God's Passion- PFBC Missions Conference

Can y'all hear me?

I'll never forget one time I was preaching up in Rocky Mount

and the auditorium held 1,700 people

and as I got up behind the pulpit, Jeff, my mic went out.

You can laugh, yeah, it was funny.

For y'all, it was funny.

But by the time I finished that sermon, I could not talk.

That's how loud I had to speak.

Just want to make sure you can hear me.

If you can hear me, wave your hands.

Okay, praise the Lord.

It was our joy to serve the Lord Jesus Christ

and it was the humor of God, I believe God has a sense of humor,

that he would call an American pastor after 27 years of ministry

to go to Asia and to work with, I think,

the finest missionaries in the whole world.

Jonathan and Kelly, where are y'all?

Y'all are here somewhere, aren't you?

Serving with them.

They were our FPO cluster leaders in Richmond, Virginia.

Little did I know that we would fall in love with these families

that we served with and they become your family overseas.

The Lord allowed us the privilege.

Let me just say this.

We did not know what we were doing.

We were being trained by the greatest missionaries, I think, in the world.

I was an American pastor.

I had American context and it was so different over in India.

And the Lord put us on.

Our church adopted an unreached, unengaged people group

called the Mahar Koli, the Koli people.

And all we knew was that they lived along the coast of Mumbai.

They were fishermen, we thought, at that time.

And we went.

Barbara and I went.

Barbara was just coming off of having her kidney removed from kidney cancer.

Four months after her kidney was removed,

we were on the ground in India as missionaries.

And so life was moving fast for us.

And again, I'm not trying to sound humble.

I'm telling you the truth.

It was just really, you know, I mean, God gives you an assignment.

Go reach a people that no one's reaching.

And so, you know, just go do it.

And we really had to pray and trust God a lot

and rely on our leadership

and rely on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to lead us.

And the Lord, because of the victories that we saw,

we saw our people group removed from the UUPG list,

which was the greatest sense of victory that I had in my service to the Lord.

They were removed from the Unreached Unengaged People Group.

I remember being in Delhi,

Jonathan talking to Joey Gordy at the transit house.

And I said, Joey, I'm looking for our people group on the list,

and they're not there.

I mean, is there a mistake?

Where's our people?

And he said, oh, you haven't heard.

They're engaged.

I said, oh, tell me who.

I want to know who these people are that have engaged them

because I want to partner.

I mean, I want to learn from them.

He said, it's you.

And so I said, it's me and Barb.

And we had started doing ministry among the Maharkoli,

who are rice farmers in the mountains of Tane District

in northeastern Maharashtra.

And there's so many stories that I could tell you.

When I was here last year,

I had the joy of being in that Sunday school class,

and I got to share some of the stories of how I almost got beat,

beat, almost had my legs broken

by a village leader who was very upset with us sharing the gospel.

I could tell you how the very first converts from that tribal group

came to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

I could tell you about how the Lord led us to partner

with an Indian church planning ministry.

I could tell you about how my daughter got sick,

and we had to come home, and my head was spinning.

And I didn't know what in the world the Lord was doing

because there was fruit, and there was success on the field.

And now here we are back in the States with our very sick daughter.

I just did not know what in the world God was up to.

And the Lord led us to resign,

which was the hardest thing I've done in a long time,

to resign a work that we loved,

to leave a team that we loved,

the Mumbai IMB team there in Mumbai, India.

And now to see my national partner

doing such a great job in the field,

the guy that we discipled, that we raised up,

is now the face of the ministry.

And I've talked to the couple that replaced us,

and they're working in that same ministry, seeing fruit.

Just got a Facebook message

that they had done an evangelism,

an event among this Unreached People group,

and they had people that came to Christ,

and now they're planning discipleship and church planning.

So I could tell you all those things,

but I don't have time.

So I've got to share with you

what the Lord burdened my heart about,

about coming to this missions conference,

what message the Lord put on my heart,

and it's to the church corporately.

First of all, I want to say to you

that the Lord is a passionate God.

God has a passion for the world.

In John 3, verse 16,

John 3:16

we see the passion of God in this verse

that we all know so well.

In fact, I don't even think you need to look

in your Bible at John 3, 16,

because you probably have it memorized.

Many of the children here could probably quote John 3, 16.

But in John 3, 16,

we begin to see the passion of God

for this lost world,

where John writes,

for God so loved the world

that he gave his only gotten son.

You see, it doesn't say for God loved the world,

but that he so loved the world.

And that little word so speaks of the passion of God

and the willingness and the extent of God,

how far God was willing to go

to show his love to this lost and dying world

that he gave his only begotten son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish,

but have everlasting life.

And I want us to connect this morning

with the passion of the God that we claim to worship.

The heavenly father that we love,

that we know in our heart,

I want us to connect and to touch his heart

for this lost world.

Maybe your heart's like mine,

and we need to have our hearts stirred this morning.

Will you quote John 3, 16 with me out loud

if you feel comfortable doing that?

For God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten son,

that whoever believes in him

should not perish,

but have everlasting life.

You see, God is a passionate God.

His heart is for the world.

Look what 2 Peter 3, verse 9 says,

2 Peter 3:9

that the Lord's not slack concerning his promises,

some men count slackness,

but is long-suffering toward us,

not willing that any should perish,

but that all should come to repentance.

Do you see your father's heart?

That he's patient with this world.

The only reason Jesus Christ

has not returned to this world

is because of God's love and suffering

for the lost of this world.

He wants all men everywhere to repent.

He's not willing that any should perish,

but that they should repent.

Look what Mark 16 says.

Jesus said to his followers,

to his disciples,

go into all the world and preach the gospel.

The King James says to every creature,

a better translation is to all people.

Jesus was saying,

go and preach the gospel to all people.

Who is he speaking to?

He's speaking to followers,

those like us that believe in him

as Lord and Savior.

This command is to us,

to go into the world,

to take the gospel to all people.

You see, the passion of God

reveals the plan of God.

And the plan of God

is for the world to hear

the gospel of his son and be saved.

Look what Acts 1.8 says.

But you shall receive power

when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you shall be witnesses to me

in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria

and to the ends of the earth.

Notice the geographical nature of God's plan.

We understand his passion

that he so loves this world.

But look at the geographical nature

of his strategy, his plan.

He said that we would be witnesses

in our own Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is where they lived.

It's where the disciples were living.

It's their own hometown.

It's their pickings, South Carolina.

It's the upstate of South Carolina.

That's what this literally means

is that we would be witnesses

in our own locality.

But he didn't end there.

The geographic strategy continues.

He said that you would be witnesses

into the region in which you live

and the nation in which you live

in Judea and Samaria.

And then you would be witnesses

to the ends of the earth.

Now, the problem with most churches

that I have seen

is that we tend to focus

only on local missions,

which is great.

We should be a witness to Pickens.

We should be a witness to Easley

and to the upstate of South Carolina.

But it doesn't end there.

The command of our Lord Jesus Christ

is to take the gospel

to the ends of the earth,

to those who've never heard his name.

You see, if you look at these verses,

you begin to see a pattern

where Jesus, in his last words,

before he leaves the world,

before he leaves his disciples,

before he ascends up in the clouds to heaven,

he gives his followers this mandate

to go to the nations,

to make disciples.

And here in Acts 1-8,

to do work in your own locality,

your own Jerusalem,

your own community, your city,

and then to go into your region,

your nation,

and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

So we see God's passion

reveals God's plan.

And God's plan is not just local.

God's plan is global.

Look what Matthew 28, 19-20 says.

Jesus speaking to his disciples,

he says,

Go, therefore,

and make disciples of all the nations.

Now when we hear the word nations,

the English word nations,

of course the Bible was written,

the New Testament was written in Greek,

the Old Testament in Hebrew,

little parts of Aramaic here and there.

But in the New Testament,

when we hear the word nations,

the Greek word here is ethne, ethnos.

And it speaks more clearly of people groups.

When we hear nations,

we think of geopolitical boundaries of land,

like China is a nation,

geopolitical boundary of land.

Canada,

the United States of America.

You can picture the shape in your mind of the map.

But when Jesus uses this word that was translated nations in the English,

he's speaking more clearly of people groups.

Now people groups are groups of people on the earth

that have a common language,

a common culture,

a common religion.

The UN estimates that there are nearly 16,000 people groups on the earth today.

And so when Jesus tells his followers to take the gospel to these ethne,

to these people groups,

what he's literally saying is,

take my gospel to the families of the earth.

Now for those of you that are Bible students,

you probably remember that term families from an Old Testament reference

where God told Abraham that through his seed,

the Messiah,

Jesus Christ,

all the families of the earth would be blessed.

You see,

God sees the earth,

not as geopolitical nations.

God sees the earth as groups of families of people.

And hence you have the term people group.

Now according to the best missions research that is done,

the IMB,

by the way,

every time you give your Lottie Moon offering at Christmas time,

you support the greatest missions agency on the face of the earth,

the International Mission Board.

And according to the best research that the IMB has produced

and Joshua Project has produced and Finish the Task has produced,

we understand that of the people groups of the earth,

there are 6,000 people groups that are unreached people groups,

which means they have little to no access to the gospel.

There's no churches that they can go to.

There's no Bibles they can buy at Walmart.

They hope they don't have Walmart,

by the way,

but there's no Bibles they can buy.

They're very limited in access to the gospel.

I had a guy tell me this.

He said,

why are you going to India,

Jack?

There's lost people right here.

And he was 100% correct.

And I said,

well,

let me tell you why God has burdened my heart for the Koli people in India.

It's because they're lost,

just like there's lost people right here.

But the people who are unreached have no access or limited access at all to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You see,

a lost person here can turn on a TV and hear the gospel,

can turn on a radio and hear the gospel,

can go buy a Bible at Walmart,

can walk down on the corner,

almost a church on almost every corner,

and be invited into a church to hear the gospel.

There's access.

And the reason that most people,

not all,

but the reason that most people in our locality,

in this culture is not Christian,

is because they choose not to go,

or not to listen,

not to hear,

not to respond to the message of Christ.

But people who've never heard,

people who are unreached with the gospel,

have no access.

And if you're unreached and unengaged,

that means no one's going to tell them.

No one's going to tell the 3,500 UUPG peoples of the earth.

There's nobody that we know of,

no missions agency,

nobody from the IMB,

nobody from any missions agency,

no churches,

no pastors,

going to tell the unreached,

unengaged peoples of the earth.

Well, that's a problem.

That's a problem.

There's only one thing worse than being lost.

It's being lost and having nobody care that you're lost.

Could you imagine if you had a child that became lost on a camping trip?

Raise your hand if you have a child,

if you're a mother or a father,

raise your hand.

I mean, most of us.

Could you imagine you go camping,

and one of your little ones wanders off?

Now, what would be your state of mind, I wonder?

What would you be thinking?

How would you react?

Would you go about his life as usual,

business as usual?

Hey, let's start the fire.

Let's have some s'mores.

Would you do that?

No, you would be frantically searching and calling out for your lost child's name.

In fact, you would be enlisting as many people,

friends and strangers,

who are willing to help you look for your lost child.

You see, these unreached people groups of the world,

these unreached, unengaged people groups of the world,

are like they're lost,

and many people are not even aware that they even exist,

and some don't even care.

They just want to go through life as usual.

But our Father's heart longs for the lost.

He longs for His children to be found,

and He is speaking to us, His church, His children.

Find my lost children.

Find those who are lost and bring them home.

Who else would God speak to?

Who else would Jesus command and mandate to do this task?

Us, His children, His family, His followers.

So the Lord Jesus Christ has called us,

and God, Jesus has commanded us,

He's mandated us,

and He's called us to go and find those who are lost.

Now look at this next verse on the screen,

because I want you to see that God's plan is a global plan,

and I want you to see that God's heart is not just for people in the West or white people.

God's heart and His plan is for all people.

In Revelation chapter 7, verse 9,

Revelation 7:9

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude,

which no one could number,

of all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages, or tongues,

standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

We see this picture in heaven at the end of time,

of people from every language,

every nation,

every tribe,

and every people group,

before the throne of God,

giving worship to the Lamb of God.

This is the heart of God.

This is God's global plan of redemption.

Now, with all of that in mind,

what is our response?

We must respond.

We cannot take this information in

and just go on as business as usual

unless you just don't really care about who's lost,

unless you don't really care about the heart of your Father.

God's passion mandates that we respond.

Those of us that are Christ followers,

we must respond to this burden.

Taking the gospel to those who have never heard

is the priority of all believers

in every gospel preaching church.

Now, what does that mean practically?

Well, three things.

First of all,

his passion and his plan

has to be our first priority.

His passion,

for God so loved the world,

his plan,

go and make disciples of the ethnosis,

of the nations,

must become our priority.

We must realize the fact

that we have 6,000 unreached people groups,

3,500 unreached, unengaged people groups

is a problem.

And this is not a problem for the IMB

or for missions agencies.

This problem belongs to the local church.

You see, the IMB is a great entity.

It's a great institution,

an agency

for helping local churches

engage in reaching the unreached.

But the burden of the Great Commission

doesn't belong to the IMB.

It belongs to the church.

And the IMB was raised up by God

to help facilitate the local church

to own the burden for the lost.

Not just here locally or regionally,

but to own the burden internationally

to take the gospel to those who've never heard.

Now, how can we make this priority

our priority?

Well, number one,

let's look at what we can do.

First of all,

every people group here

should be what is on our heart as a church.

We want to be used by God.

We may not be able to reach all people groups,

but we can reach one.

We can pray for one.

And possibly we can go

and assist in helping to reach one.

There's something that we can do.

We may not be able to do everything,

but only God knows that we can do something.

Amen, church,

to reach those who've never heard.

You've heard the story of the man walking on the beach.

And he walks off,

walks up on a bunch of,

I think the story says starfish

that have washed up on the beach during a storm.

And he starts throwing the starfish

back into the ocean.

And a little boy walks up

and says,

it won't do any good.

You can't throw them all back in.

There were thousands that had washed up.

And the fellow said,

well, I may not be able to do them all,

but this one is going to be saved.

And he threw it back in.

We may not be able to reach every people group,

which I know you won't,

but we can do something.

We can interact with the agency of God

and the burden of God

and the urgency of God

in reaching those who are unreached.

So first of all,

every people group here.

Secondly,

every believer shares.

This is part of the solution

to this problem.

Part of the solution

is that believers have stopped sharing,

especially locally in the West,

in the United States.

Very few people are sharing

their faith with others.

That's why we've seen a decline

in Southern Baptist life

of baptisms and church membership.

And we've seen declines across the board

because we've stopped sharing.

We've lost the vision

and the passion of God for the lost.

Listen,

God loves a lost man in Pickens

just as much as he loves a lost man in India.

God doesn't love the Indian people

more than he loves a person

that lives right on your street

or your neighborhood.

God expects us as believers

to share,

to share our testimony,

to share what God has done

in our lives.

I want to share with you a verse

in Acts chapter 19, verse 10,

Acts 19:10

which really helps us to understand

how powerful this is

if every believer would begin to share

and every disciple would begin

to make disciples.

I want you to see what happened

in Acts chapter 19, verse 10.

Acts 19:10

It says,

And this continued for two years.

What continued?

Paul's teaching in Ephesus.

Continued for two years

at the school of Tyrannus.

And look what happened.

So that all who dwelt in Asia,

now Asia in this context

is Asia Minor.

It's not like Asia, China, Asia,

or Thailand.

This is Asia Minor,

which would be modern day Turkey.

But still,

let this sink in.

In two years,

every person in Asia Minor

heard the word of the Lord,

both Jew and Greeks,

or Gentiles.

Gentiles.

Now, how in the world

did the Apostle Paul

teach the young disciples

there at Ephesus

and in other places

to do this in two years?

They didn't have roads.

They didn't have computers.

They didn't have airplanes

or buses

or printing presses

or Bibles.

They didn't have money.

How in the world

could Paul lead

the early church

to do such a feat,

to reach such a large group

of people

in two years?

Let me tell you how.

Every person shared

who was a believer in Jesus.

Every disciple of Jesus

discipled someone else.

That's how the gospel

is meant to go forward

in our lives

and in our churches.

Every person must share.

Every disciple must multiply.

So what do I share?

First of all,

you share your story.

When you talk to someone

who lives on your street

or that you go to work with

or a family member

who doesn't know Christ,

you want to share your story.

Remember,

the gospel is always

best presented

on two legs.

Two legs we carry

the gospel.

On one leg,

we call it our story,

which is our personal

interaction with Christ.

How I came to know Christ,

my life before Christ,

how I met Christ,

my life after Christ.

We share a testimony

about Jesus Christ.

Or maybe God

has brought a healing

in your life

or God has done

something for you

that you can brag

on God about.

That's your testimony.

You share something personal

about your relationship

with God

through Jesus Christ.

Secondly,

you tell your story,

you tell God's story,

which is the gospel message

that Christ died

for our sins

and he was buried

and on the third day

he rose again.

So with two legs,

we carry the gospel message.

Every believer shares.

Every disciple multiplies

or makes another disciple.

That's what God

has called us to do.

That's how the task

will be completed.

I want to show you

the power of this

in scripture.

Look at the power

of personal testimony.

Mark chapter 5

Mark 5:18–20

verses 18 through 20.

And when he got

into the boat,

speaking of Jesus Christ,

Jesus got into the boat,

then this man

who had been demon possessed,

who Jesus took

the demons out of,

he cast them out,

he begged Jesus

that he might be with him.

Jesus, let me go with you.

I want to follow you.

I want to go with you.

But look what Jesus said.

However, Jesus did not

permit him.

Jesus, I want to follow you.

Jesus said, wait a minute.

I've got something

for you to do.

But he said to him,

go home to your friends

and tell them

what great things

the Lord has done for you

and how he has had

compassion on you.

Verse 20.

And he departed.

This man departed

and began to proclaim

in Decapolis

all that Jesus had done

for him

and all the people marveled.

You see, Jesus said,

go back and tell your family,

your friends,

what God has done for you.

That was his testimony

and how he shared the gospel

that 10 cities,

Decapolis, 10 cities

heard the gospel

of Jesus Christ

because of this one

formerly demon possessed man.

The power of your

personal testimony.

Listen, believers.

Listen, Christians.

Open your mouth

and tell people

about what you know

about God.

brag on God.

Right before we went to India,

Barbara had kidney cancer

and it was an awful situation

for us.

I mean, we,

man, we're on the threshold

of going to India

and my wife

is hit by a Chevrolet Silverado

right in her driver's door,

45 miles an hour.

And they airlift her

to Pitt Memorial Hospital

in Greenville, North Carolina

and she's got internal injuries

and I walk into the room

and I'm thinking,

you know,

she's busted up inside

and the doctors say cancer.

And I went,

what?

She had a car wreck

and you found

seven centimeter tumor

in her right kidney.

Well, I'll just be honest with you.

I wish I could sound

real spiritual

and say,

well, we trusted God.

We were going to India.

India was out.

It was my wife's life

and I wasn't even thinking

about the Coley.

I wasn't thinking

about UUPGs.

I was thinking

about my wife dying.

Are you with me, church?

God delivered Barbara

of cancer.

If we would have went

to India

before the car accident,

she would have become

terminal on the field.

It goes to your bone

and your lung,

that kind of cancer.

And my wife

would have died in India.

But because God allowed

that truck

to hit that car,

have you ever heard

of Romans 8, 28?

I think that's still

in the Bible, right?

For all things

work together for good?

Because the Lord allowed

something that we saw

as bad,

but He meant it for good.

It saved my wife's life.

And guess what?

Four months after

her kidney was removed,

four months later,

we might be crazy for this.

You might think,

you're crazy.

And we probably are.

We hit the ground

in Mumbai

to take the gospel

to this unreached people group.

So I'm just telling you

that the power

of what God has done.

Now my wife is able

to share with people

how God saved her life

through this tragedy

of a car accident.

It's a testimony

she can share naturally.

By the way,

when you share your testimony,

don't share a canned,

memorized.

That sounds so phony.

Share something fresh.

Share what God's done for you.

Share how God saved you.

And then couple it

with the gospel.

And see what the Lord does.

Look at another example.

John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

The power of personal testimony

in the woman at the well.

Verse 39.

And many of the Samaritans

of that city

believed in Jesus,

believed in him,

because of the word

of the woman

who testified.

He told me all

that I ever did.

You see,

many people in her village

believed in Jesus

because of her testimony.

Now was she a big famous person?

No.

She was actually considered

a shameful woman.

She would go to the water well

in the heat of the day

to not be able to face,

to not have to face

the other women

and their looks.

Because she is on

her fifth husband.

But look who God used

in that village

to bring that village

to Christ.

He used this woman

who would go to the well

at noontime

to be the agent

to carry the gospel

and the message of Christ

back to her village.

And it says here

that many of them believed.

You don't have to be a preacher

to tell your testimony.

You don't have to have

Bible college.

You don't have to have

a seminary degree.

You don't have to be

a natural speaker.

Just open your mouth

and watch God work

through your testimony.

My priority.

My priority is to share.

To share my story

and to share God's story.

So just to recap,

our priority.

Number one,

every person hears.

Number two,

every believer shares.

And number three,

every disciple multiplies.

Or to say that more practically,

every disciple makes

another disciple.

And then you teach

that disciple

to make another disciple.

And then exponentially,

we can reach Pickens.

We can reach South Carolina.

We can reach the world

if disciples would follow

these three simple axioms.

every person hears.

Every believer shares.

And every disciple multiplies.

So the Lord Jesus Christ

gave us the command

to go and make disciples

of all the nations.

To baptize them

in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And to teach them

to observe the things

that He has commanded.

Jesus said.

Now as we go to do this,

as we lead someone to Christ,

how do we disciple them?

What do we do?

Do we go buy a book

at Lifeway?

I would advise not to do that.

Because anything that you can do

that's just rigid,

just invest your life

in the life of that person.

Spend time with them.

Come to church with them.

I've got an acronym

that helped me in discipling.

In fact, I'm discipling a man

right now.

And this acronym

is very helpful.

And it came from a ministry

called Verge

on the internet.

But that's where I got this.

And it's the BLESS acronym.

And if you're working with someone,

trying to disciple them,

just use this acronym

in your life.

First of all,

begin your time with prayer.

When you meet with them,

begin with prayer.

Secondly, L in BLESS.

Listen.

Listen to them for opportunities.

Ways that you can minister

to their needs.

In doing that,

you can show Christ

to their life.

Third, E.

Eat with them.

I like that point.

I like to eat.

You eat with them.

Spend time with them.

Don't just meet them

at church.

Have them at your house.

Bring someone to your home.

Eat a meal with them.

Get to know them.

S.

Serve with them.

Find ways to serve.

Now, this is a person

you're discipling.

Find something to do.

Here at First Baptist,

other opportunities,

look for something to do.

Share.

The last S.

Share your story

and God's story,

which means teach them

how to share their testimony.

Let them see you do it.

And in doing that,

you make a disciple,

someone who can follow

your example.

You've multiplied your faith

in someone else.

His passion

and his plan

must be our priority.

Jesus' last words

on the earth

to his church

to go and make disciples,

to be witnesses

in Jerusalem,

Judea,

Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth.

His last words

must be our first priority

as a church.

We must give.

We must continue to give.

I know First Baptist gives.

And many of you give

sacrificially to missions.

Continue to give.

But we can't stop there.

We've got to own

this responsibility.

We must go.

I heard Jeff talking about

going with Carpenters for Christ,

going and doing

these mission trips.

Go.

Continue to go

on trips

and short-term trips.

We must send

people from our congregation

who are called to God,

called by God

to go to the mission field.

We must continue to send

and we must pray

and continue to pray.

But it doesn't stop

with going,

giving,

sending,

and praying.

We who are followers

of Jesus Christ,

His church

must own

the responsibility

of the burden

of our Father

for the nations,

for reaching

the unreached

and unengaged

of our world.

And we do this

by making it a priority

in three specific areas.

And I end the message

with this.

First of all,

church,

I'm speaking to you

corporately.

We must be aware

of the need

and aware

of our Father's burden

for the nations.

That's part of what

this message is about,

is awareness.

Letting you know,

giving you some information,

letting you think

and ponder and pray,

hopefully,

about the need

in our Father's heart

for the lost

and for the nations.

Secondly,

we must seek out

opportunities

to further educate

ourselves

in the overall need

and what we can do

to be a part

of the solution

to see the nations

come to Christ.

Number three,

we must move

to action.

We must

become personally

involved

and it's funny

to speak to a church

corporately

and say you've got

to be personally involved,

but the church

is a body

of Christ

and the church

must have

a single heart

about what God's

heart is for,

which is the nations.

become

personally involved

as a church

in a call

to action

to adopting

an unreached

people group.

You say,

well,

where do we begin?

First of all,

be made aware

of who the unreached

people groups are.

What can we do?

The IMB offers

an intensive,

a mission summit

that they're willing

to come

and send a team

to help educate

further on how

churches can engage

the unengaged.

Churches have to

invite them.

They won't force

their way,

but that's a way

that we can become

more personally

involved as a church

in adopting

this unreached

people group.

Now,

let me say this to you.

I'm either right

and I'm on

bullseye

with the word

of God

and the heart

of God,

our Father,

or I'm just a crazy man

who's completely

missed it.

I believe

with all my heart

I'm right.

God has grabbed

my heart

for the unreached.

I'll never be the same.

Jeff said I'd served

as an American pastor

for 27 years

and I did

and I thought

I really had

a good grasp of missions

and I did

in a conceptual way,

but when I went

to India

to live in India

and to work

among a people

that no one

had ever worked

among,

it really,

God's passion

for the nations

became my passion.

I began to have

my Father's heart

for those who had

never heard

the gospel

of Jesus Christ.

So I just want

to submit to you.

I hope I'm not

out of order

in doing so.

I'm just delivering

the burden

that God put

in my heart

to give to you

this morning

that we become aware

and we look for

further ways

to educate ourselves

in relation

to the burden,

the need,

and then we have

a call to action

which could lead

to the adoption

of an unreached

people group

and how that

fleshes out

and how that

works out

is between

your church

and God

and the IMB

is more than

willing to be

helpful to come

and assist

and to facilitate

but we,

the church,

have to own.

We can't just

pay the IMB

to do our work.

We want to

be a part,

personally involved

in the work

of Jesus Christ

and the passion

of God

for the nations.

Let's bow our heads

and close our eyes.

Dear God,

thank you for the

opportunity

to come here,

Lord,

and to expound

on your heart

for those

who are lost.

Help us to remember,

Lord,

that it's not just

about overseas.

Lord,

we should be

sharing here.

We should be

sharing our testimony

here with people

that we work with,

that we see

at the restaurant.

People maybe

we live on the

same street

or we go to

a ball game with.

Lord,

it's not just

about doing

missions overseas.

It's about doing

it here in our

Jerusalem,

doing it in our

region and nation

and doing it,

of course,

to the ends

of the earth.

But Lord,

help us in doing

missions.

Help us not

to forget

the ones

who've never

heard,

Lord.

Help us never

to abandon,

Lord,

those who've

never had a chance

to respond.

Lord,

who's going

to take up

that burden?

Who's going

to take up,

Lord,

that responsibility?

It's got to be

us,

Father,

your people.

Would you

re-familiarate

our hearts

with your heart,

God?

Would you

re-familiar

our hearts

with yours?

Would you

pour into

us,

Lord,

your passion

for the nations,

God?

Especially for

those who are

unreached

and unengaged,

God.

Surely,

Lord,

we can't

do everything,

but we

can do

something,

Father.

So,

Lord,

lead this

precious church,

this precious

pastor and

staff.

Lead them,

Lord,

as to what

you would

want them

to do

and continue

to do

as they

do missions

well.

Lord,

continue to

do the

things that

they're doing

well already,

Lord.

God,

I just pray

your blessings

on First

Baptist Church

Pickens,

Lord.

Put this

message deep

in our soul.

Don't let

us easily

forget it,

Father.

In Jesus'

name I

pray.

Amen.