Missions Is For Everyone | Jason Martin

You're listening to a message to go from Acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

I was preparing this word felt God convicting me. So

we know that we are talking about missions, and a

lot of times we think that, wow, missions is I

want to go to a foreign land, I want to

go to a different people group, and that is missions

for sure. But how many of us have gone for

missions before, especially across cultural missions trip right? And most

of the time when you do not go for that,

you think that, hey, missions does not apply to me.

I'm not called for missions.

I'm called I'm called to be in the marketplace, or

I'm called to be here in Malaysia.

And most of the time we might out when we.

Talk about missions because you think it is only for

a select few, like for example, like Max Therebie, Anita

is a you know all of them, they are doing

cross cultural missions here in Malaysia. But do you know

that missions are just for missionaries? Missions is for everyone? Okay,

So let me get the first slide up. So this

is from X chapter one, verse eight. This is called

ex Church, right, So it's good to find out what

the Book of X says about it. So X Chapter one,

verse eight says, but you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my

witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea,

in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Okay, so what does that tell us?

So this was Jesus telling the disciples before he went

up to heaven, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,

in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

So a lot of times we will think missions is

to the ends of the earth, but that is not

the case. Jesus said Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of

the earth. So what does Jerusalem mean? Jesus and the disciples,

where were they from from Jerusalem? So you have to

be your witnesses here at home. You can be a

missionary here at home. Where is Judea. Judea is probably

your neighbors. It might be your neighboring countries. Samaria. Do

you know that the Jewish people they did not like

the Samaritans, so the Samaria was considered their enemy. So

first you're supposed to be a missionary here at home.

You're supposed to be a missionary to your neighboring countries.

You're supposed to be a missionary to your enemies, and

finally to be a missionary to the ends of the earth.

So a majority of y'all, How many of y'all are

called to the ends of the earth?

Hands up?

Wow, Jared, I think the parents are getting a bit

of scared. Now, okay, how many of your are call

to Samaria? No, parents are putting his head down. So

Samaria is when you go to your enemies. You know,

how many of us are called to Judea? Judea your

neighboring countries. How many of us are called to Jerusalem? Hey,

nobody is putting out the hand for anyone. So where

you're called for? Okay, let's just take it right. Majority

of us are called to Jerusalem. The fact that we

see you here, they are week in, week out in

service means you're based here. You're based at home in Jerusalem,

so you are not off the hook. You still have

to be a missionary here at home. So I wanted

to share a story from the Bible. Uh, probably I

played the video right now and then y'all will know

which story it is.

Okay, what else? A little more? What I only need

a little more time.

Is my records show you have paid only part of

your taxes and I have been patient long enough.

We pay Rome a tax based on our labors. But

anything the chief tax collector can force people to pay

above that he keeps for himself. It's the Keys is

always pushing for more, sometimes even pretending that Rome is

demanding extra taxes.

So maybe he sins, you know a little. Everyone sins,

even good people like you Joy.

We're all everybody, but God's always ready to forgive us.

Well. He has stolen from my father and even threatened

to take our home.

Christ, and.

What's going on?

It is Jesus of Nazareth. He has come to Jericho.

You have one week.

Jesus, he's outside.

The end of Jesus of Nazareth is here in Jericho.

I must see him.

Children, your friend Jesus is coming. Come on, sorry, Christ,

excuse me, I need to get through.

Can I would you please? You think Jesus wants to

see it?

Think like you no, but I want to see him.

Excuse me, make way coming through. Oh I have that

same sandal out of my ways.

Move please, I think we lost Gizmo.

Come on this way, gizmo, where are you, Chas?

What are you doing beating the crowd?

Come on?

Oh by.

What now?

Give us a pootster blas kiss.

You got it?

Pootsters last hold?

All right? Mm hmm, I see Jesus.

He's coming this way. Excuse me, please coming through? Come on, excite.

This way.

Guys.

Maybe it's time to try to say gus crawl follow me?

Who you are some smelly feet in that bunch?

H m hmmm.

Perfect, hm.

Well if it isn't a residence, sirens, you're here to

text gen is do.

Yeah?

Hmmm, teacher, what is it the a Chias?

Make haste and come down for today I must stay

at your house.

What is he?

Someone should tell him Zakias is a tax collective, sinner

and a.

I am coming. You will be my guest.

Wait for me, Lord, I am coming down as fast

as I can.

I'll be right how far down.

I didn't think Zechias had ever met Jesus before.

He hadn't until now.

And of all the people in Jericho to be with.

Jesus, chose sinner.

All right, So this is the story off.

Zacheus, right, Zachieus, So you know the story of Zechias

how many of y'all grew up in uh Sunday school?

So what is this on?

Zacchiers was a wee little man, and a wee little

man was he? He climbed up on the sycamore tree

to see what he could see. Right, we know that

nursery rhyme, and you there are a few lessons that

we can learn from Zacchia's story when it comes to missions. Okay,

So let's look at the scripture for that story. Can

I bring the slide up?

Okay?

So Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.

There was a man named Zachias, and he was the

chief text collector in the region, and he had become

very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus,

but he was too short to see over the crowd,

so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree

beside the road.

For Jesus was going to passed that way.

When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zachias and

called him by name, Zachius. He said, quick, come down,

I must be a guest in your home today next light.

Zachias quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house

in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased

he has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,

they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zachias stood before the Lord and said,

I will give half my wealth to the poor Lord.

And if I've cheated on people their taxes, I will

give them back four times as much. Okay, So this

is the verse. This is a scripture from Luke nineteen

and the title of today's summon next Light is this

work loving the unlovable. How many of y'all have unlovable

people around you? It might be people in your workplace,

it might be your neighbors, it might just be even

your relatives.

There are so many there is.

If you do not have people that are unlovable, then

you might be the one.

Just kidding.

But it's very rare that you do not know someone

who is unlovable, right and most of the time, the

people who are unlovable are here right here at home.

They are in Jerusalem. And we are called as missionaries

to preach the good news to every single person, not

only those who are at the ends of the earth,

but also those who are here right at home. So

look at a neighbor and say that, hey, you are

a missionary.

Right.

So most of the times we have the missionary when

we think about missionary, right, or we are going for missionary,

we are going for missions. Some of us might have

the savior complex. You know, what's the savior complex. You're

going to a place which they are poorer, They're going

to a place which they need help, and you are

going there to like help them be their savior, you know,

And you want to feel good about yourself. You feel

good about yourself because you're going to help people. You're

going to do stuff like that. But what about people

who are much much richer than you, much more wealthier

than you, are doing much better in their career, who

have everything that you wished for?

Do you still need to reach them?

And the answer is yes, because you can see Zachias

had it all. Zachias was rich. Zachias had title. He

was the chief tax collector. Chief tax collector means all

other tax collectors reported to him.

So you know, in Rome, right in Rome, the Romans

were the conquerors.

So the Romans will collect tax from the Jews, and

the Romans already charged a very high tax on the Jews.

So they hired tax collectors who are Jewish people, to

go and collect tax from all the Jews.

So immediately you are already hated.

If you are a tax collector, you're already hated because

you are going and collecting money from people. But the

Romans didn't tell the tax collectors that they could not

collect more. So, for example, if you had to pay

a tax of one hundred ring it to Rome, the

tax collector might collect one hundred and twenty it, so

the extra twenty ring it went into his own pocket.

So how many of y'all think that the tax collectors

were very likable people? If you saw from the cartoon

just now right that everyone hated the tax collectors. Everyone

hated them, everyone judged them, everyone looked down at them.

Not because Zakias was shot, but they looked down.

Literally and figuratively, they looked down at Zachias. Okay, So

it brings me to the summon today. It's just the

three points are three questions. So the first question is

how did the crowd see Zacchias? How did the crowds

see Zachias? They saw Zachias as someone that they hated,

although he was a Jew. They hated him. Although he

was from their hometown. They hated him. They hated him

for what he did. They hated him for who he

stood for, because you're working with the enemy.

The Romans are the enemy. So they really hated him.

And if you look here, right, they started judging him.

They knew that, Hey, why this fellow is a thief.

He is a thief.

He nearly he might have even because of that, right,

some families could not even have food, Some families might

have lost their house. And nobody wanted a needthing to

do with the kiss, right, So they looked at him

as a traitor. He was selfish. They wronged their families

and impacted their livelihoods, and because of that, they started

judging him, and they wanted nothing to do with him.

Are we sometimes like the crowd? Are we sometimes like

the crowd? If somebody wronged us, do we right them off?

They say, as a crowd. He does not deserve to

go to heaven, he does not deserve to have friends,

He does not deserve anything from us, you know, And

we right these people off, just I say. Sometimes it

can be our colleagues, can be our neighbors, can be

our realities, and we start judging. You know, judge. Judging

people comes very naturally because right when I was reading

about judging, why do people judge? It's actually a defense

mechanism because you want to see whether he is this

person safe or not. If this person is a danger

to you, you will immediately make a snap judgment and

write him off. That's how the caveman survived. You know,

you have to make a judgment. And at the same time,

that's why we make judgment. If this person does something

wrong to you, you will immediately write them off. If

he says something wrong to you, you will say that, hey,

you are no longer my friend.

You know, I will not share.

Anything with you because you're not worth to be shared with. Okay,

but how many of us are free of judgment? How

many of us have never wronged someone? How is it

that we can pass judgments so easily and then judge others,

But then when people look at us, we say that, hey,

I've done nothing wrong. So that's why I say today's

message is slightly hard. And if you're a visitor, you're welcome.

You can just evaluate us, listen to us, because right

now we want to say that, hey, we are a

church that there's not one to judge. We are a

church the ones the love once to accept. So what

does the Bible say? Okay, do not judge others, and

you will not be judged. Let me read it from here,

for you will be treated as you treat others. The

standard of you, the standard you use in judging, is

the standard of by which you will be judged. And

why worry about a spec in your friend's eye when

you have a log in your own? How can you

think of saying to your friend, let me help you

get rid of that spec in your eye. When you

can't see past the log in your own eye, hypocrite,

First get rid of the log in your own eye.

Then you will see well enough to deal with the

spec in your friend's eye. So when we go on

judge people, you know, when we start judging people, it's

because our perspective of them has changed. We now view

them as the enemy. We now view them as the enemy.

And when you view someone as the enemy, how would

you treat them? Would you treat the enemy with love?

No?

But our perception how we view other people dictates how

we treat them. So if we are called to be witnesses,

how can we judge people and be a witness to

them at the same time.

It does not work. It cannot work. You know.

I'll take you to a second scripture. Romans too, So

Romans too. You may think you can condemn such people.

You'll think, hey, they deserve it. You know what they

do is wrong. So you may think you can condemn

such people, But you are just as bad and when

and you have no excuse when you say they are

wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself. For you,

who judge others, do these very same things. And we

know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who

does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things,

why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when

you do the same things.

You know?

Sometimes right, if somebody wrongs us, we write them off.

But when we wrong other people we expect to be forgiven.

We are not evaluating ourselves with the same measurement that

we met out to others, and says, yeah, don't you

see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you?

Does this mean nothing to you?

Can't you see that His kindness is intended to turn

you from your sin. So who has sinned? Who has sinned?

The Bible says all have sinned. So, whether you're Christian

or not, whether your visitors here or not, rest assured.

We have all sinned because sin means falling shot of

the mark of God. You know, all of us have sinned.

But if you want to turn people from their sin,

do And sometimes we as parents, right we do this.

We try and correct the behavior of our child by

judging them by saying that, how can you do this?

What were you thinking?

You know?

And most of the time, right I catch myself doing that.

I'm judging my kids for what they have done.

But how do you know? How many are you?

That kind of method of parenting works? You know, it

doesn't really work. But what works? What works is the

last line here? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't

you see that His kindness is intended to turn you

from your sin? So if you want to be a

witness for God and get people to draw closer to God,

what is the way.

Kindness?

Kindness is the key to witnessing. Kindness is the key

to witnessing.

If we as.

Christians cannot be kind to those around us, especially those

who do not know Jesus. Why would they want to

come to know Jesus? Why they don't need judgment? The

last thing somebody needs when they step into church is

to be judged. And that's why I'm talking to us here,

actual partners.

Right Are we kind? Do we show kindness to those

who need kindness?

The world has so much of hate, the world has

so much of judgment, but the world needs kindness and

that was what Jesus showed, you know, right right now?

Even Christians are judging Christians now. It's a trend, you

know on YouTube where Christians create YouTube videos criticizing other

Christians just to get views. Because you like to judge

other people just so you make yourself look good. We

sometimes judge people to make ourselves look good. We judge

people because we are wrong or to defend ourselves. But

you know that every time we judge someone, we are

pushing them away and it is the opposite of what

Jesus has asked us to do.

A yay next line. So the world needs your love and.

Kindness more than it needs your opinion. A lot of

times we want to share our opinion, what do you

think about this person? And we share our opinions and

most of the time other opinions judgments or other opinions kindness.

So the world needs your love and kindness more than

it needs your opinions. So the first question is how

did the crowd views their chaos? They viewed him with judgment.

So the question to us church, right now, how do

we view those who do not know Jesus or how

do we know those who are around us even those

who know Jesus? Are we being judgmental or are we

being kind because God has called us to be kind?

Okay?

Then next point, so this is the second question. How

did Zachias view himself? How did Zacchias view himself? Do

you think Zakias was happy with himself? We are not

sure he might have been, but we know that Zachias

was rich. He had everything that he needed. And you know, right,

you know ex church, we are we have planted churches

in first world countries and that one got a lot

of controversy previously. They're saying that he why are you

planting a church in first world countries? You know there

are so many countries that are poor, but do you

know that it is tougher to plant a church in

a first world country than a third world country. Because

when so, my brother is in Melbourne, right, his leads

ex Melbourne. So when you go to ax Melbourne, right,

do you know that most churches or some churches, they

are tally close during Christmas because they say it's holiday season,

it's summer.

Everyone wants to go to the beach.

So when you have everything that the world has to offer,

why do I need God? And that might have been Zacchias.

He might have everything the world had to offer, but

he still knew he needed something more.

You see, right, Zachius.

He was rich, he had everything, but when he heard

that Jesus was in town, what did he do?

He ran? He ran?

And can you imagine, right, so Zachius, I imagine him

in modern day Contactsla, Okay, he might be a CEO

of a casino. I'm trying to just trying to make

a modern day peril. He might be a CEO of

a casino, so people all will be like a ceo

of casino, you take money from people, You destroyed my family.

I hate you.

You know, may not have a very good reputation, But

for a ceo of a casino to chase after Jesus

and climb a tree. To humble himself. To climb a

tree means he knew he had a lack. He knew

he had a lack. He was curious. He knew Jesus

was about something and he wanted to find out more. So, Church,

right now, is the world curious about you? Is the

world looking at us and saying that, hey, what is

it that there is so different about you? There's something

about you that is different that money cannot buy. Because

I have all the money in the world, I have

all the influence in the world, I have all the

power in the world. But there is something that is

attractive about you. At church, are we attractive? Because if

we are not, then how in the world are we

going to witness to people who have everything? And that's

another misconception. We think people have everything when they have

all the money in the world, and that's a wrong mentality.

Everyone needs Jesus right So, Zachius, even though he had everything,

he was not indict in denial about who he was.

So he knew.

People hated him. He knew that he was not doing

a popular job. He knew that he got his richest

from unscrupulous methods. But at least he was honest with himself.

Are we honest with ourselves? Sometimes we say, you know

why we judge people, We are not as bad as them.

But Zachias was not comparing himself with anybody else. He

knew who he was, he knew what he did, and

he still.

Looked for Jesus. He was not looking for excuses. He

knew he was. He owned his mistakes, he owned his reputation.

You know.

But sometimes we put on a mask, We put on

a mask and say, hey, we are not as bad,

you know. But Zachias chased after Jesus. Right, So that

is how Zacchius view himself. He knew he had everything,

but he knew he wanted to know what Jesus had

to offer. Okay, and most this is my final point.

How did Jesus see Zacchius? How did Jesus see Zachius?

Zachius was actually harming the people that Jesus came to surf.

Zachius was stealing from the Jews. Zacchius might have even

taxed Mary and Joseph. Jesus might have even suffered high

taxes from all these tax collectors, you know.

But how did Jesus view Zachius. So you can see right.

That if you saw from the cartoon just now, Jesus

was surrounded by a crowd. He was surrounded by a crowd,

and he had a lot of fans. Okay, yes, around

by a crown means you have a lot of fans.

But Jesus was not out for popularity. He left the

popularity and went after Zaccheus. He made the unpopular move

for the unpopular person because he came to save every

single one of us. He came to be a witness

to the unlovable. And that's what we need to be.

Because I asked myself, would I can I love those

who has harmed me? Can I love those who has

hurt me? Who has spoken badly about me? Do I

think they deserve Jesus?

And then I caught myself, who am I to think

that they deserve Jesus or not?

I don't deserve Jesus. None of us deserve Jesus. Jesus

came and gave us everlasting life.

It was a gift.

Nothing we do, nothing we can that we can do,

can cause us to earn this. For all have sinned

and fall shot of the glory of God. So That's

why it's not about whether this person deserves it or not.

All of us don't deserve it. But Jesus came to

save every single one of us. Okay, So he knew

Zachius by name and treated him with kindness. And Jesus

knew that Zaccheus needed him, so he went to his house.

Can you imagine he went to his house? He left everyone,

He left his fan club and went to his Would

you leave popularity just for the sake of that one?

Is being popular more important than reaching that one? And

you can see right, Jesus didn't manipulate. Jesus didn't manipulate.

Sometimes the church, what we try and do is we

try and manipulate, We try and judge, we try and manipulate.

But what did Jesus do? He just showed kindness and love.

Who told Zachius how much he needs to give back?

Nobody? Zachias did it on his own.

The kindness that Jesus showed him turned him away from

his sin. So kindness is the answer. So even as

I draw towards a close right this morning church, I

know it's quiet, but it is real because you can

see there are empty seats all around why are there

empty seats all around? Is the church attractive or are

we being judgmental? Are we showing love and kindness or

are we being condescending? Do we think we are better

and we deserve God's grace but not other people? If

that's the case, then we need to come to a

place of repentance, because Jesus hath called us to be

a witness to Jerusalem, Judea, in Samaria, and all the

ends of the yearth In fact, right now, the decline

the attendance in church all across the world is declining.

So have we lost the script? Have we lost what

we are called to do?

So this year, this month is missions mon right, let's

start at home. If we can't love those who are

within our vicinity, what makes it so sure that we

are able to love those at the ends of the earth.

All right, So, even as I get the band up,

I just wanted to share this story. So the year

is one hundred eighty. The year it was one hundred

eighty and the Romans were still in charge, and Caesar

decided that Caesar was facing a problem. They were facing

a problem with a cult. This cult started with one

hundred and twenty people, and this cult began to grow

so fast that the Romans got scared. Whatever they tried

to do to this cult, they tried to beat them up,

they tried to kill them, they burned them, they tortured them,

but nothing seemed to work. The colt kept on growing

faster and faster and faster. So Caesar decided to send

spies into this cult. And they told the spies go

into this cult and find out what is causing this

cult to grow. What is causing this cult to grow

so fast that we cannot exterminate it. And you know

what did the spies say. The spies went in there

and they stayed with them, and then when they came out,

and they said, the love that this cult has is

out of this world. The love that this cult has

is unworldly. They will give up their food for the hungry.

They are willing to starve for two days just so

that other people can have food. They will take people

who have been hit by the plague and being excommunicated

by their families, because in those days, when you had

the plague, you were ostracized, you were thrown into the

streets because people didn't want to be infected.

But what this cult did. This cult took in these people.

And made and took care of them, and they were

hospitable towards them.

And in those days, right.

In Roman times, there were a lot of discarded babies.

The Romans would discard any baby which they thought was

not perfect or was not good. They would throw these

babies into the trash heap. They would throw these babies

into the forest, and they would leave them in the streets.

And this cult will go and pick up these babies

and raise them as their own.

And because of this the cult grew and church.

We're not sure what's the name of the cult. These

are Christians. These are Christians. They loved the unloved. They

loved their conquerors to a point where the conquerors became Christians.

They didn't go to the ends of the earth. They

loved in Jerusalem the Church this morning. Are we called

to be missionaries? All of us are. Are we called

to be witnesses? All of us are. But what's most important.

Our secret weapon is kindness that only God can provide.

So it says one of the quotes from this story,

Behold how these Christians love one another, and how they

are ready to die for one another.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church org. We

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this week is going to be a good week.

I hit for you.

God bless