Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.fbcpickens.org/sermons/28816/gods-passion-pfbc-missions-conference/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Can y'all hear me? I'll never forget one time I was preaching up in Rocky Mount and the auditorium held 1,700 people and as I got up behind the pulpit, Jeff, my mic went out.

[0:15] You can laugh, yeah, it was funny. For y'all, it was funny. But by the time I finished that sermon, I could not talk. That's how loud I had to speak. Just want to make sure you can hear me. If you can hear me, wave your hands. Okay, praise the Lord.

[0:26] It was our joy to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and it was the humor of God, I believe God has a sense of humor, that he would call an American pastor after 27 years of ministry to go to Asia and to work with, I think, the finest missionaries in the whole world.

[0:47] Jonathan and Kelly, where are y'all? Y'all are here somewhere, aren't you? Serving with them. They were our FPO cluster leaders in Richmond, Virginia.

[0:57] Little did I know that we would fall in love with these families that we served with and they become your family overseas. The Lord allowed us the privilege. Let me just say this.

[1:07] We did not know what we were doing. We were being trained by the greatest missionaries, I think, in the world. I was an American pastor. I had American context and it was so different over in India.

[1:20] And the Lord put us on. Our church adopted an unreached, unengaged people group called the Mahar Koli, the Koli people. And all we knew was that they lived along the coast of Mumbai.

[1:33] They were fishermen, we thought, at that time. And we went. Barbara and I went. Barbara was just coming off of having her kidney removed from kidney cancer.

[1:43] Four months after her kidney was removed, we were on the ground in India as missionaries. And so life was moving fast for us. And again, I'm not trying to sound humble. I'm telling you the truth.

[1:54] It was just really, you know, I mean, God gives you an assignment. Go reach a people that no one's reaching. And so, you know, just go do it. And we really had to pray and trust God a lot and rely on our leadership and rely on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to lead us.

[2:14] And the Lord, because of the victories that we saw, we saw our people group removed from the UUPG list, which was the greatest sense of victory that I had in my service to the Lord.

[2:31] They were removed from the Unreached Unengaged People Group. I remember being in Delhi, Jonathan talking to Joey Gordy at the transit house. And I said, Joey, I'm looking for our people group on the list, and they're not there.

[2:45] I mean, is there a mistake? Where's our people? And he said, oh, you haven't heard. They're engaged. I said, oh, tell me who. I want to know who these people are that have engaged them because I want to partner.

[2:56] I mean, I want to learn from them. He said, it's you. And so I said, it's me and Barb. And we had started doing ministry among the Maharkoli, who are rice farmers in the mountains of Tane District in northeastern Maharashtra.

[3:12] And there's so many stories that I could tell you. When I was here last year, I had the joy of being in that Sunday school class, and I got to share some of the stories of how I almost got beat, beat, almost had my legs broken by a village leader who was very upset with us sharing the gospel.

[3:29] I could tell you how the very first converts from that tribal group came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. I could tell you about how the Lord led us to partner with an Indian church planning ministry.

[3:40] I could tell you about how my daughter got sick, and we had to come home, and my head was spinning. And I didn't know what in the world the Lord was doing because there was fruit, and there was success on the field.

[3:52] And now here we are back in the States with our very sick daughter. I just did not know what in the world God was up to. And the Lord led us to resign, which was the hardest thing I've done in a long time, to resign a work that we loved, to leave a team that we loved, the Mumbai IMB team there in Mumbai, India.

[4:11] And now to see my national partner doing such a great job in the field, the guy that we discipled, that we raised up, is now the face of the ministry.

[4:21] And I've talked to the couple that replaced us, and they're working in that same ministry, seeing fruit. Just got a Facebook message that they had done an evangelism, an event among this Unreached People group, and they had people that came to Christ, and now they're planning discipleship and church planning.

[4:44] So I could tell you all those things, but I don't have time. So I've got to share with you what the Lord burdened my heart about, about coming to this missions conference, what message the Lord put on my heart, and it's to the church corporately.

[4:58] First of all, I want to say to you that the Lord is a passionate God. God has a passion for the world. In John 3, verse 16, we see the passion of God in this verse that we all know so well.

[5:12] In fact, I don't even think you need to look in your Bible at John 3, 16, because you probably have it memorized. Many of the children here could probably quote John 3, 16.

[5:23] But in John 3, 16, we begin to see the passion of God for this lost world, where John writes, for God so loved the world that he gave his only gotten son.

[5:36] You see, it doesn't say for God loved the world, but that he so loved the world. And that little word so speaks of the passion of God and the willingness and the extent of God, how far God was willing to go to show his love to this lost and dying world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

[6:01] And I want us to connect this morning with the passion of the God that we claim to worship. The heavenly father that we love, that we know in our heart, I want us to connect and to touch his heart for this lost world.

[6:15] Maybe your heart's like mine, and we need to have our hearts stirred this morning. Will you quote John 3, 16 with me out loud if you feel comfortable doing that? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[6:37] You see, God is a passionate God. His heart is for the world. Look what 2 Peter 3, verse 9 says, that the Lord's not slack concerning his promises, some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[6:59] Do you see your father's heart? That he's patient with this world. The only reason Jesus Christ has not returned to this world is because of God's love and suffering for the lost of this world.

[7:12] He wants all men everywhere to repent. He's not willing that any should perish, but that they should repent. Look what Mark 16 says.

[7:26] Jesus said to his followers, to his disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel. The King James says to every creature, a better translation is to all people. Jesus was saying, go and preach the gospel to all people.

[7:39] Who is he speaking to? He's speaking to followers, those like us that believe in him as Lord and Savior. This command is to us, to go into the world, to take the gospel to all people.

[7:51] You see, the passion of God reveals the plan of God. And the plan of God is for the world to hear the gospel of his son and be saved.

[8:03] Look what Acts 1.8 says. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

[8:18] Notice the geographical nature of God's plan. We understand his passion that he so loves this world. But look at the geographical nature of his strategy, his plan. He said that we would be witnesses in our own Jerusalem.

[8:33] Jerusalem is where they lived. It's where the disciples were living. It's their own hometown. It's their pickings, South Carolina. It's the upstate of South Carolina. That's what this literally means is that we would be witnesses in our own locality.

[8:46] But he didn't end there. The geographic strategy continues. He said that you would be witnesses into the region in which you live and the nation in which you live in Judea and Samaria. And then you would be witnesses to the ends of the earth.

[9:00] Now, the problem with most churches that I have seen is that we tend to focus only on local missions, which is great. We should be a witness to Pickens. We should be a witness to Easley and to the upstate of South Carolina.

[9:12] But it doesn't end there. The command of our Lord Jesus Christ is to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, to those who've never heard his name. You see, if you look at these verses, you begin to see a pattern where Jesus, in his last words, before he leaves the world, before he leaves his disciples, before he ascends up in the clouds to heaven, he gives his followers this mandate to go to the nations, to make disciples.

[9:44] And here in Acts 1-8, to do work in your own locality, your own Jerusalem, your own community, your city, and then to go into your region, your nation, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

[10:00] So we see God's passion reveals God's plan. And God's plan is not just local. God's plan is global.

[10:11] Look what Matthew 28, 19-20 says. Jesus speaking to his disciples, he says, Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations.

[10:23] Now when we hear the word nations, the English word nations, of course the Bible was written, the New Testament was written in Greek, the Old Testament in Hebrew, little parts of Aramaic here and there.

[10:35] But in the New Testament, when we hear the word nations, the Greek word here is ethne, ethnos. And it speaks more clearly of people groups.

[10:46] When we hear nations, we think of geopolitical boundaries of land, like China is a nation, geopolitical boundary of land. Canada, the United States of America.

[10:56] You can picture the shape in your mind of the map. But when Jesus uses this word that was translated nations in the English, he's speaking more clearly of people groups.

[11:08] Now people groups are groups of people on the earth that have a common language, a common culture, a common religion. The UN estimates that there are nearly 16,000 people groups on the earth today.

[11:22] And so when Jesus tells his followers to take the gospel to these ethne, to these people groups, what he's literally saying is, take my gospel to the families of the earth.

[11:37] Now for those of you that are Bible students, you probably remember that term families from an Old Testament reference where God told Abraham that through his seed, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, all the families of the earth would be blessed.

[11:53] You see, God sees the earth, not as geopolitical nations. God sees the earth as groups of families of people. And hence you have the term people group.

[12:05] Now according to the best missions research that is done, the IMB, by the way, every time you give your Lottie Moon offering at Christmas time, you support the greatest missions agency on the face of the earth, the International Mission Board.

[12:22] And according to the best research that the IMB has produced and Joshua Project has produced and Finish the Task has produced, we understand that of the people groups of the earth, there are 6,000 people groups that are unreached people groups, which means they have little to no access to the gospel.

[12:44] There's no churches that they can go to. There's no Bibles they can buy at Walmart. They hope they don't have Walmart, by the way, but there's no Bibles they can buy. They're very limited in access to the gospel.

[12:54] I had a guy tell me this. He said, why are you going to India, Jack? There's lost people right here. And he was 100% correct. And I said, well, let me tell you why God has burdened my heart for the Koli people in India.

[13:08] It's because they're lost, just like there's lost people right here. But the people who are unreached have no access or limited access at all to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[13:21] You see, a lost person here can turn on a TV and hear the gospel, can turn on a radio and hear the gospel, can go buy a Bible at Walmart, can walk down on the corner, almost a church on almost every corner, and be invited into a church to hear the gospel.

[13:39] There's access. And the reason that most people, not all, but the reason that most people in our locality, in this culture is not Christian, is because they choose not to go, or not to listen, not to hear, not to respond to the message of Christ.

[13:56] But people who've never heard, people who are unreached with the gospel, have no access. And if you're unreached and unengaged, that means no one's going to tell them.

[14:08] No one's going to tell the 3,500 UUPG peoples of the earth. There's nobody that we know of, no missions agency, nobody from the IMB, nobody from any missions agency, no churches, no pastors, going to tell the unreached, unengaged peoples of the earth.

[14:25] Well, that's a problem. That's a problem. There's only one thing worse than being lost. It's being lost and having nobody care that you're lost.

[14:37] Could you imagine if you had a child that became lost on a camping trip? Raise your hand if you have a child, if you're a mother or a father, raise your hand. I mean, most of us. Could you imagine you go camping, and one of your little ones wanders off?

[14:52] Now, what would be your state of mind, I wonder? What would you be thinking? How would you react? Would you go about his life as usual, business as usual?

[15:05] Hey, let's start the fire. Let's have some s'mores. Would you do that? No, you would be frantically searching and calling out for your lost child's name. In fact, you would be enlisting as many people, friends and strangers, who are willing to help you look for your lost child.

[15:25] You see, these unreached people groups of the world, these unreached, unengaged people groups of the world, are like they're lost, and many people are not even aware that they even exist, and some don't even care.

[15:39] They just want to go through life as usual. But our Father's heart longs for the lost. He longs for His children to be found, and He is speaking to us, His church, His children.

[15:55] Find my lost children. Find those who are lost and bring them home. Who else would God speak to? Who else would Jesus command and mandate to do this task?

[16:10] Us, His children, His family, His followers. So the Lord Jesus Christ has called us, and God, Jesus has commanded us, He's mandated us, and He's called us to go and find those who are lost.

[16:34] Now look at this next verse on the screen, because I want you to see that God's plan is a global plan, and I want you to see that God's heart is not just for people in the West or white people.

[16:46] God's heart and His plan is for all people. In Revelation chapter 7, verse 9, After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages, or tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

[17:04] We see this picture in heaven at the end of time, of people from every language, every nation, every tribe, and every people group, before the throne of God, giving worship to the Lamb of God.

[17:22] This is the heart of God. This is God's global plan of redemption. Now, with all of that in mind, what is our response?

[17:34] We must respond. We cannot take this information in and just go on as business as usual unless you just don't really care about who's lost, unless you don't really care about the heart of your Father.

[17:49] God's passion mandates that we respond. Those of us that are Christ followers, we must respond to this burden. Taking the gospel to those who have never heard is the priority of all believers in every gospel preaching church.

[18:06] Now, what does that mean practically? Well, three things. First of all, his passion and his plan has to be our first priority.

[18:16] His passion, for God so loved the world, his plan, go and make disciples of the ethnosis, of the nations, must become our priority.

[18:31] We must realize the fact that we have 6,000 unreached people groups, 3,500 unreached, unengaged people groups is a problem. And this is not a problem for the IMB or for missions agencies.

[18:44] This problem belongs to the local church. You see, the IMB is a great entity. It's a great institution, an agency for helping local churches engage in reaching the unreached.

[19:03] But the burden of the Great Commission doesn't belong to the IMB. It belongs to the church. And the IMB was raised up by God to help facilitate the local church to own the burden for the lost.

[19:21] Not just here locally or regionally, but to own the burden internationally to take the gospel to those who've never heard. Now, how can we make this priority our priority?

[19:36] Well, number one, let's look at what we can do. First of all, every people group here should be what is on our heart as a church. We want to be used by God.

[19:48] We may not be able to reach all people groups, but we can reach one. We can pray for one. And possibly we can go and assist in helping to reach one.

[20:02] There's something that we can do. We may not be able to do everything, but only God knows that we can do something. Amen, church, to reach those who've never heard. You've heard the story of the man walking on the beach.

[20:14] And he walks off, walks up on a bunch of, I think the story says starfish that have washed up on the beach during a storm. And he starts throwing the starfish back into the ocean.

[20:27] And a little boy walks up and says, it won't do any good. You can't throw them all back in. There were thousands that had washed up. And the fellow said, well, I may not be able to do them all, but this one is going to be saved.

[20:43] And he threw it back in. We may not be able to reach every people group, which I know you won't, but we can do something. We can interact with the agency of God and the burden of God and the urgency of God in reaching those who are unreached.

[21:01] So first of all, every people group here. Secondly, every believer shares. This is part of the solution to this problem. Part of the solution is that believers have stopped sharing, especially locally in the West, in the United States.

[21:18] Very few people are sharing their faith with others. That's why we've seen a decline in Southern Baptist life of baptisms and church membership. And we've seen declines across the board because we've stopped sharing.

[21:31] We've lost the vision and the passion of God for the lost. Listen, God loves a lost man in Pickens just as much as he loves a lost man in India. God doesn't love the Indian people more than he loves a person that lives right on your street or your neighborhood.

[21:47] God expects us as believers to share, to share our testimony, to share what God has done in our lives.

[21:57] I want to share with you a verse in Acts chapter 19, verse 10, which really helps us to understand how powerful this is if every believer would begin to share and every disciple would begin to make disciples.

[22:10] I want you to see what happened in Acts chapter 19, verse 10. It says, And this continued for two years. What continued? Paul's teaching in Ephesus. Continued for two years at the school of Tyrannus.

[22:24] And look what happened. So that all who dwelt in Asia, now Asia in this context is Asia Minor. It's not like Asia, China, Asia, or Thailand.

[22:36] This is Asia Minor, which would be modern day Turkey. But still, let this sink in. In two years, every person in Asia Minor heard the word of the Lord, both Jew and Greeks, or Gentiles.

[22:50] Gentiles. Now, how in the world did the Apostle Paul teach the young disciples there at Ephesus and in other places to do this in two years?

[23:01] They didn't have roads. They didn't have computers. They didn't have airplanes or buses or printing presses or Bibles. They didn't have money. How in the world could Paul lead the early church to do such a feat, to reach such a large group of people in two years?

[23:18] Let me tell you how. Every person shared who was a believer in Jesus. Every disciple of Jesus discipled someone else. That's how the gospel is meant to go forward in our lives and in our churches.

[23:33] Every person must share. Every disciple must multiply. So what do I share? First of all, you share your story. When you talk to someone who lives on your street or that you go to work with or a family member who doesn't know Christ, you want to share your story.

[23:49] Remember, the gospel is always best presented on two legs. Two legs we carry the gospel. On one leg, we call it our story, which is our personal interaction with Christ.

[24:01] How I came to know Christ, my life before Christ, how I met Christ, my life after Christ. We share a testimony about Jesus Christ. Or maybe God has brought a healing in your life or God has done something for you that you can brag on God about.

[24:14] That's your testimony. You share something personal about your relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Secondly, you tell your story, you tell God's story, which is the gospel message that Christ died for our sins and he was buried and on the third day he rose again.

[24:31] So with two legs, we carry the gospel message. Every believer shares. Every disciple multiplies or makes another disciple.

[24:42] That's what God has called us to do. That's how the task will be completed. I want to show you the power of this in scripture. Look at the power of personal testimony.

[24:53] Mark chapter 5 verses 18 through 20. And when he got into the boat, speaking of Jesus Christ, Jesus got into the boat, then this man who had been demon possessed, who Jesus took the demons out of, he cast them out, he begged Jesus that he might be with him.

[25:08] Jesus, let me go with you. I want to follow you. I want to go with you. But look what Jesus said. However, Jesus did not permit him. Jesus, I want to follow you.

[25:19] Jesus said, wait a minute. I've got something for you to do. But he said to him, go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you.

[25:31] Verse 20. And he departed. This man departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and all the people marveled. You see, Jesus said, go back and tell your family, your friends, what God has done for you.

[25:45] That was his testimony and how he shared the gospel that 10 cities, Decapolis, 10 cities heard the gospel of Jesus Christ because of this one formerly demon possessed man.

[25:58] The power of your personal testimony. Listen, believers. Listen, Christians. Open your mouth and tell people about what you know about God.

[26:08] brag on God. Right before we went to India, Barbara had kidney cancer and it was an awful situation for us. I mean, we, man, we're on the threshold of going to India and my wife is hit by a Chevrolet Silverado right in her driver's door, 45 miles an hour.

[26:31] And they airlift her to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, North Carolina and she's got internal injuries and I walk into the room and I'm thinking, you know, she's busted up inside and the doctors say cancer.

[26:45] And I went, what? She had a car wreck and you found seven centimeter tumor in her right kidney. Well, I'll just be honest with you. I wish I could sound real spiritual and say, well, we trusted God.

[26:57] We were going to India. India was out. It was my wife's life and I wasn't even thinking about the Coley. I wasn't thinking about UUPGs. I was thinking about my wife dying.

[27:08] Are you with me, church? God delivered Barbara of cancer. If we would have went to India before the car accident, she would have become terminal on the field.

[27:20] It goes to your bone and your lung, that kind of cancer. And my wife would have died in India. But because God allowed that truck to hit that car, have you ever heard of Romans 8, 28?

[27:31] I think that's still in the Bible, right? For all things work together for good? Because the Lord allowed something that we saw as bad, but He meant it for good. It saved my wife's life.

[27:41] And guess what? Four months after her kidney was removed, four months later, we might be crazy for this. You might think, you're crazy. And we probably are. We hit the ground in Mumbai to take the gospel to this unreached people group.

[27:55] So I'm just telling you that the power of what God has done. Now my wife is able to share with people how God saved her life through this tragedy of a car accident.

[28:07] It's a testimony she can share naturally. By the way, when you share your testimony, don't share a canned, memorized. That sounds so phony. Share something fresh.

[28:18] Share what God's done for you. Share how God saved you. And then couple it with the gospel. And see what the Lord does. Look at another example.

[28:29] John chapter 4. The power of personal testimony in the woman at the well. Verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Jesus, believed in him, because of the word of the woman who testified.

[28:44] He told me all that I ever did. You see, many people in her village believed in Jesus because of her testimony. Now was she a big famous person?

[28:54] No. She was actually considered a shameful woman. She would go to the water well in the heat of the day to not be able to face, to not have to face the other women and their looks. Because she is on her fifth husband.

[29:07] But look who God used in that village to bring that village to Christ. He used this woman who would go to the well at noontime to be the agent to carry the gospel and the message of Christ back to her village.

[29:21] And it says here that many of them believed. You don't have to be a preacher to tell your testimony. You don't have to have Bible college. You don't have to have a seminary degree. You don't have to be a natural speaker. Just open your mouth and watch God work through your testimony.

[29:37] My priority. My priority is to share. To share my story and to share God's story. So just to recap, our priority.

[29:50] Number one, every person hears. Number two, every believer shares. And number three, every disciple multiplies. Or to say that more practically, every disciple makes another disciple.

[30:02] And then you teach that disciple to make another disciple. And then exponentially, we can reach Pickens. We can reach South Carolina. We can reach the world if disciples would follow these three simple axioms.

[30:15] every person hears. Every believer shares. And every disciple multiplies. So the Lord Jesus Christ gave us the command to go and make disciples of all the nations.

[30:29] To baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And to teach them to observe the things that He has commanded. Jesus said. Now as we go to do this, as we lead someone to Christ, how do we disciple them?

[30:46] What do we do? Do we go buy a book at Lifeway? I would advise not to do that. Because anything that you can do that's just rigid, just invest your life in the life of that person.

[30:59] Spend time with them. Come to church with them. I've got an acronym that helped me in discipling. In fact, I'm discipling a man right now. And this acronym is very helpful. And it came from a ministry called Verge on the internet.

[31:11] But that's where I got this. And it's the BLESS acronym. And if you're working with someone, trying to disciple them, just use this acronym in your life. First of all, begin your time with prayer.

[31:22] When you meet with them, begin with prayer. Secondly, L in BLESS. Listen. Listen to them for opportunities. Ways that you can minister to their needs. In doing that, you can show Christ to their life.

[31:34] Third, E. Eat with them. I like that point. I like to eat. You eat with them. Spend time with them. Don't just meet them at church. Have them at your house.

[31:46] Bring someone to your home. Eat a meal with them. Get to know them. S. Serve with them. Find ways to serve.

[31:56] Now, this is a person you're discipling. Find something to do. Here at First Baptist, other opportunities, look for something to do. Share.

[32:07] The last S. Share your story and God's story, which means teach them how to share their testimony. Let them see you do it. And in doing that, you make a disciple, someone who can follow your example.

[32:22] You've multiplied your faith in someone else. His passion and his plan must be our priority.

[32:34] Jesus' last words on the earth to his church to go and make disciples, to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

[32:48] His last words must be our first priority as a church. We must give. We must continue to give. I know First Baptist gives.

[33:00] And many of you give sacrificially to missions. Continue to give. But we can't stop there. We've got to own this responsibility. We must go. I heard Jeff talking about going with Carpenters for Christ, going and doing these mission trips.

[33:15] Go. Continue to go on trips and short-term trips. We must send people from our congregation who are called to God, called by God to go to the mission field.

[33:27] We must continue to send and we must pray and continue to pray. But it doesn't stop with going, giving, sending, and praying. We who are followers of Jesus Christ, His church must own the responsibility of the burden of our Father for the nations, for reaching the unreached and unengaged of our world.

[33:50] And we do this by making it a priority in three specific areas. And I end the message with this. First of all, church, I'm speaking to you corporately. We must be aware of the need and aware of our Father's burden for the nations.

[34:04] That's part of what this message is about, is awareness. Letting you know, giving you some information, letting you think and ponder and pray, hopefully, about the need in our Father's heart for the lost and for the nations.

[34:17] Secondly, we must seek out opportunities to further educate ourselves in the overall need and what we can do to be a part of the solution to see the nations come to Christ.

[34:34] Number three, we must move to action. We must become personally involved and it's funny to speak to a church corporately and say you've got to be personally involved, but the church is a body of Christ and the church must have a single heart about what God's heart is for, which is the nations.

[34:54] become personally involved as a church in a call to action to adopting an unreached people group.

[35:06] You say, well, where do we begin? First of all, be made aware of who the unreached people groups are. What can we do? The IMB offers an intensive, a mission summit that they're willing to come and send a team to help educate further on how churches can engage the unengaged.

[35:26] Churches have to invite them. They won't force their way, but that's a way that we can become more personally involved as a church in adopting this unreached people group. Now, let me say this to you.

[35:37] I'm either right and I'm on bullseye with the word of God and the heart of God, our Father, or I'm just a crazy man who's completely missed it.

[35:48] I believe with all my heart I'm right. God has grabbed my heart for the unreached. I'll never be the same. Jeff said I'd served as an American pastor for 27 years and I did and I thought I really had a good grasp of missions and I did in a conceptual way, but when I went to India to live in India and to work among a people that no one had ever worked among, it really, God's passion for the nations became my passion.

[36:17] I began to have my Father's heart for those who had never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I just want to submit to you. I hope I'm not out of order in doing so.

[36:30] I'm just delivering the burden that God put in my heart to give to you this morning that we become aware and we look for further ways to educate ourselves in relation to the burden, the need, and then we have a call to action which could lead to the adoption of an unreached people group and how that fleshes out and how that works out is between your church and God and the IMB is more than willing to be helpful to come and assist and to facilitate but we, the church, have to own.

[37:01] We can't just pay the IMB to do our work. We want to be a part, personally involved in the work of Jesus Christ and the passion of God for the nations.

[37:14] Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. Dear God, thank you for the opportunity to come here, Lord, and to expound on your heart for those who are lost.

[37:31] Help us to remember, Lord, that it's not just about overseas. Lord, we should be sharing here. We should be sharing our testimony here with people that we work with, that we see at the restaurant.

[37:45] People maybe we live on the same street or we go to a ball game with. Lord, it's not just about doing missions overseas. It's about doing it here in our Jerusalem, doing it in our region and nation and doing it, of course, to the ends of the earth.

[37:58] But Lord, help us in doing missions. Help us not to forget the ones who've never heard, Lord. Help us never to abandon, Lord, those who've never had a chance to respond.

[38:10] Lord, who's going to take up that burden? Who's going to take up, Lord, that responsibility? It's got to be us, Father, your people.

[38:22] Would you re-familiarate our hearts with your heart, God? Would you re-familiar our hearts with yours? Would you pour into us, Lord, your passion for the nations, God?

[38:35] Especially for those who are unreached and unengaged, God. Surely, Lord, we can't do everything, but we can do something, Father. So, Lord, lead this precious church, this precious pastor and staff.

[38:47] Lead them, Lord, as to what you would want them to do and continue to do as they do missions well. Lord, continue to do the things that they're doing well already, Lord.

[38:58] God, I just pray your blessings on First Baptist Church Pickens, Lord. Put this message deep in our soul. Don't let us easily forget it, Father. In Jesus' name I pray.

[39:12]  Amen.