From Every Tribe, Tongue, and Nation | Revelation 5:9-13 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 02/22/2026

We have just sung Rise with the Sun.

Now, I want you to think about this for

just a moment. Do you know that we're

late to the party this morning? We are

late to the party. What do I mean by

that? We just sung that the the islands

receive the the sun early in the day.

And you say, "What what is that

referring to?" The song is talking about

the fact that we we generally look to

the east at the beginning of the day.

Did you know that there are hundreds and

hundreds of millions of Christians who

have they they've already had their

Sunday worship. In fact, they they did

that about 12 hours ago.

When you look at to the east, they are

ahead of us by about 12 hours, right?

And so there's people all across the

South China Sea. There's people across

the Indo um Pacific rim, the pack rim

that millions of Christians, millions of

Christians in the Philippines, millions

of Christians in China um all through

the islands of Asia that they have

already been worshiping Jesus today.

There are Christians that have gone

before us um in this day alone in

worship all across the world. And you

know what? There's going to be some

Californians that are late to the party

um behind us and uh they they're just

that right now they're getting ready for

church and uh yes there are Christians

in California. Um sorry for those of you

that are from California. Um some great

Christians in California but uh they all

across the globe people use this day the

Lord's day for worship. And what a what

a beautiful thing it is for us to think

about that this morning. I want us to

look at where that song comes from in

the scripture. And I want us to take

just a few minutes to recalibrate our

hearts about God's global vision. Um and

that we would embrace this. And it can

affect everything we do. It can affect

every trial we go through. It can affect

every joy that as we live in the world,

we're going to see what's really

important to God. So this morning, the

title of the message is from every

tribe, tongue, and nation. And we've

already looked at this. I want to look

at it again. Look with me. We're

primarily coming from Revelation 5.

Though Revelation 4 is where we see the

cry of the angels before the presence of

the Lord, holy, holy, holy, that we've

just been singing about. That's in

Revelation 4. In Revelation 5, we see

this. In Revelation 7, we see more of

the picture of that throne room of God.

But look what it says in verse 9. And

they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy

are you to take the scroll and to open

its seals. For you were slain, and by

your blood you ransom people for God

from every tribe and language and people

and nation, and you have made them a

kingdom and priests to our God, and they

shall reign on the earth." Verse 11.

Then I looked and I heard around the

throne and the living creatures and the

elders the voice of many angels

numbering myriads of myriads and

thousands upon thousands saying with a

loud voice, read it out loud again,

worthy is the lamb who was slain to

receive power and wealth and wisdom and

might and honor and glory and blessing.

Verse 13. And I heard every creature in

heaven and on earth and under the earth

and in the sea and all that is in them

saying, read it out loud. To him who

sits on the throne and to the lamb be

blessing and glory and honor and might

forever and ever. This is the picture.

Sorry, I messed that last one up. My

dyslexia switched that around. Honor and

glory. but be blessing and honor and

glory and might forever. We're

recognizing this great and glorious God

that has been so good to rescue men and

women, boys and girls from every tribe,

every tongue. Well, let's look at this

this morning. I want us to see God's

global purpose from Genesis to

Revelation. This is the whole Bible. And

there's so many that have just such a a

a short view of these verses. I want you

to see this here. The Bible is not a

collection of disconnected stories.

That's what the world thinks about the

Bible. They do not see the continuity,

the whole message of the Bible. And it's

clear as day. I mean, if you just begin

to read it and you begin to see how it

fits together, it's clear as day. But

it's just because people haven't taken

the time to look. But the Bible is not a

collection of disconnected stories.

Every verse, every word fits together.

The more you study it, the more you're

convinced of that. Look at number two

here. It is one unfolding redemptive

plan. And it has always been global.

God's plan has always been global. It

wasn't just with Israel. It wasn't just

in the Mediterranean world. God's plan,

as we see in scripture, has always been

global. You see, the phrase every tribe

and language and people and nation,

that's in Revelation 5:9, is not a New

Revelation 5:9

Testament innovation. That didn't come

about in the New Testament. You say,

"Really?

I I thought it's only really in

Revelation. That's where we see the big

picture at the end." Oh, no. The big

picture has been being told to us all

the way back from Genesis as we're going

to see. You see, it's the fulfillment,

very important, it's the fulfillment of

an ancient promise. It's the fulfillment

of an ancient promise. That's what it

is. Number one, God promised a global

redemption. He promised a global

redemption. And we see it really in the

first three chapters of the Bible. A

little bit just veiled, but we see it

very clearly and explicitly stated in

Genesis 12 when God promises Abram.

Abram who would be renamed Abraham. And

God made a promise to this man of faith.

God made a promise to him that holds it.

Really, when you look at the Old

Testament, perhaps one of the most

important passages in all of your Old

Testament is Genesis 12. I want you to

recognize that this is, if you have your

Bible, you should open to Genesis 12 and

you should mark it. It should be marked.

You could put a big box around this

because this is the covenant that

explains the Old Testament. This is the

basis for our Old Testament hope and our

New Testament hope. This is this is

where God is showing us what he's going

to do. And so if you're kind of new to

studying the Bible, you need to

understand Old Testament number one

really matters. We live in a day and

time where you can go to many churches

where they never open the Old Testament.

They're not they don't understand the

Old Testament or they think that it's

antiquated and it's disconnected. Many

people would even if not if not

explicitly practically they view this

the New Testament replaces the Old

Testament. That is absolutely false.

The New Testament is built upon the

promises in the foundation of the Old

Testament.

>> And you cannot understand the New

Testament truly without diving into all

that God has promised and all that God

is doing in the Old Testament. And so

they fit together like lock and key.

Don't listen to the shallow charlatans

um about this that are simply appealing

to people's ears and your wants and your

desires. We need to look deeply at God's

eternal word. And this is here where we

see Genesis 12 1-3 is very important. So

I hope you you're getting that you

understand. Let's see why. Look at verse

one. Now the Lord said to Abram,

"Go from your country and your kindred

and your father's house to a land that I

will show you." So here's God commanding

this man of faith to leave home. And let

me tell you that in especially that day

and time, that's a very big deal. Um

because there weren't 7-Elevens on every

corner

there. There was there was not you can

just show up in another place and open

and do business.

God is calling a man in a time when the

world is not developed to leave what he

has and to leave what is there and to go

out trusting him by obedience. Look what

it says. He goes on to make this

promise. Verse two. and I will make of

you a great nation. And I will bless you

and make your name great so that you

will be a blessing. Now, that's

interesting. He didn't make Abram's name

great

for himself. Look what it says here at

the end of verse three. Why did he make

Abram's name great? Underline it.

so that he would be a blessing. You see,

there's the great difference between the

ways of God and the ways of man. Our

flesh wants to be thought of as great.

Maybe even even people that are really

involved in charities. They do great and

mighty things in charities, but very

often the hidden motivation there is

people will think well of me. But here

the picture is God is going to make his

name great. So he's a powerful force of

blessing so that you will be a blessing.

Look at verse three.

And I will bless those who bless you and

him who dishonors you I will curse. And

read it out loud together the underlined

part at the end. And in you all the

families of the earth shall be blessed.

This is a key covenant that God is

making. This is a key promise that God

is making that sal and and here's what

it ultimately means. You can put out

there to the side. Salvation is going to

come through Abraham's family.

The Messiah is going to come. That's

what's going to happen. Abraham isn't

the great one. He is pointing to the

great one. And we see this. So this is

not just a personal blessing but it's

covenantal

redemptive and it is fill it in

international. It's international.

This is God's grand plan everywhere. And

we see it down in Galatians. So we go

from the Old Testament in Genesis to we

go to the New Testament where the

Apostle Paul references the Old

Testament. He references this promise.

Look at Galatians 3:8. The apostle Paul

Galatians 3:8

references this and the scripture

talking about the Old Testament

foreseeing that God would justify the

Gentiles by faith put above Gentiles,

non-Jews. So salvation isn't just for

the Jews. Salvation is going to be for

the Gentiles, too, the non-Jews. That's

what a Gentile is. I'm a Gentile um by

birth. Um, I'm I'm not Jewish in my

background, but by the beautiful picture

of God's of God's salvation, I've been

brought into um the the chosen family of

God. I've been brought into his people

in this, but he's going to justify by

the Gentiles by faith, not by their

works. And this is, look at this. He

preached the gospel beforehand to

Abraham. So, this is God preaching the

good news. Remember, gospel means good

news. And the good news is the savior's

going to come. He preached the good news

beforehand, saying, "In you shall all

the nations be blessed." And the apostle

Paul when he's saying this in Galatians

is running to the cross of Jesus Christ.

He's pointing us to that this blessing

is coming through the Messiah. So,

couple of points on that. Top of page

two, look at this. God himself

reiterates this specific promise in

Genesis 18:18 and in Genesis 22:18.

Genesis 18:18 Genesis 22:18

So he doesn't just say it one time to

Abram. He says it over and over. And the

promise was not Israel alone, not one

culture, not one one language, but the

promise was for all.

This was the promise and it was for all.

Can you say amen to that?

because if you weren't Jewish and this

was only to the Hebrews, then we would

be in trouble. But he was saying, "No,

no, listen. I I've chosen to use them,

and I'm going to choose to come through

them, but through them, the whole world

is going to be blessed." And it's not

about them. It's about the one who will

come through them, which is the Messiah.

This is the son of God, the Messiah of

God. Notice this. God's sovereign

choosing of Abraham was the path of

blessing to the nations. Just like God's

sovereign election, it actually fuels

[snorts] missions. It fuels missions. It

does not hinder it. God is at work

drawing people to himself. He is the one

who does that. And that doesn't hinder

missions. In our church, we believe no

one comes to the father unless the

father is drawing them by his spirit. We

believe the scripture clearly teaches

that salvation comes from and through

God. It never comes from ourselves. We

never figure it out. If you're saved,

it's because God drew you, put you into

the circumstances, moved in other

people's lives to come to you to share

the gospel. Maybe your parents, maybe a

co-orker, maybe a friend, maybe a

stranger, maybe it was through a

television uh or it was through a book

that you read, maybe God uses a myriad

of ways to come to us, but he is working

through this. His sovereign election of

his people actually fuels missions. And

so, this is a beautiful picture. It

doesn't hinder it. There's some people

that say, "Oh, if you believe it's only

God who works in this way, then um

you're not going to share the gospel

with every." No, no, no, no. We've been

com we've been commanded, as we see, to

share the gospel with all. God is at

work in this. Roman numeral number two,

the prophets foretold a global

gathering. The prophets foretold this.

They said when you look at Isaiah, you

look at Daniel, you look at many other

Old Testament prophecies, the picture is

there's going to be coming together.

There's going to be a coming together of

God's people. You see, Israel's calling

was missional. Yes, in the Old

Testament, God has a duty for them. God

has a plan for them. He's using Israel.

That's his plan. Look at Isaiah 49:6. I

Isaiah 49:6

will make you as a what? a light to the

nations

that my salvation may reach where

>> to the end of the earth. You see, it's

beyond them. And the picture is there.

They're they're going to it's going to

be a good thing, a light to the nations

that God is revealing his relational

nature through these people to the

nations. They don't have to worship the

cyro phoenician son god and the god of

the sea. and they don't have to rew

worship all of these other gods that

come out of man's imagination. What the

picture is, he's saying, "No, no, no.

They don't have to live in the darkness

of false worship. You are going to be

used to show them that there is a

creator God. You are going to be used to

proclaim the truth. They can come and

see you and see your relationship with

me and the nations can see that I am at

work."

Now, very often they messed it up. But

we see as they messed it up and God

disciplines them that God does not

abandon them. God keeps working in them

and helping them and still uses them for

a purpose. He's going to bring the

Messiah through them. Look at Isaiah 66

in verse 18. For I know their works and

their thoughts and the time is coming to

what does it say there? to gather all

nations and tongues, and they shall come

and see my glory.

God wants the world to see his glory.

He's going to gather the nations.

They're going to gather from everywhere

and they will come and see his glory.

This is these are pictures from 700

years before Jesus would even be born.

Daniel chapter 7. Daniel prophesied of

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

the Messiah's reign. We studied Daniel

on Wednesday nights a little while ago,

a little while back, and we looked at

this beautiful picture. Look at what it

says there. And to him who was given

dominion and glory and a kingdom that

all peoples, nations, and languages

would serve him. You see, this is all

through the Old Testament. All peoples,

nations, languages would serve him.

That's not just in the New Testament.

It's not just in Revelation. It's

through God's plan. It's God's plan that

there's going to be a global gathering.

Look at the middle of that verse. His

dominion is an everlasting dominion

which shall not pass away. In his

kingdom, one that shall not be what?

Destroyed. Every other kingdom is going

to be destroyed. There's been many

kingdoms rise, many kingdoms fall.

That's the whole story of Daniel. The

Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks,

eventually the Romans. We see

civilization come and go, come and go,

come and go. And Daniel clearly is

saying there's going to be a kingdom

that never passes away and is the

eternal kingdom, the kingdom of God.

So notice this. Daniel 7 is especially

important because this is kingdom

language. This is dominion language.

This is God's dominion, his domain in

which he rules. And this is revelation

language. This is the revealing of the

grand planned at the end that God has a

plan and how he is working in the

nations and we see it well. So the

prophets foretold a global gathering

gathering in Roman numeral number three.

Christ commissioned a global mission. So

by the time the Messiah comes, this is

Jesus Christ the anointed one. He comes

and he launches a global mission. He

first came as the as the primary

missionary in all of this. He came to

lay down his life for us and then he

commissions us in this. So what do we

see here? The Old Testament promise

becomes the New Testament command. The

Old Testament promise, I'm going to

bless the world through you becomes for

the New Testament a command. Now, it

shows up many places, but I've outlined

these right here. What are the four

gospels? Tell me what are the gospels

off the top of your head? Matthew, Mark,

Luke, John. Right. And then what comes

after Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, but the

book of Acts. And so, Matthew, Mark,

Luke, John are telling the the account

of Jesus's life from four different

perspectives.

Those those men. And then we see after

that what happened after Jesus died,

rose again, preached for a little while

and then ascended to the father. The

book of acts picks up there and it tells

what happened with the early church. The

acts of the apostles. What happened

after Jesus left? That's Matthew, Mark,

Luke, John, and Acts. Now, the great

commission, this command to go preach

the gospel comes numerous places in

these, but these are just a few very

specific ones. The most popular one is

Matthew 28 and verse 19. This is the

most popular one. This is the one that

is most quoted. Put a star next to

Matthew 28. This is the one that you

often hear. And it says, "Go therefore

and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I

commanded you. And lo, I'm with you

always." That's Matthew 28:19-20.

Matthew 28:19–20

Look at Mark 16:15. Let's read Mark

Mark 16:15 Mark 16:15

16:15. This is the way Mark says it in

this. And notice this. Let's read it out

loud. And he said, "Go into all the

world and proclaim the gospel to the

whole creation." Um, this is a beautiful

Peter. Look at Luke 24:47.

Luke 24:47

Um, Jesus is speaking and look what Luke

records. Let's read it out loud. And

that repentance for the forgiveness of

sins should be proclaimed in his name to

all nations. Underline that. that

repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

You see, it's not merely about an

intellectual belief, but it's about a

change of life. It's about turning from

life um live for me and turning to life

live for Christ. That's what repentance

is. And so, if there is no repentance,

there is no forgiveness.

The picture is forgiveness accompanies

repentance and belief. Repentance

accompanies um belief. That is true

belief is characterized by repentance,

not mere belief. Notice here with me um

John 20 21 Jesus said to them, "As the

father has sent me, even so what?

>> I'm sending you." This is a command.

This is a commission. And then Acts 1

and verse 8, this is the scene where

Jesus has told the disciples, "Meet on a

hill outside of Jerusalem." So there

they are. They've they've met outside

the city and Jesus

has been with them in Galilee and now

he's ascending to the father. He's he's

he's he's leaving them because the Holy

Spirit's going to come at Pentecost.

Notice what he says to them at that

moment as he is literally lifting off.

Let's read it out loud. And you will be

my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and

Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Can you underline that? To the end of

the earth. This is the picture of his

commissioning. Over and over, we see the

great call and the great command. Now,

I've included this down at the bottom.

Acts 2 5-11 is the the event of

Pentecost. That was a feast where all

the Christians were gathered in

Jerusalem. And people were there for a

Jewish festival

right at the time after Jesus had been

crucified and rose again. And so, 50

days later, here they are at Pentecost.

And um Christianity is starting to

spread right there in Jerusalem. And

look what happens when Peter gets up to

preach the gospel. Notice this. The Holy

Spirit descends

and empowers the church to go. That's

the picture. The Holy Spirit descends

and empowers the church to take the

gospel to the world. Now, it's very

interesting that all these different

languages were there that day in

Pentecost. And one of the things that

was so amazing was the gospel was being

preached in all of these different

languages. Whereas language had divided

at Babel, at Pentecost, we see, listen

to this, God is overcoming that division

with the gospel, with the Holy Spirit.

And so the idea is is that Babel is

reversed. The nations are beginning to

be gathered and the promise begins

unfolding really in a new way. It was

always unfolding. But now that the

Messiah has come, it's no longer come

and see Israel, but now the the idea is

go and tell. Go and tell a world. So the

world was invited to come see God deal

with his people in Israel in the Old

Testament, but in the New Testament, we

are told go and tell. And so this is

this is fundamental to what God's plan

is. Notice the progression.

Jerusalem or Zion, the city of God, the

place where where Abram would offer

Isaac to the Lord in faith. And God

would provide a sacrifice. Eventually

Jesus in Jerusalem would be condemned.

Jesus on a hill just outside of

Jerusalem would die for the sins of the

world. So Jerusalem is ground zero for

God's touchdown in salvation. But notice

this, the gospel spreads to the region

around Jerusalem. That's Judea. And then

it it spreads to the people that are not

even Jews. They're Samaritans. They're

half Jews. So they're they kind of

intermarried and they were kind of

rejected because of that. The

Samaritans. And the gospel goes to them

too. And then we see it goes to the ends

of the earth. That is God's plan. And we

even see it in the Apostle Paul would

write to the Jew first, but then to all

of the world. That was simply God's

plan. That's what he does. God can do

whatever he wants. He's the king of the

universe. He's the mastermind behind it

all. And he's chosen to show us his

nature of love, which he chooses us even

when we don't deserve it. He chose the

Jews and he chooses his people today.

Look at Roman numeral number four.

Revelation. So now we're looking at the

last book of the Bible. Revelation

reveals the global victory. Revelation

reveals the global victory. You see the

promise that God made in Genesis becomes

a reality in Revelation. This is what we

see and that's what we've just been

seeing uh reading and singing as

Revelation 5 and verse 9. Look what it

says. And they sang a new song. This is

a new song. This is the picture in

heaven saying worthy are you to take the

scroll and to open its seals. And why is

he worthy? Why is he worthy? Look what

it says the next word for. This is the

reason we know he's worthy. Why? because

he was slain. He was slain and by your

blood you look at that word ransomed.

That means you bought them back. You

went and paid a price for them. That's

what a ransom is. It's a payment.

My friends, this is the glorious nature

of God's salvation. Jesus didn't just

save you by doing the I dream a genie

thing. Bing, you're saved.

No, it cost him. And the reason it cost

him was so that you could see

what God's love looks like. That you

could see that God loves you. And some

of you are new to us in this morning and

maybe maybe you've not been in church

ever or very very little. This is the

center of everything we believe.

Everything we believed is found here in

Revelation 5:9. that Jesus was the

Revelation 5:9

ransom for all of our ungodliness.

He was the ransom for all of our sin. He

buys us out of the kingdom of darkness.

And he places us through this payment

into the kingdom of his beloved son. And

it's not through anything you do except

to believe in him and turn to him in

faith. And turning to him in faith means

you leave a life lived for the things of

the world that are that are evil and

against the heart of God. And you live

in faith in obedience toward Christ. But

the thing that saves you is the blood of

Christ. Look what it says. And by your

blood you ransomed people for God. And

read it again with me. From where? every

tribe and language and people and

nation. You see, this is sovereign

particular redemption with a global

scope. We could go into the doctrine of

particular redemption. But this is the

idea that God is reaching down and he is

calling people to himself. And he

doesn't have to save anyone, but he

chooses to save some. And this is

amazing. God would be justified in

letting us to our own devices, departing

from us forever. But that's not what he

does. He chooses by his grace, by his

mercy, he rescues us so that we might

say as Glenn Ree, a former pastor of

this church, one of this, he was a youth

pastor. And he would sing a song. He

would say, it was very, very simple song

when I was a child. And he would say, "I

don't know why Jesus loved me. I don't

know why he cared. I don't know why he

sacrificed his life. Oh, but I'm glad.

I'm so glad he did.

He comes and he rescues us.

Look at Revelation 7:9.

Revelation 7:9

So the next chapter after this I looked

and behold a great multitude that no one

could number from every nation and from

all tribes and peoples and languages

standing before the throne

and before the lamb

clothed in white robes. You see these

are the white robes of Christ's

redemption

with palm branches in their hands. So

similar to Palm Sunday when Jesus came

into Jerusalem on the day on the week

before he would be executed, they were

holding up palm branches. Palm branches

are what you would do when a king came

and you would praise the king. You would

show your support, your gratitude. There

were some good kings. And so a good king

would be honored through the waving of

palm branches. And it was part of the

celebration of this authority that is a

good authority is here. And so here we

see it. That's what Jesus received when

he came into Jerusalem. Of course, the

crowd turned and crucified him.

But here we see that in the end when

it's all said and done that they're

going to be clothed in white robes and

with palm branches in their hands. And

the picture is this is that he's going

to be hailed the good king. He's going

to be hailed the good and eternal king.

Now, in this in this scene you see

there, I've underlined every nation, all

tribes, peoples, and languages. This is

not about fill it in here. It's not

about uniformity.

Not not just particular people, not just

the Jews that were saved, not just

people that were of a certain type,

but the picture here is all across the

world. It's a unity in diversity.

They're very diverse. There's even

distinct languages that would tend to

separate because that's what he did at

Babel.

But we see here what he did at Babel is

going to turn to praise his glorious

salvation of of those who are different

and those who had been cursed and

distinct peoples. And what are they all

around? They're all before

one lamb.

That's what they're doing. They're

worshiping one lamb, one sacrificial

lamb that paid for the sins of the

world. This is the glorious picture of

heaven. Look what it says here in

Revelation 14:6. He says, "Then I saw

Revelation 14:6

another angel flying directly overhead

and an with an eternal gospel." Circle

that with an eternal gospel to proclaim

to those who dwell on earth to every

nation and tribe and language and

people. You see, this shows up over and

over and over again from Genesis all the

way to the end of Revelation. Look at

Revelation 21 and verse 24 next to the

last chapter of the Bible. Look what it

says. and by its light will the nations

walk and the kings of the earth will

bring their glory into it. This is the

glorious city of God that the nations

who have been saved will come and

worship the king. You see all the

redeemed from all the nations of the

earth will two things will remember the

work of Christ when we get to heaven.

This is the eternal gospel that we will

be forever reminded of that we will see

this Christ and we will see that he

saved us and we will rejoice that he

saved us and we will walk in his light.

We will walk in his light. Look at Roman

numeral number five. Why does this

global

eternal gospel we just underlined that

or circled it this eternal gospel

matters? Why? Number one, it fuels our

worship. The gospel is what gives us

worship of God. Worship at home, worship

in the car when somebody's not cutting

you off and you're not highly distracted

with anger. Um, even then in your anger,

you can submit that to the Lord and I

have to deal with it, too. I know we're

south. Did you know that Miami Dade

drivers are listed as the worst in the

nation?

How many of y'all live in Miami Dade?

How many? Okay. You're the worst drivers

in the nation right there. Okay.

See, it's always somebody else, right?

No,

I'm not sure. I think we're several

hundred yards couple thousand yards from

the Miami Dade line, so it probably

applies to us, too. Um,

but you you all we worship God at all

times and the gospel fuels our it's not

just when you're sitting at 3751 Sheran

Street with a group of people and a

praise band is on the stage and we're

singing. That's not worship alone.

Real worship is all the time.

>> Real worship is the way we live our

lives.

He is worthy of our global praise

of all across the earth. Number two,

this eternal gospel fuels our mission.

We've been given a reason to live. We've

been given a task to do. He is worthy of

our obedience to go and tell. You know,

so much of the world is increasingly

without a mission.

You know, they talk about what AI is

going to bring and how AI is going to

develop all of this stuff and they talk

about how great this is going to be and

eventually nobody will have to work and

we'll have a global basic income.

Who we I mean that is not what we need.

>> God made us to work and he made us to

obey him. And there are so many in this

day and time that even in their work,

they feel purposeless. They feel like my

life doesn't mean anything. And I I want

to tell you that God has said, whether

you're a plumber or whether you're a

bookkeeper or whether you're a ticket

agent or whatever it is that you do,

when you are in Christ, you have a

reason to live. You have a purpose. You

have a a mission that has been given to

you. This is who we are.

And so we are called to obey him in

whatever station in life we become. How

about this one? This one really really

helps me. It fuels our suffering

endurance.

It fuels our suffering endurance. We are

suffering through in a fallen world.

Life is hard. It hurts. There's illness,

sickness, disappointment. There's shock.

There's there's all kinds of ways in

which our hearts feel pain or maybe even

our bodies feel pain. But he is worthy

of our suffering. He has suffered before

us. He suffered in ways that we could

never imagine as being the holy one of

God to take on the sin of the world. He

has gone before us. He was rejected. He

was rejected by everyone. Everyone

turned away from him. Even his closest

disciples turned away from him. and he

went in obedience to God's plan to the

cross so that we [snorts] could live.

And so when he says I understand, he

really does. Hebrews it talks about he

says we do not have a high priest who

cannot sympathize with our weaknesses

but one who has been tempted and tested

in all things but yet remained without

sin. We have a holy Christ who knows our

feelings, who knows our struggle, who

knows our pain. And he says, "Fix your

eyes on me. I've been there. I

understand. And it glorifies me that you

trust in me. You choose to rejoice even

in your pain as you're trusting in my

promises that one day all of this is

going to be done. And you're going to be

so glad that you stayed with me. You're

going to be so glad that you trusted me

when it's all said and it's all done.

And I say to you, enter into my rest.

This is God's grand plan in a world of

suffering. And so the gospel, the

eternal gospel, the mission that we've

been given, it helps us in our

suffering. How about number four? It

humbles our cultural pride. You know,

we're so prone to be prideful. Andrew

Coleman is. And um I hate to tell you,

but you do, too. I see it all the time.

Y'all a bunch of prideful people just

like me. We we tend to be prideful.

I'm I'm I'm sort of kidding, but I'm

sort of not. I mean, we we we do we we

Pride leads us to sin. And notice this.

We can start to think highly of

ourselves. We can look down our nose at

other people. We can see the news and

look at other cultures and go, "Man, are

those people really like that? Look at

that." We can look down on them either

from a superiority of wealth or

station in life or power. And especially

Americans, Americans can do that because

we are we are the most wealthy nation on

the earth.

Um,

we have an amazing history

and we are tempted to look down on on

the other nations of the earth. Horrible

things have been said about other

nations.

My friends, listen.

That is not the heart of God.

God didn't just give the Jews the

gospel. God didn't just give the

Americans the gospel. God gives the

gospel to the world and he is in the

business of saving people from every

tribe and every tongue in every nation.

And the sooner we get on board with

that, the better.

If you're kind of wondering why your

life doesn't seem to have a lot of

meaning, it may be because you're not

yet seeing the missional call of God in

your life locally and globally.

Oh, the beauty. And so it humbles our

cultural pride. No culture owns the good

news. Christ owns the good news. How do

we apply all this in our lives? I want

us to see some application here. Do I

see the nations like God sees the

nations?

Ask yourself that question

when you watch the news, when you see or

hear other things, good or bad, around

the world. Do you look at those people

through the eyes of scripture that those

are human beings made in the image of

God who are in darkness if they do not

have Christ?

That is the heart of God to the nations.

And let me tell you that we live in a in

a city, we live in a country where you

can't go hardly any distance without a

Bible teaching church. Sheran Hills is

not the only Bible teaching church in

town. There are great Bible teaching

churches all over Broward and Dade

County. Um, I I I wanted you just to

imagine, can you imagine if you lived in

a city of 8 million people and there are

no known Bible teaching churches.

That is the truth. There are places on

the earth where where God has to move

heaven and earth in order for the people

that he is desiring for them to hear the

gospel. He does amazing things to get

people to those people who are ready to

hear the gospel.

He sends missionaries. He sends

believers. He sends people. He sends

television programs. He sends books. He

sends his word. He sends all kinds of

things all over the world to call his

own home to himself.

And when we get in league with what he's

doing

by seeing the nations as he sees them,

we want to go and we want to share with

people that are living in darkness.

How about this? Am I one who gets the

mission thing or am I clueless?

There's many people who come to

churches, Bible teaching churches, and

they really don't get the missions

thing. I really don't see the call and

the call for us to to do something. The

call for us to change the way we live

for the call for us

to follow his command to go and tell the

world. And maybe that's personally from

your mouth to someone else's ear, but it

also is involved with how we live our

lives and what we invest in in our life.

So here's the question as part of that.

Am I willing to pray? Am I willing to

pray about the gospel? Jesus has

commanded us through the word of God to

pray for the glory of God to be known in

the nations. The Apostle Paul said,

"Pray for me that I may share the

gospel. Pray that the Lord would open a

door for me to share the mystery of

Christ." There are missionaries all over

the world right now that are asking us

to pray for the people that they are

trying to reach.

Do we just simply pray about our own

pain?

Do we just simply pray about our own

lives? Well, you know, if we would lift

up our eyes to the harvest and we would

see, you know what, as people begin to

focus on what God is really interested

in all across the world, it's amazing

how your personal pain and how your

personal struggle, how your personal

life can be so beautifully transformed

as you look beyond your own pain and

your own struggles and your own life,

your own goals to look to the goals of

God.

God can bring relief that you never knew

was possible

as you begin to say,"Lord, I want to be

in league with you on the things that

are most important." Will you pray?

Is there any missionary or is there any

people group that you pray for?

I want to encourage you to get on a

quest to pray for what God is doing

around the world. We are told in

scripture to do that. How about giving?

Over and over again in scripture, we see

that people would give an offering to

the Lord. That they would come and give

thanksgiving so that the Lord's house

and so that the mission of the gospel

would go forward. Did you know that the

book of Romans, which is the most

theologically thick book in the New

Testament, the whole book of Romans, you

know what it really is? It's a

missionary support letter. The Apostle

Paul is calling for the Romans to give

and to give generously to the sake of

the gospel going around the world. It

just happens to have a lot of theology

in it. But if you read the beginning of

the book of Romans and you read the end

of the book of Romans, you see that he's

calling for God's people to support the

work of the ministry.

God just chooses and and it's in his

grand plan to do that because it's a

test for all of us. It's a test for

whether we're going to be about building

our own kingdom or we're going to be

building God's kingdom. God, it's not

that God needs the money. He could

manufacture it all right now.

The picture is are we going to join him?

And God knows that money has a big big

big part of our heart.

So, are we willing to trust him? And are

we willing to sacrifice? Are are we

willing to engage with what he's doing?

I I hope and pray that that you will

really begin to evaluate your whole life

and what you invest in and say, "Am I

investing in my local church? Am I

investing in the gospel?"

I think that when we support both local

missions and when we support people from

our own body and when we support

full-time careered missionaries, I

believe that God is blessed and he let

me tell you, you can't outgive God.

When you when you begin to trust him in

that and you shovel out, he can shovel

in and his shovel is a lot bigger than

yours.

Malachi 3 talks about that. Test the

Lord in this. See if he will not take

care of you. See if he will not open the

windows of heaven and pour out a

blessing until there is no more need.

That's what he invites you to do. So,

are we willing to give? And then how

about this one? Like Abraham, are we

willing to go? You may not know where.

You may not know when. You may not know

all the details. But are you willing to

go? Are you willing to go across the

street? Are you willing to go to Asia?

Are you willing to go to South America?

Are you willing to go and to do what God

has called you to do? Why would we ask

all of this? Because the sun is rising

and it goes out and it goes across the

earth. And just like the sun's light

shines across the earth, listen, it's

not just the su that shines across the

earth, but think about this with me.

It's the S O N that shines across the

earth.

There's going to be a great gathering.

There's going to be a great gathering of

joyful thanks to the Lord. Look at the

words that we have sung already. Says

there's a song

that's sung through the nations. Didn't

we just read that? That they sang a new

song to the Lord. Didn't we just read

that in the throne and room of God

there's a new song? It's the song of

praise to our redemptive God. Look what

it says. There's a song that's sung

through the nations. Of joyful

thanks. Why?

What are we thankful about?

His salvation. Of joyful thanks to the

king.

Where the countless saints who are

rescued. Remember this. Anybody who is

saved by the blood of Christ is called a

saint in the Bible. It's not just

statues in Rome or certain people who

did certain things. Anyone who is saved

by Christ, the Bible calls them saints

because they've been made holy. Where

the countless saints who are rescued

praise Jesus who set them all free.

Hear the anthem sung in the islands

where sun first touches the earth. Over

land and sea it advances.

Now joined by the saints of this church.

Rise with the sun. Lift up his name. All

through the earth we sing out his

praise. East to the west, night to the

day. Join in the song and sing out his

praise. Amen.

>> Would you stand with me as we prepare to

sing? Father, I thank you that you have

a global plan. I thank you from the

beginning. You said that all the nations

of the earth would be blessed. Lord, I

thank you for choosing Israel. I thank

you for choosing Abraham.

I thank you that it didn't stop with

Abraham, but you blessed him to be a

blessing.

And Lord, I'm thankful that it didn't

stop with Israel. You chose them to

bring the Messiah.

Lord, I thank you that it didn't stop

with the apostles and the disciples.

Lord, your Holy Spirit came and filled

them

and all those who were there who had

received the gospel. And Lord, I thank

you that 2,000 years later, the gospel

has been going out.

And Lord, that your plan is going to be

fulfilled. Now, Lord, the great question

is, will we join the song?

Will we join the song not just in

singing at Sheran Hills Baptist Church,

but will we join the song [music] with

our lives? I pray

for my brothers and my sisters that are

here in front of us that we would see

the great purpose of the king.

that our lives would be lived,

Lord, with the highest purpose

of being obedient to you in everything

we do and everything we say, knowing

that everybody we see is either going to

be eternally saved or eternally lost.

Lord, may we love them. May we love them

enough to tell them and to show them.

With your head bowed and your eyes

closed, I just want to ask you, is God

calling you to a new commitment to his

command? A new commitment to the gospel?

A new commitment to this eternal gospel?

Maybe some of you need to be saved by

just turning to him in repentance and

faith.

Do that today. Don't neglect him. This

gospel is for you.

And maybe some of you who are saved,

maybe middle schoolers, high schoolers,

I don't I don't know, maybe college,

maybe senior adults would say in this

moment right now, [music] Lord, use me.

Help me be obedient to the great

commission.

Help me worship you

in the way that I live for the call that

you've given in Jesus name. Amen.

Because you have made these promises.

Thank you, Lord. Now, Lord, as we turn

to one another and say hello and maybe

go buy our tickets, um I pray that this

would be a fun time as [music] we greet

one another in Christ in Jesus name.

Amen. Would you turn around right now

and meet somebody new? Greet them right

now.