“God's Global Vision” by Pastor Daniel Floyd

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Revelation chapter 7.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

It's the scripture we're going to work from.

Verse 9 through 10 says this.

After this, I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb.

They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.

Aren't you thankful there's coming today we'll be clothed in white, not because of our righteousness, but because of the righteousness of Jesus?

And it says this, this is the picture.

They were shouting with a great roar.

So if you want quiet church, heaven won't be your place.

And this is what they said salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb.

How many of you know that salvation only is found in the person of Jesus Christ?

Can I get a better amen in the house of God today?

I want to bring a message entitled God's Global Vision.

If you're the note-taking type, write it down.

If you're not, go ahead and write it down anyways.

Let's pray together.

Father, our hearts and minds are open.

Holy Spirit, speak to us.

We expect to never be the same because of it.

And we ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Everybody said, Amen.

So uh years ago, I used to run a lot of races.

Some of you are thinking, was someone chasing you?

No, they were not.

Um, I chose to do this.

Uh, did several marathons, half marathons, 10K's, 5K's, all the things.

I did all the things.

I needed, I couldn't get into running just to run.

I always need a goal.

Anyone else like that?

Like, I need I need a goal.

If I'm gonna get into something, I gotta have a goal and I go all in.

I don't go halfway in.

Um, if I get I got into golfing and I got all the things, I'm not any better.

I just got all the things that go along with it.

And uh so I would run these races, and you start out if you've never run before, you should try it.

Um, but you start out these races, and it's you know, a marathon is 26.2 miles, half marathon 13.1.

And so you have to begin training because you don't go from I want to run a marathon to I run it the next day.

Are you all tracking with me?

There's some training involved, there's some some energy you got to put into it, and so you have to the phrase is you've got to start with the end in mind.

You've got to start with the end.

What is the end you want?

You want to cross that finish line, you want to run however many miles that are running, and so you've got to start with the end in mind.

And the the end that I had in mind is this was finishing alive.

I would picture in my mind crossing that finish line, getting my finisher medal, not a winning medal, everybody, just to be honest.

The finisher medal, and they'd give you a banana.

I was running for that banana.

Come on, give me a banana at the end of that race.

I needed some potassium in the body, right?

So that was the picture that you have.

And I would propose to you today is that that what we read in Revelation 7 is the picture that God has in mind at the end.

That this is the vision that God has for us.

And vision is a great thing because if you have vision for your life, which you should, it tells you what you will do and it tells you what you won't do.

It gives you parameters, it gives you limits.

Matter of fact, the book of Proverbs says that where there is no vision, the people perish.

But another translation says the people cast off restraint.

In other words, there's no guardrails because when you get vision, it gives you guardrails.

It says, this is the direction I'm going, these are the yeses I will give, and these are the no's that I will give, because I've got vision for my life.

Can I tell you something?

God has a vision for his church.

And I want to propose to you that what I read, just read in Revelation chapter 7 is the vision that God has.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

That God has this picture that he's working towards, that all of creation has been moving towards, and it's this that every nation, every tribe, every tongue would be gathered around the throne, saying, salvation belongs to our God who sets on the throne and unto the Lamb.

That's what we're all working towards, everybody, is that every nation, every tribe, every tongue would be worshiping God.

This is the vision that God has.

This is the vision we as a church should have.

We should be on the mission of helping every nation, every tribe.

Are y'all getting the point?

Every tongue around the throne.

Saying salvation belongs to our God and unto the Lamb.

This is what God wants, I believe, for all of us.

I believe it's what he wants for his church.

I believe what he wants for everyone is that we would be a part of this, going, I'm gonna be a part of making sure that throne is surrounded with every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every language, declaring the praises of our God.

One theologian says it this way that the that missions exist because worship doesn't.

Because there are places around the world where currently the worship of our God doesn't take place.

And so the gospel must get into those areas so they see the wonderful grace of God and begin to express their worship to Him, which is what we're gonna be doing for all of creation.

If you're with me, say amen.

So I'm gonna give you three thoughts about this because I don't want you to just hear what we do in missions and not understand why we do it.

I don't want you just to know that, oh, that's great.

We do some wonderful things, and as a church family, we do some amazing things when it comes to getting the gospel to the ends of the earth.

But I don't want you just to think it's about the things we do.

I want you to understand the heart and the why behind it because we're all invited into this mission that Jesus is on, that every nation, every tribe, every tongue.

Are you with me?

Say amen.

So I want to give you three thoughts.

More than thoughts.

There are things I want you to get embedded into your heart because I believe it's the heart of God for all of us.

And number one is this is that Jesus is on a mission.

That Jesus is on a mission, and and it's the mission we all should be on, by the way.

So let's back up a little bit because there was a time when everything was perfect and everything was in order, right?

Are y'all with me?

Then we had the fall.

We're going back to Genesis, okay, everybody?

We went through the fall of man, right?

Sin enters the world, right?

And so then sin needs to have a solution, and the solution is this person named Jesus, right?

Jesus comes and he lives the life you and I could never live, and he dies the death.

Honestly, you and I deserve to die because he paid for the penalty of our sin, correct?

Are y'all tracking with me today?

Okay.

He paid the penalty of our sin, right?

So Jesus comes and now all of humanity has the opportunity to hear this great news of the gospel.

Every nation, every tribe, every tongue gets the opportunity to know the forgiveness of Jesus and the grace of God into their life, right?

But God was on a mission to seek and to save the lost.

Matter of fact, I would propose that starting from Genesis 3, as soon as Adam fell, God's first thing to them was what?

Where are you?

It's a seeking question.

It's a pursuing question.

There are some scholars that call that the very first mission move.

It was the first move of God towards humanity to go, you're lost, and I'm coming to look for you.

And this is what he's been doing ever since is he's been looking and seeking and pulling in lost humanity.

Matter of fact, the Bible says it this way in Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

You know this verse, it says, Then Jesus came to them and said, What?

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, we're to what?

Everybody say it together, every campus.

Therefore, we're to be going, right?

And as we go, what do we do?

Make disciples of all nations.

Then we're to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we're to teach them to obey everything I've commanded you.

And surely I am with you to the very end of the age.

Can I tell you something?

The promise of God being with you is in the context of you being on the mission of God.

We like to throw that phrase out.

Well, God's always with me.

Surely I'm with you to the very end of the age.

But the context of him being with us is he's being with us so that we can be on the mission that Jesus is on, and that is to seek and to save all of humanity.

As a matter of fact, these are the parting words of Jesus, so I think they're pretty important, are they not?

His last moments with the disciples.

I mean, think about it.

We just dropped Owen off at school yesterday.

Said our goodbyes, cried the tears.

I drove away thinking, did I prepare him for this moment?

All the things I thought, man, did I say that?

Did I say this?

But I had some parting words for him, some parting words of wisdom, right?

Jesus is giving his parting words.

Don't you think he's gonna say what maybe is the most important thing to him in this last moment with his disciples?

And the last thing he tells them is, I want you to go, and I want you to make disciples of all the nations.

The idea of the language there is this it's as you are going.

In other words, this is the picture that Jesus had is that as you are in the pickup line at school and having conversations with your friends, make disciples.

And as you're at Starbucks and you're interacting with the barista, I want you to go and make disciples.

And as you are connecting with people in the neighborhood, I want you to go and to make disciples.

In other words, noobs flash, disciple making isn't the church's responsibility, it's the people's responsibility that are a part of the church.

It's that as I'm living my life, as I'm in the boardroom, I'm making disciples, and as I'm in homeroom, I am making disciples, and as I'm on the football field, I am making disciples.

It's as I'm going, it's as I'm living life, I'm living on mission with Jesus.

I'm living on this mission that I'm I'm I'm I'm participating in this picture he has that every nation, tribe, and tongue would be gathered around the throne saying salvation belongs to our God, and I am a part of helping that come to fruition in the earth.

We the church are plan A, everybody, and there is no plan B.

We are it.

We're the conduit.

But I want you to understand something about this.

I love what Jesus said.

He said, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

In other words, if Jesus had a mission statement, this is it.

This should be what captures our heart.

But I want to yet understand this about this.

I love what George Peters, the missiologist, says.

The church is not an end in itself, it is the means to God's redemptive work.

Here's all that means.

Is God never intended for church to be the place that we gather and that be the end of the story?

I come, I attend, and then I go home.

That's never what God intended for the church to be.

Matter of fact, I would even propose, only two weeks in, so don't shoot me.

I would propose that God never intended the church to be a place where we gather, worship, hear the word, attend a Bible study, and that be it.

I love a good Bible study.

But the church is supposed to be the conduit through which the mission of Jesus is accomplished in the earth.

Watch this, and this is a big difference.

God doesn't have a church that is on a mission, God has a mission, and He created the church to pursue that mission in the earth.

It's a big difference, y'all.

God doesn't just have a church and we're out doing nice little things.

And we care for the poor and we kind of help people out sometimes, and we do some things overseas.

I know we do, you know, some I know we do some, we do some good things overseas, and that's going to be no, no, no.

God has a mission that he has been on.

And this mission is to seek and to save humanity.

And so now he gave us the church so that through the church, the mission of Jesus could be accomplished.

So his expectation of us is that as the body of Christ, we would be all about seeking and saving the lost, seeing them experience the grace and the forgiveness of God, and then bringing them on a journey where they grow and they mature in the grace of God, and that is all of ours' responsibility.

So we cannot be consumers of a church.

I'm here now, you're stuck with me.

We're not called to be consumers, we're called to be contributors towards the mission of Jesus.

I I don't want you, I don't want you to think that that we're just doing some humanitarian work, and and when we translate Bibles and whenever we care for the poor, and whenever we plan a church, I don't want you to think, oh, just we're just doing some nice things.

That's what a church does.

No, we are trying to point towards the in picture, which is every nation and every tribe and every tongue gathered around the throne of Jesus, saying salvation belongs to our God.

So every time we plan a church, that's what we're trying to do.

And every time we care for the poor, that's what we're pointing to.

We are not a humanitarian aid organization doing good things.

I think that's wonderful.

We are the church of Jesus Christ, and everything that we are doing is about getting every nation, every tribe, and every tongue around the throne.

We begin with the end in mind.

It's a better amen.

We're getting there.

You can tell I'm a little fired up about this.

Number two, I need you to know this is that we've been given a method.

Jesus is so great, he didn't just give us a mission, but he gave us the method on how to do it.

Sometimes people ask me, and they're like, you know, they'll say, What's your vision for the church?

And I get that.

I understand the question, and I will lay that out in the right time.

But there's a part of me in my mind that goes, I don't get to have one, it's not my church.

I get to open the word and find out what is Jesus' vision for his church.

And maybe I'm giving you a little bit of it right now, but what I read is he's given us a mission, and it's to go reach lost humanity.

And not only that, but he gave us a method.

Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

But you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses, and here's the method in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

I want you to understand this.

Jesus tells us, I'm gonna give you the power of the Holy Spirit.

Which thank God for that.

Because the Christian life is impossible apart from the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through your life.

And fulfilling and accomplishing the mission of Jesus in the earth is impossible apart from the Holy Spirit at work within our lives.

But I want you to get this.

He says, I'm gonna give you power for purpose.

He doesn't give us power just so like we feel good, he doesn't give us the power of the Holy Spirit so that you know we just have great moments in worship, and I'm all for that.

Hear my heart.

I love that.

But he gives us power to be a witness.

And then he tells us where he wants us to be a witness.

He wants us to be a witness locally.

That's in Jerusalem, that's where they were when he would have said this in Judea and Samaria.

We would call that nationally.

And then he says, I want you to be a witness to the utter ends of the earth, to the very ends of the earth.

So I want you to be a witness globally.

In other words, he's trying to expand the aperture of these disciples to go, hey, I want you to understand something.

The vision that I have is bigger than where you are right now.

And I'm trying to broaden the scope of your understanding to go, this gospel isn't just gonna stay here in Jerusalem, and this gospel isn't just gonna stay around Galilee, and it's not just gonna stay in Capernaum, and it's not just gonna stay in in Caesarea, Philippi, it's not just gonna remain in these areas that they had traveled.

He goes, no, no.

I'm trying to broaden your vision to go, no, this gospel must go locally and nationally, and it must go globally and watch this, and it must do that simultaneously.

It's not like we go locally and we're kind of good with that.

No, no.

And it's not that we go globally only and we forget about our cities.

And it's not that we go globally and forget about our nation.

No, he says, simultaneously, I'm gonna be taking this gospel through you as I empower you, both locally, nationally, and to the uttermost parts of the earth, right?

He gave us the method, and this is what she should be on.

And I would propose it's always been his method, Isaiah 49, 6, even in the Old Testament.

The prophet says, Is it too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept?

Then he says, This, I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

It's always been in the heart of God.

That salvation goes to the ends of the earth, it's always been in the heart of God.

So I want to share with you some incredible things that I've learned in my short time here.

And there's so many wonderful things that our teams are doing and the impact that you're making around the world in these areas locally, nationally, globally.

But I want you to hear a few of them.

And can I say this too?

This didn't stop within the last year.

But the mission continued to advance, even in the face of a difficult time.

How about this?

You put 30,000 Bibles in prisons in Central and North Texas, bringing the word of God, the power of life into the most needed areas to people that needed hope.

I love this shout out to our Grand Prairie campus who has been uh feeding thousands of people, but listen to this: 182 vehicles fed, 65,000 pounds of food going out, providing critical support to over 800 individuals in the North Texas area.

And more than that, this is why we do it.

Remember, it's every nation, every tribe.

We don't just give a cup of cold water, we give it in the name of Jesus, as the New Testament teaches us.

And so 80 individuals asked for prayer, and 11 people accepted Christ because we were willing to give away some food.

Come on, you can do better than that.

That changed their eternity.

How about this?

Back to school supply drive this past summer.

Over six weeks, our campuses in partnership with Cornerstone and YMCA and other organizations, we gave backpack school supplies and new shoes.

Thousands of blessings delivered to local families that otherwise would have been without, because it matters that we take the good news of the gospel locally.

And here's the deal: sometimes you have to earn the right to be heard.

And earning the right to be heard sometimes looks like a backpack to somebody in need.

It looks like a Bible to someone incarcerated.

It looks like a bag of food to someone who doesn't know where their next meal is coming from.

And because we've been given a method, it goes locally.

But it can't stop locally, it has to go nationally.

And our church has always been known for having a heart for supporting and coming alongside churches and church planting.

And I want you to hear one story of so many stories in particular of how you've made a difference nationally by taking the gospel and supporting churches that are being a lighthouse in their community.

So if you would turn your attention to the screens.

Seven people.

The pastor had resigned.

And so they really didn't have a pastor for about three years when we arrived.

The building that we moved into was this 12,000 square foot building, and man, it was in rough shape.

Really looked like a funeral home.

The children's area, the carpet was ripped, walls were really dirty, and it did not feel safe.

No money in the bank could barely even pay their mortgage.

Less than 7% of New Jersey goes to church.

That night of Hurricane Sandy, this was making national news, and here we are in the middle of it.

All of a sudden we've got to evacuate.

Wealthy, poor, no matter who you were, you lost something.

People had lost hope.

People had lost hope.

We became known as the little church that could because we just got out and made a difference.

There was this passionate cry to go out and be the church in the community.

A true biblical lighthouse.

And all of a sudden, resources started showing up.

Gateway called us, sending us financial support so that we could be that lighthouse of hope to the community.

Partnering with Gateway Church financially made such a significant difference.

We couldn't even document the footage, and so they provided money so we could buy a canon camera.

And even in the years since then, projectors and LED screens that has made a difference in such an incredible way.

So it wasn't just finances, but there was a team of pastors that cared when we were going through those dark seasons trying to bring hope to our community.

Right now, Fusion Church has two locations, and just recently God gave us a 103-year-old church.

And so we believe that it's gonna be our hope center.

In the last 12 years, we've given over a million dollars to missions.

We see a tremendous work of God where we give extravagant.

To see people walk through a church for the very first time.

And to experience his mercy, to experience worship, they have truly walked over the threshold from death and to life.

It's because of the people, you, sitting there, partnering with organizations like Fusion and others across the world that make an absolute difference in what Jesus is doing in his church.

Can you help me welcome them?

So honor you guys.

And they said we've been in relationship for Gateway for 13 years.

And uh what a beautiful story of how God is using you in a very unreached area to bring the light of the gospel.

And we just pray continued favor and blessing and more buildings given to you and more campuses opening.

Come on, can I get a better amen?

Globally, we're doing a whole lot of work as well.

And uh one area that I wanted to highlight is what we're doing in the area of Bible translation.

I don't know if you know this, but Japan is 98% unreached, and the only Bible currently available in their language is outdated and difficult to read.

And through our partnership with Life House Church in Tokyo, a wonderful, wonderful church, we've helped fund a new translation, one that is easy to understand and speaks to the heart of the Japanese people.

I want you to think about that for a moment, that you're a part of putting the scriptures into a language that connects with the heart of people.

This one I was so excited to share with you.

A little over three years ago, the team sent me this.

We one of our partners approached me about being among the first to invest in a groundbreaking translation technique, one that could shorten, listen to this, audio Bible translation from 20 years down to just two to three years.

And it puts the Bible in the mother tongue, the language of a group that is completely unreached.

So listen to this.

About two years ago, our kids' department asked if they could partner with us to raise money during Summerbash.

And so the suggestion was why don't you translate this, or why don't you adopt this project?

So they jumped right in.

And so our children raised nearly half of the funding needed to produce an audio Bible for an unreached people group in the Himalayans.

Today, the New Testament is complete, and I want you to see real quickly this short, it's a very short clip, but it is the first time this people group is hearing the New Testament in their own language.

Turn your attention to the screen.

That he gave his only son.

They're gonna hear that if you'll confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

They're gonna hear there's no other name under heaven by which men and women can't be saved except the name of Jesus.

The gospel is going globally.

Can we put our hands together for our children who funded half of that project?

All right, thought number three.

This is where it comes to you.

God invites you into his story.

Everybody, he's been writing a beautiful story before we ever got here.

And should Jesus not return in our lifetimes, he will continue to write a story of redeeming all humanity to himself.

But he's inviting us to be a part of it.

Matthew chapter 9 says this, Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area teaching in the synagogue and announcing the good news about the kingdom of God.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

And he healed every kind of disease and illness.

And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

And he said this to his disciples the harvest is great, but the workers are few.

Here's what that means.

The harvest is great.

That means right now there are people that would accept Jesus if someone would tell them.

That means right now there's someone that could be rescued from human trafficking if someone would go get them.

Right now, there's someone that would read a Bible if someone would put it in their hands.

Right now, the harvest isn't the problem.

So if someone ever tells you, people just don't want Jesus anymore.

That's not according to the scripture.

The harvest is plentiful.

The problem is the workers.

The problem is we have a lot of people that name the name of Christ, but they don't want to get on the mission of proclaiming the name of Christ.

So he says this.

So pray the Lord who is in charge of the harvest.

And ask him to send more workers into the field.

Well, that means we need more preachers and worship.

No, no, no.

We need more students that as they are going.

And we need more businessmen that as they are going will make disciples, and we need more stay-at-home moms that as they are going.

You know, we can be the answer to Jesus' prayer.

We can be the workers.

And so my question to you today is will you join them in this story?

So, how do you do that?

Let me give you two next steps.

Two easy ways to join Jesus on the mission of reaching the loss.

Number one, you can do it by praying.

Pray for the people in your life that are close to you but far from God.

Pray for the missions efforts that we're a part of.

Pray for the teams that we send.

Pray whenever you see an opportunity come up, pray.

But can I challenge you to move from being on your knees to taking another step?

And that's to participate.

Some of you need to go on a trip.

You've never gone outside the world.

You need to get a passport and go eat food that is strange to you and go worship with people.

You don't know what they're saying, but you feel the same God in the room that you feel in this room.

You need to go.

You need to get on the mission of Jesus.

You need to participate.

Some of you, you may not be able to go.

Physically, you're like, I just can't go.

You know what?

You can support someone that is going.

Let me give you one way I think we all can.

Is at every campus there are all kinds of serve opportunities.

And you can get involved at your local campus.

Some of you have never done this and you've never experienced the joy of handing a bag of groceries through the window of a car and seeing the joy that comes on somebody's face.

Of going and cleaning up some area that needs cleaning up just to be a blessing in the name of Jesus.

Why?

Because we're doing all that we're doing so that one day, every nation, every tribe, every tongue around the throne, shouting, salvation belongs to our God.

And unto the Lamb.

That is God's global vision.

And we're invited to be a part of it.

Will you pray with me?

Every head bowed, every eye closed at all of our locations.

You'll learn this about me.

I never close a time together without giving somebody an opportunity to receive Jesus.

To take a step towards him.

The Bible says if you'll draw close to God, he'll draw close to you.

I'm not asking you today if you claim to be a Christian.

I'm asking you, has your life ever been changed?

Is there a before Jesus you and an after Jesus you?

If we were sitting down over coffee, I would ask you, do you know in your heart, do you have confidence?

When you lay your head down at night, do you know that you know?

That you've surrendered your life to Jesus.

If you don't, you don't have to live wondering that.

You don't have to live hoping that one day your good will outweigh your bad, or that one day when you get to heaven there'll be a scale and it'll tip in your direction.

It doesn't work that way.

The Bible says that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

That's a problem that all of us have.

I have it, you have it, all of humanity has it.

And it's why Jesus came.

He lived the life you and I could never live a perfect life.

He died the death you and I deserve to die.

He paid the penalty for your sin and mine.

And he says that if anybody be in Christ, they're a new creation.

Everything passes away and everything becomes new.

And the way that you receive that is by faith.

Paul wrote in Romans that if you'll confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.

That's not on my word, that's on the word of God.

And so, in just a moment, I want to lead you in a prayer.

There's nothing special about the prayer, it's just me helping you communicate with God your heart that you want to surrender your life to Him.

So, with no one looking around, we wouldn't point you out or embarrass you for the world.

But if that's you, when I count to three, I just want you to shoot your hand up high high enough and long enough for myself or your campus pastor to see.

And then we're gonna pray together.

If you say that's me, I need a fresh start today.

I want to know that heaven is my home.

I want to surrender my life to Jesus.

If that's you, when I get to three, you just shoot your hand up high.

Hands are already going up.

When I get to three, you shoot it up high enough and long enough.

Then we're gonna pray.

One, two, three.

You just shoot it up high all over the room.

God bless you.

I see you.

God bless you.

I believe there are hands at every location.

So many hands here.

You can put them down.

Church, let's pray this out loud for the benefit of those who are praying this for the very first time.

Just say, Jesus, I need you.

I ask you to forgive me of all my sin.

I believe you died for me.

I believe God raised you from the dead.

Today I make you my Lord and Savior.

Thank you for a brand new beginning.

In Jesus' name.

Everybody said a big amen.

Come on, can we celebrate those who made that decision?

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.