Ep. 064 Pack Your Coffin

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast.

We are a Bible -believing church located in beautiful

British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part

of the Christian Fellowship Ministries with 3

,000 churches around the world. We are a church

focused on world evangelism, discipleship, and

church planting. Here we will share recent sermons

from PHSA Church and other sermons from throughout

our fellowship. I'm Pastor David Bickford, and

I will be your host for this podcast. I thank

you for listening today, and we hope these messages

are a blessing to you and bring you closer to

God. Well, hello and welcome back to the Potter's

House Seminar and Podcast. Again, my name is

David Bickford, and I'm the pastor here in town,

and I want to apologize for the delay in the

early the continuity, I guess, in this podcast

series. We've been going through a lot of technological

changes within the group here. And one of the

things we've done is we've started live streaming

on YouTube. So you can take a look at that on

our YouTube page, which the links for that are

in the podcast notes. And you can follow along

with us there. As I go through, I've got a few

messages I want to throw up here just specifically

on the podcast to kind of catch us up to where

we're at in the live stream. And then eventually

I will just be switching over to... populating

this podcast with basically taking what is preached

on Sundays and putting it into the podcast format.

So that's basically what we're doing, and that's

the reason for the delay. But today I have a

message entitled, Pack Your Coffin, One -Way

Missionaries, No Turning Back. And the text that

we'll use as a jumping off point is Acts 4, 17

through 20. So if you're in your Bibles, you're

following along, you can just go ahead there

and turn in Acts 4. Again, I want to thank you

for joining me here on the podcast. I hopefully

there will be no further delays as I've gotten

a little bit better with the technology and with

using certain AI features to be able to self

-populate this stuff online and make it so that

it takes a little less work to get it done. It's

always a learning experience, and it's always

just a journey to be a little bit more productive

and to be able to help bring you guys the Word

of God in a more succinct and regular pattern.

So again, let's jump in. I have a quick illustration

here. It pulls from Luke a little bit. So Luke

9 .33 says, And he said to all of them, If any

man will come after me, let him deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me. A

century ago, a band of brave souls became known

as the one -way missionaries. They purchased

a single ticket to the mission field without

a return half. And instead of suitcases, they

packed coffins. As they sailed out of port, they

waved goodbye to everyone they loved and everything

they knew. They knew they'd never return. A .W.

Milne was one of those missionaries, and he set

sail for the New Hebrides in the South Pacific,

knowing full and well that the headhunters who

lived there had martyred every missionary before

him. Milne did not fear for his life because

he had already died to himself. His coffin was

packed. For 35 years, he lived among the tribe

and loved them. And when he died, tribe members

buried him in the middle of their village and

inscribed this epitaph on his tombstone. When

he came, there was no light. When he left, there

was no darkness. So when did we start believing

that God wants to send us to safe place to do

easy things? That faithfulness is holding the

fort. That playing it safe is safe. That there

is any greater sacrifice than true sacrifice.

The radical is anything but the normal. Jesus

didn't die to keep us safe. He died to make us

dangerous. Faithfulness is not holding the fort.

It's storming the gates of hell. The will of

God is not an insurance plan. It is a daring

plan. The will of God is meant for that in our

lives. The complete surrender of your life to

the cause of Christ isn't radical. It is normal.

It's time to quit living. As if the purpose of

life is to arrive safely at death. Let's look

at our text, Acts 4, 17 through 20. But in order

that it may spread no further among the people,

let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in

his name. So they called them and charged them

not to speak or to teach at all in the name of

Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, whether

it is right in the sight of God to listen to

you rather than to God, you must judge. For we

cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

Amen. Let's pray. Dear Lord, I just pray that

this message will infect people's hearts, that

the spirit of conviction will overcome people's

fear, and that they will give their lives wholly

over to you, picking up their cross and taking

the gospel out to the streets, taking the gospel

to the dangerous places, so that they might share

the gospel with the lost and bring light to the

darkness. Say amen. So I've decided to follow

Jesus as a Christian hymn originating from India,

and the lyrics are based on the last words of

a man in Garo, Assam. I have decided to follow

Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus, it reads.

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back,

no turning back. Now, I apologize. I'm not the

best of singers, so I'm reading you the lyrics,

not singing them. It continues on, the world

behind me, the cross before me, the world behind

me, the cross before me. What's powerful about

lyrics like this is that it continually hits

home, much to the way that Jesus asked Peter

to feed his sheep. And he asked him three times,

and it says a third time here, the world behind

me, the cross before me. Because we are supposed

to think of ourselves as looking back behind

ourselves about the world and looking towards

the cross that Christ has picked up or told us

to pick up. There is no turning back. No, there

is no turning back. It continues on, though none

go with me, still I will follow three times in

repetition. No turning back, no turning back.

My cross I'll carry till I see Jesus. My cross

I'll carry till I see Jesus. My cross I'll carry

till I see Jesus. No turning back. No turning

back. The song concludes with, will you decide

now to follow Jesus three times again? And that

final call of no turning back, no turning back.

So today we're going to look at being called.

We're also going to look at Being qualified.

And finally, we're going to finish with the idea

of being full of regret or being ready to enter

into salvation or into eternity, rather. So being

called in Deuteronomy 31, 23, it says, and the

Lord commissioned Joshua, the son of Nun and

said, be strong and courageous. For you shall

bring the people of Israel into the land that

I swore to give them. And I will be with you.

About 150 years ago, there was a great revival

in Wales. As a result of this, many missionaries

came to the Northeast India to spread the gospel,

the region known as Assam or Assam. was comprised

of hundreds of tribes who were primitive and

aggressive headhunters. Into these hostile and

aggressive communities came a group of missionaries

from the American Baptist missions, spreading

the message of love, peace, and hope in Jesus

Christ. Naturally, they were not welcomed. One

missionary succeeded in converting a man, his

wife, and two children. This man's faith proved

contagious, and many villagers began to accept

Christianity. Angry, the village chief summoned

all the villagers, he called the family who had

first converted to renounce their faith in public

or face execution. Moved by the Holy Spirit,

the man said, I have decided to follow Jesus.

Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief

ordered his archers to arrow down the two children.

As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the

chief asked, will you deny your faith? You have

lost both your children. You will lose your wife

too. So this tragedy, this horrible story, is

a picture for us in the world today. I admit

that it's a hard story to listen to. It nonetheless

is a critical thing for us to understand when

we consider the power of our Lord and the purpose

of our faith in Him. As Christians, we look past

this life with an expectation for the next. Part

of that expectation is the realization that the

gift of grace is more important than anything.

Evangelism is more important than anything because

it is what makes us truly Christian and truly

striving to be Christ -like. We are not to fear

physical death as Christians because we have

eternal life in our Lord Jesus. The prophet says,

I am slow to speech. And God says he will uplift

and help him. So often we'll try to make excuses

when God calls us to speak on his half, just

like Moses did. He struggled with speaking for

God, but fortunately for Moses, God was not willing

to let him go free from his calling, but made

a way for him to fulfill that calling. Even today,

we cannot get away from our calling. We can either

accept it or reject it, but we can never truly

get rid of the call on our lives. In Exodus 4,

10, we're going to look at a few different verses

here. Verse 10, verse 14, verse 16, it says,

So here's the initial petition. Hey, Lord. You

got the wrong guy. This isn't my skill set. How

often do we as Christians or even just people

in general wander around saying, that's not my

forte. That's not something I'm good at. So therefore,

you can't ask that of me. There's no understanding

or expectation that maybe the ask is so that

you can be stretched and so that you can grow

in your faith or grow in your relationship. with

Christ or grow if it's at work and your boss

is asking you to do something you're not, you

know, really suited to do. Maybe he's asking

because he sees some sort of potential in you

and he's trying to stretch you so that you could

grow to greater heights. So in verse 14, it says,

moses that you're not going to get away with

making an excuse for your calling you could see

a similar thing in this in that work picture

that i gave whereas you might deny like i don't

have the skill set for this so then your boss

says that's great i've got a mentor for you who's

going to help you to grow so then in verse 16

it says he shall speak for you to the people

and he shall be your mouth and you shall be as

a god to him so this picture again is You're

going to get trained, you're going to get educated,

you're going to get supported, but you're still

going to have to deal with this call on your

life. You're still going to have to deal with

the responsibility that I'm laying in your hands.

So we start traveling through the Old Testament,

we see the prophets of God constantly commanded

to speak to the people on God's behalf. Why is

it important to speak? Why can't we just... write

down letters on Instagram or put Instagram posts

out. Because the word of God and the gospel of

Jesus Christ is meant to be heard. Let us look

at just a few times where the prophets were told

by God to speak, keeping in mind that the phrase

speak to shows up in the Bible over 250 times.

In Exodus 25, one to two, it says, the Lord said

to Moses, speak to the people of Israel that

they... take for me a contribution. For every

man whose heart moves him, you shall receive

the contribution for me. Leviticus has 22 instances

where God tells Moses to speak to the children

of Israel. In Jeremiah 11, one through two, it

says, the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord,

hear the words of this covenant and speak to

the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

God's word was meant to be spoken. In all of

the Old Testament, it was expected that you would

have a large portion of the entirety of the Torah

memorized so that you could draw from the word

and speak with authority. When prophets were

called by the Lord, it was to speak to the people

of Israel. In the New Testament, the pattern

is the same. When Jesus would heal, he expected

those who had their lives changed to become vocal

testimonies. So let's look now at being qualified.

We are always worried about a lack of qualifications

in our life. When you go out to look for your

first job, the question of qualifications is

top of mind. I have two kids that are just coming

out into the world into their first jobs or the

difficulties of... getting close to full -time

employment, finishing up some additional education

so they can hopefully gain full -time employment.

And when you come to these job interviews, that's

the biggest thing they ask for is what's your

qualifications and why do you want to work here?

But as we get older, you'd think this seems to

fade away, but it never really does. The world

is hung up. on this idea of qualifications in

somewhat of an unhealthy way. Qualifications

are important, but godly qualifications are what

we should be focusing on, and they are far simpler

to understand and to achieve. In Titus 1, 5 through

8, we see the qualifications of the elders. It

says, this is why I left you in Crete, so that

you might put what remained in order and appoint

elders in every town as I directed you. If anyone

is above reproach, the husband of one wife and

has children are believers and not open to the

charge of just debauchery or insubordination.

For an overseer is God's steward must be above

reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick tempered

or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

but hospitable, a lover of good, self -controlled,

upright, holy, and disciplined. This sounds simple

enough, but when we put it into action, this

requires intestinal fortitude. When we stand

against a fallen world, we have to be able to

stand in the face of lions and even under the

threat of the fiery furnace. So when we look

back at our story that we started off with, we

pick up the man from Assam and he replies, though

no one joins me, still I will follow. The chief

was beside himself with fury and ordered his

wife to be arrowed down. In a moment, she joined

her two children in death. Now he asked for the

last time, I will give you one more opportunity

to deny your faith and live. In the face of death,

the man said the final memorable lines, the cross

before me, the world behind me, no turning back.

He was shot dead like the rest of his family.

But with their deaths, a miracle took place.

The chief, who had ordered the killings, was

moved by the faith of the man. He wondered, why

should this man, his wife, and two children die

for a man who lived in a faraway land on another

continent some 2 ,000 years ago? There must be

some remarkable power behind the family's faith.

And I, too, want to taste that faith. The man

in our story had no high -flying qualifications,

but he had had all the qualifications that he

needed to make a difference. He was upright and

stood in his faith. In the end, Jesus was glorified.

And Titus Paul was concerned for the newborn

church on Crete, and he wrote to Titus to encourage

him. And to instruct him on how he should go

about building the church, he tells Titus to

look for those who meet the qualifications in

Titus 1, 9 -11. He must hold firm to the trustworthy

word as taught, so that he may be able to give

instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke

those who contradict it. For there are many who

are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers,

especially those of the circumcision party. They

must be silenced since they are upsetting whole

families by teaching for shameful gain what they

ought not to teach. There are two points to look

at here. The first is the standards are important.

How you live is the example that you set. The

second point is that it would be a test for Titus.

It is not easy to silence those who oppose you.

And it is even more difficult to hold the standards

in a world that does not even believe in the

truth like we do today. They battle against the

circumcision party, which is the back to the

Jewish roots party, which is saying that as a

Christian, you have to first be a Jew and you

have to follow the law in order to be a Christian

under the law of Judaism. But we know as part

of the new covenant that we do not have to do

that. And Paul has taught us so much and Peter

as well. But the reality is, is this was a battle

he was fighting, but today's battle is different.

Today we fight a battle of a world that says

that what we believe is irrelevant. And they

want to, you know, some would even claim that

there is no God. But I would argue that many

more. have a much more treacherous belief where

they can include Jesus into what they believe,

but only if they diminish the divinity of God

and Jesus incarnate, Jesus who is God. This is

something I preached on last week, and you can

see it on the live stream, is just the sense

that it's funny how all these other faiths in

the world are so willing to accept Jesus as long

as he's accepted in a limited or lesser capacity

than his divinity requires. We have to hold to

that truth. We also, within our own Christian

world, we battle with people who say that if

you're not of this church, you're not saved.

If you're not of this church, you're not, or

that church, you're not saved. But we hold to

the old creeds, the belief that Jesus Christ

is the Son of God, but he is God as well. He's

part of the triune nature of the Father, the

Son, and the Holy Ghost. So that makes him very

God. That makes him eternal, like God, not a

created being. And that only through Jesus can

we come to the Father. So there is no need for

intermediary. We are directly tapping into God

through the Son who is part of that triune nature

of God. So anybody who differs from this is not

of the same faith. These are the critical points

that allow us to be able to link arms with other

churches, other peoples who believe the core

belief that we do. That there is no way to salvation

except by the freely given grace from our God

through Jesus Christ. And that works come because

of salvation. And salvation doesn't come because

of works. Both of these points that I touched

on earlier show how important it is for us to

live with a spirit of action. Our lives must

always be pointed towards the end goal, the destination

of heaven. We are not on a conveyor belt or an

escalator to heaven. We are at the base of a

mountain. We must ever endeavor to climb to new

heights in our salvation. It is not that faith

plus works equals salvation. It's rather that

faith equals salvation and then works come as

a sign of fruit. James 2 .26 says, apart from

the Spirit, is dead, so also faith apart from

works is dead. The crux of this idea is that

your faith will bring you salvation and a desire

to serve others in Christ. The fruit that comes

from those works will show you as qualified for

greater service in the kingdom of God. This is

not where we end, though. This is only the beginning.

We need to now turn to the doctrine because this

is how you will likely be able to serve and edify

or build up the church and the gospel of Jesus

Christ. So will you have a life full of regret

or will you be ready? The weight of regret is

heavy. And this is from a poem that I found online.

And it says, too many of you are afraid of wrong

things. Stop asking yourself, is it all going

to be worth it? Start asking yourself, what kind

of crap show is my life going to become if I

don't do it? Because I promise you, even if you

do fall short of your goals, that life will be

a thousand times better than the life you could

end up with as a result of your willingness to

do the work. The weight of regret is heavy. So

the end of the story was not one of regret, but

of victory. The chief of the tribe was convicted

by this show of faith. In a spontaneous confession

of faith, he declared, I too belong to Jesus

Christ. When the crowd heard this from the mouth

of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ

as their Lord and their Savior. The song is based

on the last words of Naksing, a man from the

Garo tribe of Assam, now Manghala and some in

Assam, India. It is today the song of the Garrow

people. The final chapter of Titus is all about

being ready. It touches on the mission drift

and avoiding distractions and staying true to

our purpose. All too often, we allow ourselves

to get wrapped up in controversy or should I

say politics. But here in the scripture, it tells

us to avoid these things and remain for our purpose.

If we are not ready for action, then we cannot

execute our mission. Titus chapter 3 verses 9

Titus 3:9–11

through 11 say, But foolish controversies, genealogies,

dissensions, and quarrels about law, for they

are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person

who stirs up division after warning him once

and then twice, having nothing more to do with

him, knowing that such a person is warped and

sinful, he is self -condemned. So here's an excerpt

from a business article relating to strategy

versus execution. Strategy is choices. Execution

is actions. How to take the right execution actions.

If strategy is about making the right choices,

then the execution is about taking those right

actions. Strategy focuses on thinking. Execution

centers on the doing. And many leaders struggle

with identifying the right actions their organization

needs to take. This is partially because they

have been taught how to plan and not how to execute.

Achieving excellence in execution requires cultivating

a bias towards action across an organization.

So I find the contrast between strategy and execution

and action to be one of the most interesting

things that I deal with in my life. I've spent

many of the years of my life academically and

professionally and personally trying to gain

an understanding of the need of execution above

the need of perfect strategy. So here at the

Potter's House, we are Christians and we're very

fortunate because we have a clear pattern, a

strategy laid out for us in the gospel. The book

of Titus, as well as others, provides us with

the strategy necessary to live a Christian life.

We just need to be ready to execute that strategy.

So as a part of our Statement of Faith Fellowship,

we believe in this pattern of evangelism, taking

the gospel outside the four walls of the church.

And we're acting in obedience to Mark 16, where

he says, go into all the world and preach the

gospel to every creature. We emphasize personal

evangelism in a large variety of outreaches to

share the gospel. You might see us if you're

in Salmon Arm. We stand with a sign. with signs

out in front of the farmer's market on Saturday

mornings. And I'm blessed to be able to do that

with a couple other people who are from other

churches as well who've started to come because

they've been convicted to share the gospel more

and more. We believe in conversion. the gospel

that has a power to transform lives. In 1 Peter

1 .23, it says, having been born again, not of

corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the

word of God, which lives and abides forever.

How would they be converted that they haven't

heard, which is why evangelism leads to conversion.

But we also have a strong focus on the local

church. God has placed everything necessary to

accomplish his will within that local church.

That's why we don't proselytize as well. We don't

seek out to try to grab other Christians from

other churches. If they're preaching the gospel

in that church, then they should be rooted in

that place and they should fulfill their call

of God in that place. And I emphasize that if

they're following the word of God, if they're

a Bible -believing church, which I believe there

are many that are, then you should be rooted

in there and you should grow in your faith there.

In Ephesians 1, 22 through 23, it says, and he

put all things under his feet and he gave him

a head over all things to the church, which is

his body, the fullness of him who fills all in

all. God's will is accomplished in us and through

us as we connect and commit ourselves to the

local church. We are a discipleship -based fellowship,

training and equipping. is something that is

best done within the setting of the local church.

And we believe that because the relationships

are built there. That conversion is supposed

to have happened there, within that group, within

that body of believers. And therefore, the highest

calling of a pastor in a congregation is to obey

God's command in Matthew 28, 19 through 20, when

he says, These are the words of Jesus, the last

words to command. his people to go out and witness

and testify and evangelize. We also believe in

a pattern of church planting. The result of discipleship

should be that people are raised up and being

able to be released out into the harvest fields

to start the pattern again. And part of that

is the world that, you know, part of that world

makes us focus on world evangelism. From the

earliest Bible record, God's vision is a worldwide

testimony and impact. The gospel message is relevant

in every nation and culture in the world. Our

job as believers in the local church is to pray,

train, invest, send, and support workers to go

into all of the world. So with the strategy set,

with the pattern set, the only thing left is

to decide if you will be ready for action. We

are called to be a people of action because there

is work to do. The fields are white for harvest,

as it says in John 4 .35. Will you be ready or

will you be filled with regret? So if I could

have every head bowed, every eye closed, wherever

you are listening to this, as long as it's safe

and you're not driving and you're not listening

to this double speed like I do. I just want to

take a quick moment as we close. I always give

an invitation. Whether I'm preaching in person,

whether I'm doing something like this just physically

online. I want you to know that you have a choice.

Maybe you're listening to this and you don't

even know why, but your heart's not right with

God. And you want to get it right with God. I

want you to know you can do that. I want you

to signify that with an uplifted hand wherever

you are. Because even though I can't see it,

I believe God can see it. And it's just one step

in you making a choice. through your own free

will to say, I need God in my life. If you did

that, I want you to then repeat a quick prayer

with me. It's just something simple like this.

It says, Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner,

that I'm not perfect, but I know that you sent

your son, Jesus Christ, to die for me, to die

for my sins, and that he rose again. I accept

him as my Lord and my Savior, and I turn away

from the sins of my past. I turn away and I repent.

In Jesus' name, amen. That simple prayer is just

a recognition of what you should be feeling in

your heart already. I need God. And I accept

him. And I accept the gospel message that Jesus

came as God to earth and he returned to be God

to set me free from my sin and to broker that

relationship with the Father. I want to thank

you for listening to me. Hopefully this will

be the continuation of regular weekly podcasts

without any interruption outside of maybe when

I'm gone at conference, but I will try to make

sure that that doesn't happen anymore either.

And then I probably will shake it up and have

additional podcasts interspersed in here, maybe

with some, you know, just my perspective from

our biblical perspective on news and events.

I'm thinking about doing something like that.

It's not going to be what you're going to expect.

I'm not going to pontificate about politicians

or people, but rather how we should take what's

going on in the world today and focus our eyes

on the cross and on Jesus and what he would want

us to do with the times that we're living in.

So again, thank you for listening and just God

bless. And I hope you have a great rest of your

day. Thank you. for listening to the PHSA Potter's

House Salmon Arm podcast. Be sure to follow us

on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon

arm to keep up to date on what we are doing.

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