Kingdom Building

All right, well, praise the Lord it was it's uh, I won't just tell you how much I appreciate my both Tanya And I very much appreciate being with all of you Catching up with many of you from years gone by and I tell you if anything It's just really encouraging me about the hope for the next generation. I agree with brother Tim and we think about Just seeing a bunch of diligent young people wanting to serve. The Lord is an incredible blessing And I agree with him in all of that Today's the final message we're going to talk about kingdom building and there's two elements that I'm wanting to particularly teach on as we do this Bible school teaching and that is the role of the church in Evangelism as a following of the commands of Christ and Again using borrowing the military metaphors that brother Tim gave me for this Bible school. I went to look at some Like I have for the other days looked for some military metaphors to bring into this. I think I have some that really challenge us and in particularly a point that I want you to get today is the challenge of church as like a band of brothers on a Battle a band of brothers and a band of sisters a band of that kind of spirit that's actively involved in in Conquest is the kind of thing that I'm wanting to have I wanting to you to to gather because I believe that's the way the Church was described to us in the early church and in the words of scriptures So those are the burdens that I have for you And then I pray that the at the end of this we can walk through all those things with all the holiness With all the separation with all the completely redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and being used by the Holy Spirit To give to give glory to the Lamb throughout all the nations. So let's start with the word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father. I come to you in the name of Jesus this Morning, and I pray God that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit and that you would speak for me But my words fall to the ground Yes Let you be true and every man a liar and you speak your words and you enlighten your words Not anyone else's words and you would glorify the Lamb and Lord I know that you have a burden for the church for this generation I know that you want to speak to these young people and God I pray God that you would let this word fulfill the Purposes that you have set and do this in them So Lord, we thank you for all of your word and all that you've given to us. It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen So the scripture that I would like to look at the guide this whole day is this from Matthew 24 14 and This gospel of the kingdom this gospel of the kingdom Will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come Jesus gives this to us as sort of like a a blueprint an idea of what will hasten the return of our Lord Jesus Christ and Unfortunately, and I'm going to show many example or several examples of this today tend to the church gets Going on this and then we lose it and then we lose it. It's a tragedy on many different levels Many years ago. I ran across this letter written by Martin Luther King jr And I have some I don't like completely happy how he dealt with all his different political agendas But in this particular letter, he's writing a rebuke to the church he's down in Birmingham, Alabama, and he's speaking there and trying to to Work for the the the positions and civil rights and different things that he there and particularly he was addressing the church in this time When he's in Birmingham, and he was arrested and he was put in jail And as he was put in jail, he gathered up a bunch of newspapers and scraps of paper and he wrote this letter to the church and I just find it a very Challenging letter and I'm gonna read to you from an excerpt from it that I think was true in 1963 I think perhaps even more true now. Here's the letter Or a part of it. He says I in excuse me in deep disappointment. I have wept over the laxity of the church But be assured that my tears have been tears of love There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes. I love the church. How could I do? Otherwise I Am in a rather unique position of being the son the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ No How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformist This is a really pointed analogy. He has here. There was a time when the church was very Powerful and that in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed in those Days, the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion it was a thermostat that transformed the morays of society to get his analogy a Thermometer, it's cold outside. The thermometer says it's cold inside but a thermostat Changed the temperature and he said the church is supposed to be in the world in a way that Raises the temperature that changes things and not just kind of copies. Whatever the world is doing This is what they're gonna do. We're gonna do he goes on and I'll take it from here whenever the Early Christians entered a town the people became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians For being disturbers of the peace and outside Agitators but the Christians pressed on and the conviction that they were a Colony of heaven. I would like to give the analogy of a band of brothers and of sisters a band of brothers Called to obey God rather than man small in number. They were big in commitment. They were to God intoxicated to be astronomically intimidated Amen By their efforts and example, they brought an end to such ancient evils as Infanticides like leaving your children out to die and gladiator contest Things are different now So often the contemporary church is a weak Ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound so often it is an arc Defender of the status quo far from being disturbed by the presence of the church The power structure of the average community is consoled by the church silent and often even vocal Sanction of things as they are But the judgment of God 1963 but the judgment of God is upon the church as never before if Today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church It will loses it will lose its authenticity Forfeit the loyalty of millions and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 20th century Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust and that was his burden I Met this man he was a out in Philadelphia Shane Claiborne's Maybe you might have read some of his things and he has this quote. He works amongst the inner-city churches in Philadelphia He has this quote in one of his books that really hit me and he said this when he was talking about all the way we entertain Youth in our churches and all the efforts that we do for that He says this I am convinced that if we lose kids to the culture of drugs and materialism of violence and war It's because we don't dare them Not because we don't entertain them it's because we make the gospel too easy Not because we make it too difficult Kids want to do something heroic with their lives, which is why they play video games and join the army But what are they to do with a church that teaches them to tiptoe through life? So they can arrive safely at death. It's a very good point. I believe the church Was given a commission by God And if you don't take this last part all the other things that I was speaking of of the commands of Jesus They get shortchange and they get messed up Jesus gave us a command and with it a promise I borrowed this phrase from actually a sermon I heard from Hudson Taylor the third the grandson of Hudson Taylor and the phrase is no go no low and In this we have the instructions of the Great Commission given to us And it's not only is we're given this amazing battle plan We're given some specific components of that battle plan, which are very important You know the passage but let's ponder Hudson Taylor's a third us Cry there of no go no low Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountains which Jesus had appointed for them And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted for the Tim I was thinking of your priority for worship. You see this even in this mission thing and Jesus came and spoke to them saying all Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit I appreciated what you said about baptism this morning This is part of the plan going therefore making disciples is part of the plan Teaching them to observe all things all those things that we were talking about that Jesus commanded us. That's part of the mission plan That I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the ends of the age So Hudson Taylor the third made the point if you want the low I am with you always you have to go No, go No, no was his point many times we get into this rut. Oh Our church we're having so much, you know issues when we finally get through some of these issues Then we'll go and we'll start doing these kind of things or or perhaps you personally or something And there's some parts to that that I don't want to just belittle but there's a principle that we can just continue to get into that rut and Realizing that Jesus is telling us to obey the command and then I will be with you He didn't say it the other way around granted You must be walking with God be filled with the Holy Spirit and those things that he's telling us But we can get into a rut of being scared and fearful and not going forward We talked earlier this week about the idea of Christo centric. Jesus made it very clear part of the mission plan Is to bring to the nation's all the things that I commanded you so when I asked the question what if Jesus really meant every word he said all those things are part of the of the hope for the nation's and if anyone ever tells you the teachings of Jesus are irrelevant extras add-ons Unspiritual whatever they're lying to you The teachings of Jesus are amazing And so all these are part of the plans his his teachings on the permanence of marriage is something he wants to bring to the nation the idea of he wants not to get involved in lawsuits and and Radical use of our mission of our money for the kingdom of God because we're seeking first the kingdom of God He's telling us he when he's changing this whole idea of nationalism with loving of our enemies, but then He gives us this very simple command no different than all the rest go and So if we're gonna walk with the rest of the things of Jesus, we need to also walk with this and if you don't You're not gonna have the fullness of what he wants for us. No go no low these things of Jesus The commands of Jesus that we get in the New Testament Come to us in a different way than the Old Covenant There's a saying that's attributed to John Wesley, and it's really good It changed my life when I read it years ago The sinner's command this is Old Covenant thou shall not becomes the Saints promise thou shall not Do you get it? What you usually have to do by command and restraint and fear God writes it on your heart Now he will do these things in us I will cause them to walk in my statutes and my judgment the sinner command thou shall not becomes the Saints promise and if any more the the teachings of Jesus and all these things and these Applications that he's given to us God wants to do that through the power of the Holy Spirit riding upon your heart causing you to walk in them and So this is a beautiful thing and it's promises and all these things including that little bitty word go Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not and do not do the things which I say? So the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and Then the end shall come So let's look at the way the early church and I'm going to take you to a couple books mission books I'm sure most of you have probably probably a lot of you have read both these books There's some principles in this Bible school that I want you to get an understanding of how the earliest church The apostolic church is there dealt with some of these commands? Okay, so We have this passage in one in Acts 1 8 so you finish the Gospels you get this commission You move over into Acts chapter 1 8 But you shall receive power. This is a promise of God. He's pouring it out on the church You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth I've really was blessed years ago. I ran across this book the Antioch factor by Ross Peterson I know y'all use this in scent and this types of thing I think that's where I Originally came across it with the scent school and there's a point in here that I really want to bring out to you That I think is important and it's that the Commission part the mission part is Part of that Holy Spirit anointing to the church. I think that's just a really interesting point Hear what Ross Patterson says? He said recent generations, especially in some sectors of the church have majored on the first promise Some have emphasized with good reason The promise of the power of the Holy Spirit and have developed teachings and Impartations around this theme and he goes on to give some examples even in his life personally but Jesus gave a second promise in Acts 1 8 and You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth then here's the point that he makes the second promise is Significant than is it first obvious It seems to be just a general statement about evangelism and missions and it indeed is that But it's more than that and I want you to catch his point because I think it's important It actually states that the validating test of any visitation and experience of the Spirit of God is whether or not we go out and Testify for Jesus and whether or not our Perimeters for doing that include the ends of the earth the people who are as yet totally unreached with the gospel the ultimate test of genuine Holy Spirit activity in our lives is Not to be defined in terms of gifts or an experience. It is in terms of specific obedience the kind that leads us ever outward in the surrender of the Great Commission That's a significant point that he's taking that promise in Acts 1 8 but not only will the Holy Spirit give us power but give us power to go forth to give glory to God and to and to spread his kingdom and Then he talks about Jerusalem his whole point of the book the whole idea of the Antioch factor is a Jerusalem at all these Incredible blessings all this incredible heritage Paul talks about how they had received the scripture and the heritage and all these things and They were given this specific command. They were given the anointing and blessing of the Holy Spirit and they sat there and They didn't do anything and it took some unnamed guys in Antioch to come along and to take that and that's when the church gets Kicked in that's kind of the whole theme of the whole book and he makes this point and it's a really significant point as you think of now this next generation of how you could just sat here or you could take What you're being asked to do or commanded to do by the Holy Spirit. Here's this point It was not it was not a failed or failing church the Church of Jerusalem It was highly successful in the best and purest sense of the word and yet it missed God's main agenda At the beginning of the book of Acts that agenda was laid out, but you shall receive power When the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be Witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth The reason for the birth of Jerusalem Church, he says According to this scripture what it was that it might not stop Reproducing until it has reached the end of the earth with its testimony to Jesus That is why Jesus spoke Acts 1 8 and to the and to it at the very moment of its birth But you Jerusalem did not obey Jesus in this matter Therefore another church the Antioch Church had to rise up and do that work There was no excuse and here's this point for us. Here's his sting for us There is there was no excuse for the early church any more than there was us today Jesus has made his plans clear throughout his ministry on earth and the gospel of the kingdom Will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come All right, you know, I'm a history geek. Okay, so I look at these things and for me it's like I look at some examples of history of people when they got it and What I've noticed is that is that when look through history different groups from different types of denominations and different people when they take the simple words of Jesus and you get like this band of brothers together and they say Let's do it It just explodes over and over again But then it just we tend to lose it and it needs to be revived again So, let me just give an example even from some of many of your heritage that is here in the early Reformation time in the 1500s The Anabaptist people which is a lot of your heritage. It wasn't mine There's a lot of your heritage and it was started in 1525 The first baptism in 1525 and I want you to understand how what happened when they took that simple command go and took it Very practically 200 years before William Carey was a sparkle in his mother's eye These guys were were all over the the the globe for missions now in 1525 Felix Mons was killed. There's a lot of things going back and forth for people in prison and all that and finally in 1527 of January, excuse me, Felix Mons was killed the first baptism in 1525 They met together in northern part of Switzerland and and the slight made it a little confession And it wasn't a bunch of big theological points. Let's just get some things together Let's agree on where we are on some of these things and let's get to work Michael Sattler was then killed in May of 21st They met in Augsburg Germany on August 20 and by this time you started with three guys But this time you have 60 ministers by August meeting in there They just started and in August they got 60 ministers meeting together. You know what the plan is How are we going to do missions where we're gonna go where we're gonna do and all this and they started mapping out all these Things and where all the places they were going they call it the martyr synod because out of all those 60 and five years later I think it's two we're still alive Interesting and this is the most convicting part There's actual court documents that after the instructions that came out of this synod People were arrested because of what they they were deciding to do here We have big mission conferences and such, you know, and you do that. Oh, that was such a challenge That was such a blessing these guys put it into practice and were arrested and killed two weeks later by the time you got to the end of 1527 in Moravia Lichtenstein opened up his Country in Moravia to to any of the rough any of the the religious dispersion 12,500 people were selling their homes and and coming To to there and and and what they've been being revived in the faith Minnows put it this way minnow Simons put it this way taking this this command and how it applies to it. He says because of these things we preach as Much as is possible both day and by night in houses and in fields and forest and waste hither and yon at home or abroad in prison and in dungeons and Water and in fire on the scaffold and on the wheel That's the torture wheel before lords and princes through mouth and pin with possessions and blood with life and death We could wish that we might save all mankind from the jaws of hell Free them from the chains of their sins and by the gracious help of our God add them to the add them to Christ by The gospel of peace for this is the true nature of the love which is of God Now don't think it's just the men No, there's some amazing examples of how the women obeyed this and the martyrs mirror There's this this story and one of the neighbors of one of the the martyr Young mothers the the neighbor was just begging to her. Can't you just shut up? Listen to what they said in this letter One of the friends of the Anabaptist a widow who was about to be burnt to death in the Hague in 1527 Pled with the Anabaptist lady and said dear mother Can't you just think what you please and keep it to yourself? Then you'll not die, but I want you to pay attention to her response dear sister. I am Commanded to speak and am constrained to do so Hence, I cannot remain silent about it. It's part of the package about being a Christian you speak There's court records found in Wurttemberg. I love this one In Wurttemberg we actually have court documents and they made the decision the reformers were making the decision here that the propaganda activity of Anabaptist women Through word-of-mouth and through booklets passing out little tracts Was so grievous that those mothers who could not be banished because of their little children Must be chained at home to prevent their leading so many people astray Isn't that awesome? So as they were going down to you know, I don't know get water or the mill or whatever that type of a thing They were just constantly on the move in that way Shortly after this time there was massive wars called the 30 Years War where the Catholic and the Protestants were Killing each other and fighting during this whole time These are people were alive and and and and and spreading the faith The Hutterites were like a Marine Corps. It was crazy during the 30 Years War all over this area persecution They put a hundred communities of people that they were winning the loss from all over the place I was when I was reading the ancient chronicles. I ran across this journal entry and it was written during the 30 Years War and it was so Graphic the war and the violence and the things and I was just feeling ashamed of what I was reading He said this this year to 1620 the 30 Years War had just started He meaning we've always done this every year. This is what we do every year this year, too We follow the example of our forefathers by sending out several brothers to various places in Germany They went to seek those on fire for the truth and to call people to repentance It amazed many people in Bohemia where both armies the Catholics and the Protestants were encamped as well as in Germany that our Defenseless members set out during a time of such terrible danger when scarcely anyone Whether of high or low estate could travel in safety But the Lord was their protector and they relied on him alone When their task was complete through the intercession of the people he led them home again. I was Reading through this this actually a journal article and I ran across an ancient Commissioning service hymn. I meant to get this to John D to get into our hymn No, I just missed it when he went to print with it. It's amazing just listen to the words of what they would have sung yearly as they sent people out as God his son was sending and to this world of sin his son watch now is now Commanding that we this world should win He sends us and commissions to preach the gospel clear to call upon all Nations to listen and to hear to thee Oh God, we're praying were bent to do thy will thy word We are obeying thy glory. We fulfill all people we are telling to mend their sinful ways that that they might cease rebelling lest judgment be their pay and If thou Lord desire and should it be thy will that we taste sword and fire by those whose thus would kill then comfort pray our loved ones and tell them we've endured and We shall see them yonder Eternally secure thy word. Oh Lord does teach us and we do understand thy Promises are with us until the very end Thou hath prepared a haven praise be thy holy name We love thee God of heaven through Christ our Lord Amen How do you lose that kind of passion years ago I had a chance I was out in North Dakota in Minnesota With some brothers out there and I had a chance to visit this old colony Bonham colony and I heard the rumor that there the bishop there keeps the ancient Chronicles in a box under his bed. So sure enough I got in there and I said hey, could I see that? Chronicles and he got it. I snapped this picture Put the box on there and there it was and so me being the history geek, you know, I was like, whoa No, and I snapped these pictures and the one thing I wanted to see that in the the Chronicles It mentions this area where it mentions all the different places where martyrs were killed when they were going out as missionaries And so in this area this martyrs list, these are verses like I'm sending you out as lambs to the slaughter It's like this town 45 this one for this one one this one ten This one three twenty two seven four and it mentions all the martyrs for each of the areas and I'm going through this and I notice What's curious the gap? Because in the English and the German versions there's not and I kept turning and I was like, oh Wait, there's whole pages of gaps Wait, what's with this? And I looked at the bishop and I said why is there gaps? What's with the blank pages? He goes I never noticed it before And I said, I think I get it. It's like the Baptisms and marriages page in the front of your your Bible. They left room for future martyrs They left room that the burden of the people who were fighting those battles and doing those things. There's gonna be more people We better leave some blanks here. I Said you're supposed to be written in that book. He kind of laughed But I'm serious That's the spirit. That's the way it should be. But if we don't use that God will take it and give it to another people now Let me give you a really terrifying passage for me. It makes me tremble. Look at your Bibles in Luke chapter 19 in Luke chapter 19, we get this example of Jesus giving the talents or the some money to different people and he cut he says that he's doing that with the Expectation that they're gonna take that and do something with it But there is one of the most terrifying passages that follow this thing I can read in the New Testament and it's attached to this whole Commission You know the story So now in Luke 19 verse 11 now as they heard these things he spoke another parable Because he was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately Therefore he said a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return Nobleman came I want a kingdom. I'm gonna give you this. I want to come for this kingdom So he called ten of his servants delivered to them ten minutes of monies and said to them do business till I come Now in the King James, I love the idea it says occupy till I come and it has kind of a military connotation But in a way it's that this is much better for the Greek and the occupy Almost has the idea that you just kind of hunker down and settle until I come do business Which is better for the ancient Greek is actually a better term It means take what I'm giving to you and develop it grow with it do something with it. That's the command so, you know the story he comes back and And some do good. He blesses him. He's like, oh you did that Here's some more and then those who did a lot he even gave more But here's the one that's really scary One of the guys said then another came saying master. Here is my Mina Here it is, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief For I feared you because you are in a store man. You collect what you did Not deposit and reap what you did not so now I want you to just pause for a moment and consider his Motivation. Here's a man out of the fear of God who thought this gift was precious and He said I'm I know this he's gonna be blessed with this. So he takes that gift He puts it into a handkerchief Covers it up digs a hole and buries it and I think that when he is about to present this to Jesus He's like saying he's gonna be so blessed. My gift is shiny He's gonna be so blessed with this because I did not lose what was given to me The response is terrifying He said to him out of your own mouth. I will judge you you Wicked servant You knew that I was in a store man Collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not So why then did you not put my money in the bank that at my coming? I might have collected it with interest The command was to do these things to grow this money to invest this to to do something and he out of a motivation of the fear of God Hit it Protected it buried it and Jesus calls him a wicked servant out on all the other commands I don't know if it gets this drastic and then he goes on and He said to those who stood by take the minute from him and give it to him who was tendons So in other words, you give me that and he gave it to the guy who had the most and gave it to him But they said to him master. He has ten for I say to you that everyone who has Will be given and from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away from him This is a spiritual principle. You've got to get a hold up when you start walking in God and faithful in God He'll continue to bless but if you start rejecting this he's gonna take just even what you have but then he says this but bring here those enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them and Slay them before me It's a serious serious point So how is the church in? this world going forward and I would like to now bring the other principled idea of you this brotherhood and this idea of going forward in a military campaign so looking for an analogy of Bringing in these war analogies. I've got this this TED talk that I came across years ago I don't know many of you listen to them But this is a very one that's caught my attention because it's the name of it is why veterans miss war And I caught my attention. I listen this one had 22 million Anyways, very popular All right. I guess that was describers of that but I it caught my attention and I listened to it. I just started crying Because to me it wasn't about at all missing the war I'm very happy to have changed my allegiance and no longer being a part of this militaries of this war But it called out to me something of What I believe God wants for the church, so I'm gonna translate it to the church But I'm gonna give it to you out of this whole point of finding these analogies like this. I'm gonna give it to you Instead of putting a bunch of words. I'm gonna have you and I'm gonna I'm gonna read to his speech here. It's TED talk I'm gonna ask and try to answer in some way kind of an uncomfortable question Sebastian Younger's asking Both civilians obviously and soldiers suffer in war I don't think any civilian has ever missed the war that they were subjected to I've been covering wars He's a war reporter also and in the military and a war reporter for 20 years And one of the remarkable things for me is how many soldiers find themselves missing it? How is it someone can go through the worst experiences? Imaginable and come back back to their home and to their family their country and miss the war. How does that work? What does it mean? We have to answer that question because if we don't it'll be impossible to bring soldiers back to a place in Society where they belong and I think it'll be impossible to stop war if we don't understand how that mechanism works Any sane person hates war hates the idea of war would wouldn't want anything to do with it Doesn't want to be near it doesn't want to know about it. That's the same response to war But I asked you and I'll ask you here in this room But if I ask all of you in this room Who here who here paid money? to go to a cinema and to be entertained by a Hollywood war movie or watch it on your phones or Most of you would probably raise your hand That's what's so complicated about war And trust me if a room full of peace-loving people find something compelling about war So do 20 year old soldiers who have been trained in it and I promise you that's the thing that has to be understand And he goes to talk about one of his friends who really got messed up one of my friends and This reporter at a different social event. He was at she knew how bad he had been messed up And she said Brandon was his name. Is there anything at all that you miss about being out in Afghanistan about the war? He thought about it quite a long time. And finally he said ma'am. I Miss almost all of it And he's one of the most traumatized people I've seen from that war ma'am. I miss almost all of it. What's he talking about? He's not a psychopath. He doesn't miss killing people. He's not crazy He doesn't miss getting shot at or seeing his friends get killed. What is it that he misses? We have to answer that if we're going to stop war we have to answer that question Here's the line that got me. I think what he missed is brotherhood He missed in some way the opposite of killing what he missed was the connection to other men he was with Now brotherhood is different from friendship Friendship happens in society Obviously the more you like someone the more you'd be willing to do something for them But brotherhood has nothing to do with how you feel about the other person It's a mutual agreement in a group that you will put the welfare of the group You will put the safety of everyone in the group above your own in effect You're saying I love these people more than I love myself You think about all these soldiers have all that they've experienced like that a bond like that in a small group where they are loved by 20 other people in some way more than they love themselves you think about how good that would feel imagine it and they are blessed with that experience for a year and then they come back home think about returning missionaries here and Then they come back home and they are just back in society like the rest of us Not knowing who they can count on not knowing who loves them Who they can love not knowing exactly what anyone they know would do for them if it came down to it that is terrifying Compared to that war psychologically in some ways is easy Compared to that kind of alienation That's why they miss it and that's what we have to understand in some ways fix in our society You think of then the church? a Commissioned band of brothers going forth in war as a purpose but bound together in this cause I'm gonna look at now with this whole idea of And I'm gonna encourage you if there's anything that I can encourage you find while you're young Get with your church a band together committed and going forward Individuality does hurt us, and that's the point that I'm going to show you now an early miss miss enough Man who wrote on missions Ronald Allen missionary methods who wrote in the early 1900s was one of the he wrote a very challenging book called missionary methods st. Paul's or ours in other words using a missionary methods like st. Paul are you using your own? It's a good book and Roland Allen once said we cannot but recognize it everywhere we have established missions and Missions are not churches if we establish missions and missions instead of establishing churches It is because we differ from the Apostles and the early church in principle and in spirit Everywhere we have churches without missions and everywhere else we have missions without churches. It's an interesting thought So the idea then again is not churches that are just setting there and losing their talents But this band of brothers that's going forth bound together in discipleship and Growing in that kind of a thing everywhere we have churches without missions and everywhere else we have missions without churches And this is not the way the Apostles gave it to us. I Found another writing a few years ago that really impressed me is by Dave Harvey who now serves as president of the Great Commission Collective at Westminster Theological Seminary He gave a criticism of some mission ideas And he said sad to say Christians in the Western culture with its emphasis on individual vision and personal spirituality Often erased the local church factor from the equation He says often this is what you get the gospel plus the commissioned individual equals world evangelization And he says that he doesn't believe that this is what was given to us by the Apostles He said the New Testament application of the Great Commission should therefore look more like this The gospel the commissioned individual plus the local church community on the move equals world evangelization So I ask you What is? What is the church's alternative to the bands of brothers? Do we have this kind of Commission this kind of Dedication this kind of camaraderie in the work of God It makes everything else make sense some of the the ones that I like in history that would have had this kind of equivalence You can tell me who they are. Who are these? Somebody tell me right Jamillion, yes when you read some of their writings Jamillion ate Saint and they're working through there they had this kind of camaraderie that's just It makes you jealous, you know, wow, I want to go like that. Here's one of my favorite ones. So you tell me who this is You know close very close Close close This Cambridge seven the one in the middle is CT stud He had a chance of being a famous cricket player Be like being a famous football star or baseball star today And he gave it up to bond with these seven men and go into the mission field. He asked him of my favorite quotes CT stud says only one life will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last Some wish to live within the sound of a church and Chapel Bell. I want to run a rescue shop within the yard of hell this idea of this Kingdom planting this camaraderie this church and missions Brings to this I'm afraid that so many times we get a division. It's not just an Anabaptist churches It's an evangelical churches. It's all over That's why the different evangelical writers are writing about it and I'm about to read to you from Piper who's gonna talk about it You get kind of the missionary camp and the church camp and you know They kind of don't they fight against each other and all this kind of a thing and it's messed up The idea is to see the church in the work of God and that's what's powerful Really good book let the nations be glad by John Piper He makes a point They also makes the same point in the Antioch factor and it's another really really really important point As a matter of fact if you get this point today that he's about to make You will understand why the kingdom teachings of Jesus even the voting pollution and the the nationalism the two kingdoms concept how it changed from an old covenant idea to a new covenant idea and Basically, he makes a very profound point and we can really need we really need to get to know this He says don't preach a gospel That ignores the shift from the come see Religion in the Old Testament to the go tell religion of the New Testament you get that So in other words if you got the mentality well We've got a church that we've got it all together our purpose is for you just to come see us That's old covenant thinking it's wrong It's Old Testament thinking that that was shifted and he gets some nice details with that. He says wait, he says a Fundamental change happened with the coming of Christ into the world Until that time God has focused his redemptive work on Israel with occasional works among the nations Now the focus has shifted from Israel to the nations Jesus said the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people producing its fruits One of the main differences between these two heirs he goes on to say is that in the Old Testament God glorified himself Largely by blessing Israel so that the nations could see and know that the Lord is God so Israel not yet sent on the Great Commission to gather the nations rather she was glorified So that the nations would see See her greatness and come to her and that was a difference So he he just kept blessing it and he had a military for it in a priesthood He's about to tell us about that in other words the pattern in the Old Testament is a come see religion There's a geographic center on the people of God there is a physical temple an earthly king a political regime an ethic identity an Army to fight God's earthly battles and a band of priests to make animal sacrifices for sins With the coming of Christ all of this changed all of it There's no geographic center for Christianity Jesus has replaced the temple the priests and the sacrifices There's no Christian political regime because Christ's kingdom is not of this world And we do not fight earthly battles with chariots and horses and bombs and bullets But spiritual ones with the word and the spirit all of this supports the great Change and mission the do test the New Testament does not present a come-see religion But a go-tell religion now the implications of this for our daily lives are huge Are huge for the way we live and the way we think about our money in our lifestyles One of the main implications is that we are sojourners and exiles on this earth would you not use this world as though it were our primary home our citizenship is in heaven and from it we wait a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ and this leads he says to a wartime a Wartime lifestyle a wartime lifestyle So he goes on he talks about so if we get involved with just amassing our wealth getting our entertainment finding our new cabin I I was just talking with a brother last night and An incredible example as he's getting older and his finances are getting bigger He's he's instead of just building getting himself a new cabin in the Poconos or something He bought himself a little house in Istanbul So that he could start working with the refugees there and and doing things and putting his finance in there And I said that's amazing. That's great that you could do that. He said yeah, I just wish people could do it more here He said here. I live in Lancaster City I do it here in Lancaster City, and I try to do the same thing that I that I would also be doing in Istanbul as Business I think is very important to the kingdom of God and he's in Piper is right if we have an old covenant idea I'll just kind of build up and show how blessed I am and how and all I'll keep this part of the Jesus teachings and All this, but it just makes a mockery of the whole thing All of the teachings of Jesus only make sense in that context of the cross and you can't have it without this This is part of it very it's it's where it's going And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to the nation And then the end will come if you get this today Suddenly the whole Bible will start Feeling different you'll see this context of the Old Covenant and how God had his people But there was this prophecy this bubbling up prophecy about what it's going to be in the new covenant one of my favorite passages are going through Isaiah the gospel of the Old Testament as Spurgeon would call it and and and and look at how these prophecies come out and Look at this in thinking of that change that Piper was talking about and it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountain and Shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow into it and many people shall go and say come ye and let us Go to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob And he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his path Like what happened the day of Pentecost they all were coming there but then for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares No longer do we have this political regime to support? That's why Yahweh is still a warrior, but the methods are the only thing that have changed don't turn non-resistance into some weird thing You know non-resistance is a funny word. I heard somebody once say Calling it non-resistance is like calling Marriage non-adultery You know, it's active it's going And you mess it up if you just turn it into those kind of things and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning Pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war no more and Then this passage and Jesus and both Matthew and Mark pick up this exact passage and so that when Jesus began to preach and he quotes Mark quotes Isaiah Matthew quotes Isaiah and this is what they're quoting the people that walked in darkness Have seen a great light They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shine for Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood But this shall be with burning and fuel for fire will burn those uniforms, but then he says For unto us a child is born Unto us a son is given What an amazing promise and the government shall be upon his shoulders And his name shall be called wonderful Counselor the mighty God the everlasting father the Prince of Peace now watch this point so Jesus came Matthew Mark quoted this passage as being fulfilled when Jesus began to preach of The increase of his government and peace there shall be no end Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth Even forever The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this This is that embassy of heaven that I talked about. This is the nation We're a part of this is our king and we follow his Constitution You know this we love this passage and I quoted I think in the first day And it's a promise that we stand on for hope when the young lady spoke about a word of hope today When the enemy shall come in like a flood the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him And John D. Martin if you saw him coming in the back here. He heard me quoting this passage He said you know I heard an old rabbi said it's it changes everything if you move the comma And I said what do you mean and he gave me this interpretation? When the enemy shall come in Like a flood the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him praise God And that's that the zeal of the Lord will perform this You know I remember in basic training. I Think one of the scariest thing I never had to go through this so I pray I'm thankful very thankful for this when the scariest things they talk about is an ambush an ambush is you're just walking through with your platoon and you're walking along the line and Suddenly there's a group of guys out there with their machine guns and their claymore mines and their grenades and all that and they're just Setting and waiting for you to walk by most likely You're gonna die It's the way it is if you've been ambushed you're most likely gonna die And so they talk about that and make you just deal with that if you get ambushed you're probably gonna die But because what happens is you get this you run, and they're just sitting there picking you up And you're just picked off grenade claymores are set up and everything, but there's only one chance they tell us that you can Perhaps live and you know what it is Charge them It's the only way instead of running away instead of a fleeing where you didn't have no weapons And they're just shooting you in the back you charge them and run into the ambush shooting And that's the way the only way historically it's ever been to win that's the only way and as the enemy has come in like a flood and Challenged us as the enemy has come in like a flood the spirit of God will raise up a standard against it That's standard that banner of Jesus Christ All right, I'll close with this ancient letter of rebuke to the church And if you hear schoolteachers Excellent written by a young schoolteacher from a Hutterite colony in 1540 ish goes out to the mission field and he feels I'm gonna close with this He feels that things are already getting pretty lax back home you're losing it guys don't give up I'm captured I'm in jail I'm about to be martyred don't give up and he writes this letter back to them warning them guys If you don't keep going we're gonna lose everything So he writes this letter He says this Many in our time think the opposition has ended 1540 Many in our time think the opposition has ended They look back and think the war is over, but they are deceived If they would live the life, they would get persecuted again Did you hear that you think the war is over? But if you'd live the Christian life, you'd get persecuted again and listen to his chilling example as Long as the lion has its cub with him. He might act friendly and playful or not But when he loses his little ones or his prey, he cannot keep himself back He rages and roars and rants and he raves as only lions can until fire shoots from his eyes He said in other words when we just act and we don't go into the mission field We don't just Satan will leave us alone You can play with them and all you could even maybe have them come and speak and whatever But when you start taking cubs away from that lion, you're gonna feel it again, and that's the warning He's giving back to the people back home Certainly Peter does not warn us in vain that Satan comes upon us like a roaring lion or a wolf at nightfall But may God be praised The lion of the tribe of Judah is bigger and stronger than the lion of the Philistines He has already split the other lions head and wounded his body Therefore he knows that his time is short and he will soon be overcome Therefore he's so desperate so angry. He sees the lake of fire into which he will be thrown Watch yourselves Therefore heroes of Israel Take courage strong men of Zion Rejoice Oh city of Jerusalem The time of your triumph is near all tears will be washed from your eyes The reward of your labor stands ready Just hold on a little while longer the fat cattle have already been butchered The fowls have already been plucked the table stands ready and the guest the martyrs the guests have begun To arrive Wow, and then they killed him The gospel and This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then praise God The end will come So young people I bring you the burden of my heart as given this this metaphor military metaphor that brother Tim gave to me and Through those things. I just pray that God would truly fill you with the Holy Spirit and purpose that God would would make you careful Circumspect as we as we read in the scriptures not numbered among the nations getting your purpose, right? Looking for your battle plans that come from the Word of God from Jesus of the scriptures to understand that in the right way Dive deep into a rich heritage that's been given to you but most of it with all that Please don't just set still or these same things will happen to you go forward and fulfill the reasons that God has have you for this generation to the glory of the Lamb that was slain and Glory to God, let's pray Dear Heavenly Father. I thank you Lord for the Word of God I thank you for promise that in every generation. I believe that you have given us the Holy Spirit What is required grace faith the Word of God and the people of God and I pray that you would forgive us of our Mistakes forgive us of our complacency forgive me of my complacency Forgive us Lord of all our Wranglings and getting the right questions to the wrong right answers to the wrong questions Lord, I pray that we can take this Commission to heart and take and more so that you would write this Commission on our heart And that you would cause these things to happen in our generation and that we would have the opportunity to get to be a part of it, but Lord Please forgive me for when I have taken that and wrapped it in a coin Dug a hole and buried it in the ground and think that you'll be pleased God help me to have the boldness and the courage and the and even as I get older and tired or Lord at that to Still go forward and to and to give these things to you Lord I pray for every one of us here Lord that we would have that spirit filled boldness to take all that you have given us and To and to prepare a kingdom that you can come back and take Oh Lord. We love you today We praise you we ask your presence to be with us in Jesus name