his tribe. God now is expanding his vision. And when he entered into that part of it, then the Lord gave him a bigger plan. And he was to feed the nations all around him. All the hungry, starving people in the time of famine came to Joseph and he opened the granaries of Egypt and he fed them. What a tremendous ministry. And this is something else that happens. Vision expands. Vision increases. You walk in what God gives you today and he'll increase it. And he'll increase it. And he'll cause it to come to pass in ways that will astound you. Well, I just want to quickly tell you a vision of something in, was in Glad Tidings here then. Glad Tidings right here in Chilliwack in the mid-70s. I was visiting my friend Gladys Stone. And Sunday night we went to church, came to church. And after the service, we gathered in the prayer room for that wonderful after-service prayer time that we so enjoyed. And I don't know, it might have been an hour or two later, I suddenly saw a vision. And I saw the coastline, the Arctic coastline of ice and snow that I knew so well. And off in a corner, I saw a little fire beginning to burn in the ice. And then it spread, and then it spread, and it started to sweep across the whole Northland. And I said to the Lord, can a fire burn in ice? And I felt the Lord speak to me and said, yes, and the fire of my spirit shall burn across the land of ice and snow. And it'll melt the icy hardened hearts and cause an unprecedented move of my spirit among that people and on that land. And it'll change lives forever. Hallelujah. I'm living to see the vision being fulfilled. Hallelujah. And so I say to God be the glory. I'm so glad I stayed that night, Pastor Hubert, and prayed. And I might have missed out on that whole thing. Who knows? Well, I'll tell you, these are great days. These are days to move along with God. These are days to be in the same spirit that Jesus was in when he went a little further. And I want to just speak a moment to young people today and to the young in heart. This is your hour. It really is. This is your time to shine for Jesus and for God to use you all over the world. God is stirring youth today. Hallelujah. I know we've seen it in Uganda and through Africa, but oh, it's amazing. I remember when I first went to China, I've ministered a lot with the underground church in China in the last couple of decades. And it was exciting to see all these pastors that came, maybe 75, 100 of them, as many as could jam into the little place. We were way out in the boonies, of course, because you have to be in secret. And I looked and I thought, my goodness, a lot of these people are young. And I found out that most of the pastors were under 30 and some of them were under 20. And one girl, I guess she was 21 now, 22, and she said, oh, I started preaching when I was 16 and started these little house meetings and house churches, as they call them. And they're not just little, little. They're And one of the people with us asked her, well, how many of these house churches have you started? And she kind of, you know, they're pretty shy. And she kind of was hesitant. And she said, well, after 200, I quit counting. Now, if God could use a 16 year old, hallelujah. If God could use Joseph, a young man, God can use you. Hallelujah. And this is an hour and this is a time for all those who are willing and available because God is raising up an army and this army of the Lord is winning. Get on the winning team. Get on the winning team. We win. And you know, even statistics are telling us that today. Some statistics, I'm going to just share a couple with you. In the first century, one out of 365 people on the earth, they estimate was a believer in Jesus Christ. But now, they tell us one out of three people believe in Jesus Christ worldwide. And that equates to about 2 billion people. Oh, yes, we got a big job because there's 6 billion. So there's lots of for you to work on. But God is winning. Hallelujah. And oh, I love this one. I'll do it quickly. In the early 1900s, Azusa Street, when the Holy Spirit was poured out and people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and all the wonderful things were happening, there was about a million worldwide who would attest to the fact that they'd received the baptism. But come on, hold your seats. Now, there are over 600 million people around the world that have received the glorious baptism of the Holy Ghost and talking in tongues. Hallelujah. I'll tell you, God's winning. God's army is big. Oh, hallelujah. What an army God's got. 600 million strong right now even. Blood-washed, Holy Spirit-filled, tongues talking, Bible-believing Christians ready for action for Jesus. Get on board, everybody. It's time. It's time. Church, it's time to go forward. It's time to go a little further like our Lord and Savior did. You say, how can I go a little further? Well, begin by following the example of our Commander-in-Chief, Jesus. He went a little further and prayed. Hallelujah. Oh, let's never negate the tremendous power there is in prayer. What a powerful tool God has given us. And you know, the disciples in Jesus' time were sleeping because they didn't really get into praying. And if we don't get into praying, we risk the danger of becoming a sleeping Christian. Now, you know, a sleeping person doesn't see anything, doesn't hear anything, isn't aware of what's around and about them. Why? Because they're sleeping. But oh, God says, Jesus said, watch and pray. And may God help us to pray as never before. Pray believing prayers. And I just think it's wonderful if we never lose the revelation that God gave us in God Tidings' ministry of the past and that of corporate prayer. I was excited to see so many of you this morning taking time to be in the house of God, lifting up your voice unto the Lord. And that corporate prayer, that revelation of corporate prayer is so powerful. It changes nations. It changes people. That's when the miracles come. What happened in the It says they lifted up their voice with one accord. And what happened? Miracles happened all the time. When I visited China, I was so excited the first time when I saw, heard them, heard them praying. And I said, goodness, that sounds like the way we pray at home. And they were all just praying for something all together. And you know, they have miracles every day of the week. Hallelujah. Power of prayer. And then the other great thing that Jesus did when he went a little further in the garden, he committed himself afresh to the will and the purpose of God. And I believe we need to realize, you know, if we want fresh fire, fresh anointing, fresh something from the Lord, then I've learned I need to make a fresh dedication. Come on. I need to make a fresh commitment. I need to get, you know, take a good look at my priorities and so on. And then we can go a little further because when God's vision burns in your heart and your faith is in action, commitment becomes a delight. Oh, nobody said amen. It becomes a joy when you're busy for the Lord and doing God's will. You don't think, oh, it's so hard. It's so tough. No, you think, hallelujah. Look at this. Look at that. Wow. What a privilege. What an opportunity. And the concept of commitment is lifted far above any legalism into the realm of love relationship with Jesus. I will serve him because I love him. Hallelujah. And that motivates us. And I think it was David Livingston who said, a committed life is a joyful life. And I believe it is our time to go a little further. It's our time to not be waiting and waiting, but do what we can today, reach out where we can today, get involved in everything we can today, and then consecrate our, not only our lives, but our time, our finances, and everything that we have. And I'll tell you, we will be harvesters in God's harvest time. Hallelujah. It's time now. It's harvest time. And you know, we often say to people, according to your faith, be it unto you. But I believe there's another cliche that works for harvest time. According to your vision, be it unto you. Little vision, little fulfillment. Big vision, big fulfillment. Hallelujah. God's hour and God's time has come. And I believe as we commit ourselves, God commits himself to do what he said he would do and what he's already doing across this world, reaping, sending reapers out and seeing the harvest reap for God. Oh, if we'll commit ourself, I believe God gives us fresh fire. I don't know about you, but I want fresh fire. I want fresh fire, man. I want it in my bones like it was in, in Jeremiah, so that nothing can hinder us from doing the full plan and purpose of God. And I believe if there is also a harvest anointing, I saw this once when I was preaching in the Philippines in a big church. And there I saw blazing in front of me, the words harvest anointing. And it was full of fire, fire, fire, fire, fire all around it. And there is a special harvest fiery anointing for God's people in these days that will enable us and encourage us and inspire us to do the will of God. Father, in Jesus name, we just pray that you will take these words and that you will put them deep in our hearts and help us to rise up in this generation and be the men and women and young people that you want each to be. Lord, speak to us, we ask in the name of Jesus.