What is our part in the story?

Good Morning!

Review questions: throw out candy.

As most of you guys know Julia and I are planning to move to Ghana, Africa in October. Usually, when an individual finds out that I am a missionary they tend to ask one of two questions, “Why would you want to do that? Or they ask, “Don’t you know we have plenty of lost people in America, why bother to go overseas?” I want to take a few moments here at the end of Snow Camp and explain my calling into missions and why we feel God is leading us overseas.

God saved me at the age of nineteen from a horrific past filled with selfish desires and vain conceits. Shortly, after God saved me the man who explained the Gospel to me came to me and told me that now that I was a Christian I should share my faith with others. He gave me two books on the subject of witnessing, ten tracts and told me he would follow up in a few weeks to see if I had handed out the tracts. I was scared to death! I didn’t want to talk with anyone. What if they said no? What if they asked a question I couldn’t answer? What if they punched me in the face? These and other questions raced through my mind. One morning at 5:30 I was up early doing my devotions and God began to convict me over not handing out any tracts, I flippantly told God that if He wanted me to hand out tracts than someone had to be out in the hall when I opened the door. Remember its 5:30am! I opened the door and at the far end of the hall sat a young man named Sundip, a Buddhist from Nepal. I was blown away. I forced myself to walk down the hallway in order to give him a tract, and when I got close, I nervously with hand shaking asked, “If he had ever received a Gospel tract.” He said no, and thanked me for giving him one. I ran out the door into the early morning air. I was ecstatic! I had actually done it! I had handed out a tract and lived to tell about it! I was filled with excitement at being used by God to share His name. This feeling of excitement led me to go out witnessing with the man who was teaching me. Week after week I would hit the streets and share my faith. These times strengthened and encouraged me in my walk with the Lord. I grew closer to God through these times of witnessing than most people do in a lifetime.

After I had been witnessing on the streets for a number of months, a young man came and spoke at chapel and talked about missions. He shared that there were 1.6 billion people who had never heard the name of Christ. He said that every week in South Asia, alone, 220 million people die without ever hearing the name of Christ. This sentenced haunted me. I went to lunch afterwards, sitting in a cafeteria which holds 6,000 students and I couldn’t help but think that we weren’t even proportionate to the number of people dying every week who had never heard the story of Christ. God placed a burden on my heart that day. That burden is what propelled me to travel to the Amazon region of Brazil, sleeping in a hammock, bathing in the Amazon River in order to share the Gospel message with those lost in Brazil. That burden propelled me to work with the International population at my school, teaching English, basketball and the Bible to Asian students who had never heard the name of Christ. That burden propelled me to Varanasi, India in the middle of the summer where the average temperature was 115 degrees in the shade, in order to share Jesus with others. That burden is what sends us to Ghana, Africa to plant our lives among a people group who has never heard the name of Christ. A burden for the lost and a passion for God’s glory is what sends us to the nations!

For the last session this morning we are going to ask and answer the question. What is our part in the Story? God is spreading His fame among the nations and He is inviting you and I to join Him. God is already at work; all we have to do is look where God is and join Him.

Turn in your Bible to Luke 10:1-2

As you are turning in your Bibles allow me to give you a little context into the chapter. Luke 1-3 records the Christmas story or the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Luke 4-6, tells the story of John the Baptist, the calling out of the first disciples and the attitudes a follower of Christ should possess. Luke 7-9, records Jesus teachings on love and forgiveness, as well as his prediction of His own death for the very first time. Luke 10 opens up with the sending out of seventy individuals. Luke 10:1-2 records the sending out of the seventy into the villages and cities in which Jesus is about to go. The sending of the seventy is important because this is the first time the Lord appoints missionaries. MacArthur writes, “Jesus first appoints the highest rank of spiritual service, the Apostles, down to the next level. And here we find what everybody else was commissioned to do and that was to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ. They are set apart to be the first Kingdom missionaries.” Today, we are going to walk through two verses and ask ourselves four questions, “Who is the Lord of the Harvest, Who are His laborers, where are the fields and what are are we to do?

Read Luke 10:1-2

1.      Who is the Lord of the harvest?

The Lord of the harvest is none other than Jesus Himself. The same person who sends the seventy out and the same person who sends us out is also Lord over the harvest!

What are some of the characteristics of God which we talked about on Saturday morning?

We must remember that the Lord of the harvest is the same God who created everything in the Garden of Eden. God spoke and the world came into existence. Our God is a creative God; did you know that God has created 350,000,000,000 galaxies? Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head and that your heart generates enough pressure to squirt blood up to thirty feet?  The Lord of the harvest is a God of diversity, creativity, and sophistication which He has put on display in the universe, on earth and in our bodies. Have you ever seen a sunset which takes your breath away? Or a mountain range which goes on for miles or even the sun beams streaming through the trees in the middle of a dense forest? All of that is God’s artwork. Francis Chan says, “God’s art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like.” The Bible says that the Heavens display the glory of God… God is SHOUTING at you with blue skies, He is SHOUTING with white snow, He is SHOUTING with brilliant sunsets and sunrises which will take your breath away. Through it all, He is SHOUTING, worship me, trust me, surround your life to me…I take care of the flowers in the field and I will certainly take care of you.

This same God, who was around at the creation of the Earth, was around when Jesus sent out the seventy disciples and He is still around today. The Lord of the harvest is not only creator but He also has other attributes. God never changes. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He never changes. He has no birthday. No time when He came into being, He has always existed and He will always exist. God has always been, since before there was an earth, a universe, or even angels. THERE WAS GOD!

The Lord of the harvest is all-knowing you can never tell God a knock knock joke. You would say “Knock, Knock” and God will say, “I Know.” He knows our thoughts before we think them, our actions before we commit them; He knows our lying down and our getting up. God knows all. God is holy and because of His holiness He cannot look upon sin. God is holy and because He is holy He must punish sin. This is the message that the world so desperately needs to hear. God is holy. In Him there is no sin. However we are all sinners and because of our sin and God’s holiness He can have nothing to do with us. However, in His love He sent His son, born of a virgin, lived a law abiding perfect life, died on the cross to satisfy the wrath of God, rose on the third day, ascended into Heaven and now through Him we are able to have a relationship with God. Christ is our only hope and Christ is the only hope of the nations. Who is the Lord of the harvest? The lord of the harvest is none other than the eternal creator, the all-knowing, all sufficient, everywhere, never changing, creative, and holy but loving God! This Lord is the one who sends out His laborers.

2.      Who are His laborers? (Vs. 2b)

In the immediate context these are the seventy elders who are going out and they are told to pray that God would raise up more men and women from the villages in which they are about to go in order for more people to hear about Christ. Bock writes, “The extraordinary thing about the seventy which Jesus sent out is there ordinariness. There lack of extraordinary abilities.” We should take great comfort in this quote. Let me read it again, “The extraordinary thing about the seventy which Jesus sent out is there ordinariness. There lack of extraordinary abilities.” God’s workers, God’s laborers are ordinary men and women who have fallen in love with an extraordinary God. Do you feel ordinary this morning? Do you feel inadequate? PERFECT! You are just the man or woman God desires to use. God uses ordinary people to proclaim His extraordinary love for the nations! Here is a quote from an IMB worker in East Asia:

Missionaries are ordinary, everyday people. I grew up thinking they were superspirtual: that they didn't need money to live on because they had an extra dose of Jesus and that their kids were delighted to receive old clothes and ragged toys because they were somehow "different". Now I know better. I fall under the category of "missionary," and I have one of those kids who is supposed to be different but really isn't. I thought becoming a missionary meant that I would have great stories to tell that would wow my Christian friends back home. My story however, is of an ordinary person, struggling to learn a foreign language, frustrated because there is no such thing as privacy where I live, and battling thoughts of criticism directed toward the people I am here to love. And my story is also about how God is changing this everyday gal, from the inside out, to live a life of divine proportions. Mine is a marvelous story because He brought me all the way to East Asia to show me that I am complete in Him. He is teaching this weak individual, with human limitations and hang-ups, that His power truly is manifested in weakness. God's promises become real as I encounter the world outside or as I crack open the language book to study. I am learning that it is not just about victories. It is also about obedience that costs, unrecognized sacrifices and unanswered questions. Ultimately, it is about following Christ. -Worker in East Asia. 

Jerry Falwell Senior used to say, “God does not call the qualified but He qualifies the called. Which means that every one of you can change the world. Every one of you can impact your family, your school, your church, your neighborhood, your city, your state, your nations, and yes, even the world! Who are these workers? They are ordinary men and women who have fallen in love with an extraordinary God and desire to share His name with the nations.

3.      Where is the harvest? (2b)

Jesus sends out the seventy into every city and place where He is about to go, they go into Judea and possibly Perea; which is on the east side of the Jordan River. Now; the harvest obviously is a lot bigger and includes the whole world. Did you know that there are 7 billion (with a b), 7 billion people on this planet. If you tried to count to one billion it would take you thirty seven years at one number a second and sadly over half of the world’s population has little access to the Gospel. Where is the harvest? The harvest is in every corner of every city in the United States. Did you know that in the Northeast (section of America where you live) there are 51 million lost people. 82% of the population does not know Jesus. Penns Grove is the 3^rd economic depressed area in Jersey. In Queens, NY there are 133 different nations represented. Think about where you live, do your neighbors know Jesus? Do your classmates know Jesus? What about your family members? The harvest is in Africa where there are 300,000 tribal animistic religions completely devoid of God. The harvest is in East Asia; Japan, Laos, Thailand where there are 350 million Buddhists. The harvest is in South Asia; India, Pakistan, Napal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka where there are 950 million Hindus worshipping more gods than you or I could even imagine. The harvest is in communist nations such as North Korea, China, and Cuba where individuals have grown up in an atheistic philosophy that completely denies the existence of God. The harvest is in the Middle East where there are 1.3 billion Muslims fasting, giving alms, making pilgrimages to Mecca and praying five times a day to a false god. Where is the harvest? The harvest is on every corner of planet Earth, the people are waiting, and the harvest is ripe unto harvest, what will be our response?

4.      What should we do or what will be our response?

The seventy which Jesus commissioned to be sent out had three options and I believe you and I, the church, also, have these same three options. We can go, send or disobey.

GO:

I believe God has been working in someone’s heart this morning and He is placing a burden on your heart to reach the nations. We need individuals to go! Specifically, we need more men to take up the mantle and carry the name of Christ to the nations! We need men and women to go to every corner of every city in the United States because there are hundreds of millions of people who are going to a Christ less eternity and we should long to see them worship God. We need men and women to go to Africa and tell the tribes that there is a God and He is worthy of every single one of their praise. We need workers in East Asia and South Asia because Buddha is not worthy of worship, Jesus Christ is! Hindu worshippers must be told that there is ONLY one God and He is the way the truth and the life. We need workers in the Middle East working with Muslims because Allah is not worthy of praise, NO, only Jehovah is worthy of their praise. We not only need men and women to commit to go and plant their lives overseas but we need short term mission teams to travel overseas for a few weeks or months in order to help encourage believers and share the Gospel. Would you be willing to give up vacation time in order to travel overseas for a few weeks to share the Gospel? Would you be willing to leave behind comforts of America in order to serve overseas for a few years?

SEND:

The second option is to send. Senders are those who for whatever reasons are unable to go to the mission field for a variety of reasons maybe age, (this is where the majority of you in this room fall), sickness, kids, job but God is going to use these individuals through another avenue. This avenue is sending. Look at verse two; look at what the senders are commanded to do: we are commanded to pray. We are commanded to pray for the nations. Do you own a map or a globe? If not, I encourage you to go out and buy one. The IMB sells maps on their website which helps to show the needs around the globe. Pray over the nations. Pray that God would open the eyes of those whom the enemy has blinded. Pray that God would send missionaries to the unreached peoples of the world. Pray that God would encourage missionaries serving overseas. Pray and ask God what your role will be in taking the Gospel to the nations. Second, partner with other missionaries which your church sends out. Do you know the missionaries which your church supports? Talk with your elders or pastors for information and then send the missionaries a word of encouragement. Ask them what you could pray for, if they need anything? Ask about their family, ministry, likes and/or dislikes? Love on your missionaries! I am the contact person for my Sunday School class and every month around the 1^st I send out an email to the missionaries which are SS supports asking them three questions; 1) How was ministry last month? 2) What may I be praying for this month? 3) How is your family? Third, send. Every little bit helps. Do you have a job? Do you give money to your church? Did you know that if you make more than $2 a day you are rich in the eyes of the world? Please, use what God has given you in order to send out more missionaries. Prayerfully consider sacrificing one dollar a day for the cause of missions or maybe more. Please, pray for what God would have you to give to the cause of world evangelization.

3) Disobedient:

The seventy elders could have chosen not to go when Jesus sent them out. They could have chosen to stay at home, enjoy time with their families rather than listen to their king, but instead they went. The disciples could have stood around forever staring off into the sky or they could have just shared the story of Jesus amongst themselves but they went and God used them to change the world. Who took the time to share the Gospel with you or invite you to church for that very first time? What would have happened had they not shared? Where would you be now if you didn’t know Christ? Let me make one thing crystal clear, God does not need you or I to do His work. God’s hands our not tied by our inaction. However, God may not need us but He desires to use us. If we choose to be disobedient the nations will not suffer, God will just rise up another convention, another church or another person to reach the nations and we will miss out on the blessing which comes from serving God.

For whatever reason God has chosen to use finite, fallible human beings in order to accomplish his infinitely perfect plan! God desires to use your youth group to reach the nations! We don’t need to be disobedient because of the encouragement found in these verses. We are told that the harvest belongs to the Lord. God loves the nations more than you or I. God desires to reach the nations more than this youth group or that youth group down the road. We must remember that the same God who called us out of darkness and into His wondrous light, the same God who adopted us into His home, the same God who commissions us to reach the nations with the Gospel is the very same God who has empowered us with the Holy Spirit to accomplish His purpose. Have no fear God will not fail!

Conclusion:

In conclusion, William Wilberforce after revealing the horrors of the slave trade to the English parliament said, “having seen all this you can choose to look the other way but you can never again say I didn’t know.” You now know the need, so, what will be your response? You know that the lord of the harvest is none other than the eternal creator, the all-knowing, all sufficient, everywhere, never changing, creative, and holy but loving God! What will be your response? You know that the laborers are ordinary men and women who have fallen in love with an extraordinary God. What will be your response? You know that the harvest exists in every continent on planet Earth and you know that you have three options to go, send or disobey. What will be your response? Will you serve your neighbors, friends, classmates, family? Will you partner with missionaries in order to encourage and pray for them? Will you commit to go on a short term mission trip in order to see the need first hand? Will you commit to leave behind family and friends in order to plant your life among an unreached people group? What will be your decision?