Called To Go

The conclusion of a series of sermons looking back to our spiritual roots. Looking back to see how God has moved on the hearts of His people in the past, looking inside to see how He desires to work within us today. An understanding of our Christian heritage has inspired us to:

• stand in awe and reverence of the God we serve
• speak up for truth, be willing to take a risk and do what may not be popular in order to preserve the truth of God's Word
• strive for holiness and self-discipline as we grow in our relationship with God
• receive power from the Holy Spirit to do the work He has for us and to be the people He desires us to be

• Some people put missionaries up on a pedestal. They are not super-heroes, super-Christians, super-Spiritual.
• Sometimes missionaries get a bad rap. They are not weird, extreme, or boring people who come to our church asking for money and speak of names and places we can't pronounce or understand.
• Most missionaries today and throughout Christian history are just people like you and I who desire to do what we talk about around here: Take another step with Jesus.
• A missionary has been defined as one who "crosses cultural barriers on a mission from God, with the purpose of discipling the nations."

• THE FATHER: God's covenant with Abraham Genesis 12: 2And I will make you a great nation,
  And I will bless you,
  And make your name great;
  And so you shall be a blessing;
  3And I will bless those who bless you,
  And the one who curses you I will curse
  And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
• THE SON: "God had only one Son and he made that Son a missionary." -- David Livingston
  • Jesus left his home "culture" in heaven and came to live among us.
  • He lived as a man and faced the same temptations and struggles we face.
  • He instructed us to follow in his footsteps: to "Go and make disciples of all nations."
    
• THE HOLY SPIRIT: The book of Acts, the day of Pentecost, the promise was the power of the Holy Spirit given in order to be Christ's "witnesses" both in near cultures and in distant cultures. (Acts 1:8 ) and the sign was miraculously speaking in languages that were known to the foreigners gathered in Jerusalem. (Acts 2:4-12 )
  

• The book of the "Acts of the Apostles" records the history of the early church. Written by Luke, begins with Jesus' last words to his disciples.
• The early church did not obey Christ's command to "Go into all the world." They hung out in Jerusalem and enjoyed one another's company.
• God's plan was to reach all people groups. The rest of Acts contains stories of persecution, martyrdom, and the dispersion of the early church to all parts of the Roman Empire and Asia Minor.
• This trend has continued throughout history to the present day. Either God's people obey his call to bring the Good News to where it has not yet been made known, or God will use another means to "motivate" his people to GO!
• St. Patrick brought the Gospel to the barbarians of Ireland (descended from Celtic tribes) in the early 5th century. From Britain, captured and enslaved by Irish raiders at age 16, escaped after 6 years in Ireland. During his time in captivity his faith grew and he prayed daily. A few years after returning home, God called him to return to Ireland through a vision of an Irishman saying to him, "Come and walk among us." He returned to Ireland as a missionary where he lived out the rest of his life. St. Patrick left a legacy, one of the earliest missionaries to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people of Ireland.
  • James Cahill:
  How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History)
  • In the year A. D. 406, the Dark Ages began with a cold snap when the Rhine River froze over, allowing barbarians to cross the bridge of ice from ancient Germany into Roman territory. When they reached Rome, the barbarians looted and burned the city, wiping out centuries of learning and civilization.
  • The Irish before the Gospel: illiterate warrior-pagans practicing human sacrifice and slavery.
  • The Irish: monasteries and monks who "enshrined literacy as their central religious act." --Cahill
  • Part of their Christian duty: copying all of the books in danger of being lost as the Roman empire crumbled.
  • Then they staged a second Celtic invasion-one very different from the Celtic invasion 900 years earlier. The first Celts had arrived as naked warriors, armed with swords and with their enemies' heads dangling from their belts. But their descendants were missionary monks armed only with their faith in God-and with books, not heads, tied to their belts. Everywhere they went, they established monasteries and carried on their tradition of copying and preserving the Bible and every other book they could get their hand on.
    "These scribes," Cahill says, "served as conduits through which the …Judeo-Christian culture was transmitted to the tribes of Europe." They "re-established literacy and breathed new life into the exhausted literary culture of Europe."

• William Carey: The Father of Modern Missions
  • Raised in the Church of England
  • His study of Scripture and of biographies of Christian heroes of the faith led him to ask the question: "Is it the duty of all Christians to spread the Gospel throughout the world?" In reply, he was told at a minister's meeting: "Young man, sit down; when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid and mine."
  • In 1792, he founded the Baptist Missionary Society and pioneered missions work in India where he remained for more than 40 years until his death in 1834.
  • William Carey left a legacy. The mission he founded established churches, a Bible college, and a print shop which printed and distributed the entire Bible or Bible portions in 44 languages and dialects during Carey's lifetime.
  • He buried two sons, his first and 2nd wife, and several missionary coworkers in India.
  • William Carey: "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God."
• Other Missions Quotes:
  • Hudson Taylor who founded the China Inland Mission: "The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed"
  • "No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once." -- Oswald J. Smith
  • "'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
  • "Believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story." -- K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia Bible Society
  • "Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." -- C.T. Studd

• The Unfinished Task: 6.7 Billion people on the planet. 28% live in "World A" (living in countries where less than 50% of the population have heard the Good News). 33% in "World C" (Christians and church members and attenders). 39% in "World B" (countries more than half-evengelized, but with less than 60% church members).
• We are making progress! World A in 1800: 75% of population; in 1900: 54%; today: 28%
• There is still a lot of work to be done.
• Are there still those who will heed William Carey's challenge to: "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God?"
• What legacy will we leave?