Podcast appearances and mentions of Joshua Project

Today's HeadlinesHow tariffs are affecting audio Bible ministryTWR Malawi broadcasts biblical truth for cultural challengesDecades of Bible translation work culminate in celebration

For the next several days we will be looking at these amazing verses in Luke 8:22-26. In the previous verses in this chapter Jesus has been preaching to the crowds and His disciples on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee near the city of Capernaum. In Matthew's Gospel, you will find the larger version on His message that uses parables to teach what the “kingdom of heaven is like” (Matthew 13). Luke uses only one of these parables, the Sower, the Seed, and the Soil, that leads us into what takes place in this section of verses (vv. 22-26).   You can only imagine that by the time the Lord had finished giving "the Parables of the Kingdom" (Matt. 13:1-52), the disciples must have felt like postgraduate students in the School of Faith! They now understood mysteries that were hidden from the scribes and rabbis and even from the Old Testament prophets. What they did not realize (and we are so like them!) is that faith must be tested before it can be trusted. It is one thing to learn a new spiritual truth, but quite something else to practice that truth in the everyday experiences of life. Remember the Lord finished this message telling us that the most important thing we can do with the “Seed”, the Word of God”, is to obey it and do the will of God! That is when and how we enter into a personal, intimate, heart and spiritual relationship with our Lord! “We become His mother and brothers” (v. 21). It is now that Luke gives us this account of Jesus “getting into a boat with His disciples” and telling them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake."   For weeks Jesus has been ministering in the region of Galilee, working out of the fishing village of Capernaum. He has been preaching and teaching the message of the kingdom of God, and doing marvelous miracles of healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, casting out demons, and raising the dead. But there are people on the “other side” of the lake that need to experience Jesus and His miraculous saving grace! So, after Jesus has prepared His disciples, He is about to give them another lesson they will never forget. There are people on the “other side”, so they must get on the “boat of life” and navigate the “storms of life” to accomplish the will of God in taking the Gospel to the “uttermost”.   After the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus about a year and a half later, Jesus would give His last words of instructions to the disciples for forty days concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 1:1-8). In His final words here, and in all the Gospel accounts, Jesus gives them the Great Commission. They are to Go into all the world and be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. I can't help but think that maybe when they heard Jesus give them this message that their minds went back to the day they got in the boat with Jesus and were told to “cross over to the other side”.   I want to remind you that we need to still be getting into the boat with Jesus and going to the “other side”. Today, there are over 8 billion people on earth. According to Joshua Project, there are approximately 17,446 unique people groups in the world with 7,391 of them considered unreached (over 42% of the world's population)! The vast majority (85%) of these least reached groups exist in the 10/40 window and less than 3% of missionary work is done among these people.   This means there are over 3.5 billion people who have little or no access to the Gospel, while we speak 97% of mission money and efforts in places like America that is saturated with the Gospel.   Don't you think it is about time for us “to get into the boat with Jesus and cross over to the other side”? Are you praying, giving, and participating in going to the “unreached people groups of the world”?   God bless!

According to the Joshua Project, there are still 7,415 unreached people groups around the world. An unreached or least-reached people is a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.Main Points:1. Why should we care? Why should this be a priority for the church? Because we are compelled by our Savior to reach them. We have been given this mission. This is what matters to God.2. There must be within the body of Christ an urgency to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. The gospel must be urgent to us because it is urgent to God. Can I ask you, “Is the work of missions and evangelism urgent for you?”3. What if every Christian took the Great Commission seriously? What if every Christian prayed for the lost, for our missionaries, and the unreached? What if every Christian gave financially each month to ensure that everyone around the world had access to the gospel message? What if every Christian took steps of faith to witness for Christ?Today's Scripture Verses:Matthew 28:19-20 - “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”2 Peter 3:9 - (God does not want) “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”Quick Links:Donate to support this podcastLeave a review on Apple PodcastsGet a copy of The 5 Minute Discipleship JournalConnect on SocialJoin The 5 Minute Discipleship Facebook Group

How can a deeper commitment to prayer transform global missions and our personal faith journeys?   In this episode of the Lausanne Movement Podcast, Sarah Plummer, leader of the Lausanne Movement's Intercessory Working Group, shares powerful insights on the central role of prayer in mission work and calls us to intentional prayer as we draw closer to the Fourth Lausanne Congress. Sarah reflects on the legacy of prayer in Lausanne, its impact on global evangelism, and offers practical advice for revitalising your prayer life.   Main Points: The Foundation of Prayer in Lausanne: Discover how prayer has been the bedrock of the Lausanne Movement since its inception, shaping every aspect of its mission and activities. Testimonies of Breakthroughs: Sarah shares powerful stories of how intentional prayer has led to significant breakthroughs, including the 2004 Pattaya Congress and the 2010 Cape Town Congress. Revitalising Your Prayer Life: Learn practical tips for overcoming stagnation in prayer and reconnecting with God through the scriptures, particularly the Psalms. Global Prayer Movements: Explore valuable resources and movements like Operation World and 24/7 Prayer, which are mobilising Christians worldwide to pray for the nations.   Call to Action:  After listening, take a moment to reflect on your own prayer life and the role God is inviting you to play in praying for a fresh move of God in global missions. Consider joining or forming a prayer triplet, signing up for a 24/7 prayer slot, or simply dedicating more time to intentional prayer. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with others who might be inspired by Sarah's testimony.   Links & Resources: Lausanne Prayer Initiatives Register Your 24-7 Prayer Slot - https://signup.24-7prayer.com/signup/28ddcd 24-7 Global Mission Prayer Room - https://www.youtube.com/live/wPXAQAfUg5Q Download Prayer Guides - https://congress.lausanne.org/pray/ Prayer Triplet Guide - https://congress.lausanne.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/EN-Lausanne-Prayer-Triplets-Card-V2.pdf Operation World - https://operationworld.org/ International Prayer Connect - https://www.ipcprayer.org/en/ipc-home Lectio 365 App - https://www.24-7prayer.com/resource/lectio-365/ Joshua Project - https://www.joshuaproject.net/   These resources provide tools and guides to enhance your prayer life and engage in global mission-focused prayer.   Guest Bio: Sarah Plummer ( M.T.D, B.D., B.Ed., Grad Cert DT. ) Sarah is a dedicated servant leader whose love for Jesus began in her childhood and affirmed with her ordination in 1996 after graduating from Moore College, Sydney. With a heart for Christ's holistic mission, she has led with strategic vision in various roles, including CEO of Anglicare College and Executive Director at Anglicare. Her commitment to Christian service is evident through her international director of prayer ministries with World Vision and her influential tenure on the International Lausanne Board. Sarah has served these last eighteen years as the Intercession Working Group Chair for Lausanne. A supporter of quality Christian education, Sarah has contributed to the governance of several schools and is a respected figure in the Canberra-Goulburn Anglican Diocesan leadership. As she contemplates her future, Sarah remains open to following God's call to exceptional servant leadership in this new season. We'd love your feedback to help us to improve this podcast. Thank you!

The Joshua Project has served the Global Body of Christ and missions community for many years in providing lists of unreached people groups and tracking what God is doing among them. Join Cynthia for this insightful interview on how to use this tool effectively and about some of the changes coming to this powerful ministry and website.

If you're looking for people group data to help you mobilize, this episode is for you! Chris Clayman, Executive Director for Joshua Project, joins us today to give us all the details on how we can use the free tools on their website to help us educate and inspire God's people. You'll learn about the people group profiles and lists, the Unreached of the Day resource, and the Global Interactive Map. Chris also shares an incredible story about a dentist in Texas who sent a simple email that resulted in a people group being reached for the first time. Plus, Chris gives us an inside peek into the future of the Joshua Project and how you can help shape their ministry in the coming years. 

Today's HeadlinesSudan: Muslim refugees persecute Christian refugeesOral Bible translators in Sudan keep working even as war displaces

We are part of a great offering of nations being sanctified by the Holy Spirit to be presented to God. Paul wrote Romans as part of that gospel work, and the first part of this paragraph lifts us up to the glory in that work. The second half of the paragraph, verses 17-21, belongs with the first part, but is more historical. As I said last week, starting in 15:14 Paul finishes off his letter with more personal than theological issues, and here he's moving toward why he's been trying to come and visit the Romans.He's got bold ambitions. The first part of the bold ambition is that he's aiming for the nations to be made an acceptable offering to God through the gospel. This has to do with their believing and then obeying the gospel. “Jesus is Lord” is the right confession, and it changes all our conduct and culture. This ambition had been Paul's aim as an apostle, and his letter to the Romans had included some bold reminders because, though he saw signs of God's grace among them, he wanted more for them. The second part of his bold ambition is that Paul aimed himself at places that had never heard the the name of Christ. He was what we might call a frontier missionary or pioneer missionary. Lots of jobs in lots of places belong with the preparing of an offering by the gospel, but Paul's job was especially to take the gospel to places that had no knowledge of it. He'd been choosing his itinerary accordingly.In verses 17-21 he shares his excitement about God's work through him and shares his ambition to cover even more new ground. (One of my Greek texts — UBS4 has verses 17-21 as one sentence, and the ESV only has two sentences, 17 and 18-21. Another Greek text — THGNT has separate sentences for 17-19, 20-21. My point in mentioning that is to say there's reasonable disagreement as to where the divisions happen.)# Work Boast (verse 17)There's a “therefore” or a **then**, connecting this boast to his bold project. > In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. (Romans 15:17 ESV)**Reason to be proud** is the usual word for a boast, a thing that he can “glory” (KJV) in. There's only so much that Christians are allowed to humble-brag about. Paul is able to make a big deal about “the (things he's done) for God,” and even still, those were only done **in Christ Jesus**. He's about to explain what things/work he's referring to, and it's already been quite ambitious.# Work Area (verses 18a, 19b)If you're reading an ESV you can see the dashes, separating off a sort of parenthesis. Before and after those dashes we get a statement of his accomplishments. > For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience…so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; (Romans 15:18a, 19b ESV)**I venture** is related to the world “boldly” in verse 15 (τολμηρότερον and τολμήσω); he was daring in some of his reminders to them but he would not dare in his boasting before them. His reminders were bold, but he's not so bold as to talk about anything except **what Christ has accomplished through me**. What is that? It's been the evangelization of parts of Syria and Turkey and Greece.“Resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles” (NASB). Again, **the Gentiles** are the *ethne*, and here is their obedience *of faith*. “The obedience of faith” bookends the entire epistle (1:5, 16:25), and is only used in those two verses. Romans is *the* place to go for justification by faith *alone*. There is no earning salvation by works. And also, the gospel includes a command to believe, and living faith obeys the commands of Christ. This who know the Great Commission hear the connection, we are baptized into Christ and then taught to obey all that Christ commanded. Paul is doing that work among the peoples. Specifically he's worked **from Jerusalem…to Illyricum**. Illyricum is the area on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea that covers what we now recognize as Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia. That he worked from one and to the other probably he means all the area in between; the names are the edges. [source](https://www.evidenceunseen.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Illyricum-to-Jerusalem-scaled.jpg)And to **have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel** he doesn't mean that all of them are ready to be presented as the offering to God, but that now those places heard the name of Christ. # Work Means (verses 18b-19a)This insert isn't an afterthought, but it is a short clarification. It's not necessary for the sentence, but it does give explanation as to the means of the accomplishment.> —by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God— (Romans 15:18–19 ESV)Paul did more than Francis of Assisi (who supposedly said "Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words”), Paul lived and spoke (and wrote). The **deed**s are probably explained by the phrase **by power of signs and wonders**, and the last two words probably “refer to the same events viewed from different aspects” (Murray); a miracle amazes and it points. While preaching and debating, Paul had healed a man born lame in Lystra, he'd expelled a demon from a slave prophetess in Philipp, and he'd raised Eutychus back to life even though he fell asleep during a sermon. These all were brought about by the **power of the Holy Spirit**. # Work Ambition (verse 20)Here's his particular **ambition**, his aim; he “aspired” (NASB).> and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, (Romans 15:20 ESV)A place where Christ has **been named** is not a place where everyone has become a Christian, but a place where anyone could become a Christian. It's hard for us to go back and consider what life was like before Jesus. I've mentioned before [_The Book That Made Your World_](https://www.amazon.com/Book-that-Made-Your-World/dp/1595555455/), and what a privilege to have our own copies of the Bible, but even to live in this generation that stands on the shoulders of Book People. Going through Omnibus, the modern period is dark, but not because the Light hasn't come. The light is on a stand in the middle of the room, but we've put a basket over the light. That was not always the case. Paul was taking the Light into places that had never seen it. By God's grace so many peoples have heard the name of Jesus, and the apostle John saw in times to come “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9 ESV).And yet according to the [Joshua Project](https://joshuaproject.net/) website today there are 17,281 People Groups (*ethne*), with 7,246 still Unreached, some 3.4 billion people. The offering is not ready.Going is NOT the calling/program/ambition of all, but it is the work of some. We wouldn't say that there are modern apostles, but there are still evangelists and church planters. Others build on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, continuing the sanctification of the offering.# Work Fulfillment (verse 21)Those of us who have complete copies of God's Word recognize this as Isaiah 52:15.> but as it is written,> > “Those who have never been told of him will see, > and those who have never heard will understand.” > (Romans 15:21 ESV)In Romans 15:17-21, Christ is named explicitly in every verse except 21, which is a prophecy of Isaiah referring to "Him," the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah.The salvation of Gentiles was prophesied. In that context are “the world-wide effects of the Messiah's sacrifice” (Murray). For those who know the context in Isaiah 52:13-15, God's servant will shut the mouths of kings, He will be their king, and we know Him as “our Lord Jesus Christ” (so named in Romans 15:6, 30). # ConclusionPaul pushed for MORE, unto sanctification and into Spain! If it's not broke, let's get further west, and beyond. In one way we are the ends of the earth, 6,742 miles from Jerusalem to Marysville. And also, the offering isn't ready just yet; the fulness of the Gentiles has not yet come in (Romans 11:25).Let us not take gospel obedience for granted. Children, do you believe it? You know the name of Christ, do you believe and love and obey Him? The gospel is God's power for salvation both far and near. ----------## ChargeBeloved, you are probably not boasting enough in what Christ has accomplished through you. And, beloved, you are probably not being ambitious enough in pursuit of Christ accomplishing even more through you. Let your boasts in Christ, and ambitions for Christ, be BOLD. ## Benediction:> Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:25–27 ESV)

This week one of our CHM team members, Elizabeth Melville talks with Jessie VanKlaveren on her and her husband's journey through adoption in getting their son from India. They talk about how God led them to the decision to adopt their son Avi through the Joshua Project. Want to connect with Liz? Instagram: plantedbystreamsco Want to connect with Jessie? Instagram: jesvk Facebook: Jessie VanKlaveren

A conversation with Frank Schattner about his journey from pioneering movements among the Hmong people to the Joshua Project and now the Fidelis Project. Fidelis provides online training and higher education for movement catalysts.LinksFidelis Project: fidelisproject.comJoshua Project: joshuaproject.netHill 111: hill111.com

A conversation about outreach and sharing the Gospel and how we could do it better. We are passionate about evangelism here at the 1M Project. According the the Joshua Project, the United States has 15,178,000 people listed as being unreached.  This same website uses the following term to describe what ureached means according the them;  "An unreached or least-reached people is a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance. The original Joshua Project editorial committee selected the criteria less than or equal to 2% Evangelical Christian and less than or equal to 5% Professing Christians." Our ministry is based out of Muskegon, Michigan where more than 70% of our population report  being unchurched. Given this percentage, that means that there could be as many, if not more than, 123,000 people in our community who have not heard, or simply do not understand the Gospel.  On today's show we sit down and talk with, Pastor Rob Cook, from Central United Methodist Church. We talk about his own personal journey with faith, the methodist movement, and different forms of evangelism.  Our goal is to unite with our brothers and sisters to evangelize and disciple our community.  Let's Connect! Website: https://www.1mproject.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1M-Project-129459694320413 

Dan Scribner is Director of the Joshua Project, which he has helped lead since 1995. Dan began college with the typical American dream to have a good job, 2.3 kids, and a white picket fence. However, God got his attention through a campus ministry that began constantly praying for different unreached people groups. As his heart for unreached peoples grew, God began to redirect the rest of his life plans. Dan and his wife joined Frontier Ventures early on and have been on staff now for 35 years. The Joshua Project, part of Frontier Ventures, was birthed out of the AD 2000 and Beyond movement. The purpose of the project is to create a detailed map of where the gospel is known and where it is yet to be heard.  Dan and his team have watched and mapped some incredible movements of God over the duration of the Joshua project and few people have as wide of a bird's eye view of how the gospel has moved and how it is moving today. The Joshua Project provides integral information to many of the other ministries we have featured who are in the field working, and everything is accomplished through partnerships. Dan had plenty to say on a variety of topics including: How missions have evolved over the last 30 years The barriers to the spread of the gospel today Factors accelerating reaching the remaining people groups How the Joshua Project maps the current work remaining How Dan defines the Great Commission How God is unifying the church towards one common goal around the world Listen now to hear all he had to share! QUOTES TO REMEMBER “It's not about a check list, not about a task… it's the fact that the creator of the universe is not being worshiped by his creation in a way that is full and complete.” “Missions exist because worship does not” “Glory of God has to be at the center or else it turns into a task.” LINKS FROM THE SHOW Frontier Ventures Joshua Project Commissioned, by Marv Newell Let the Nations be Glad, by John Piper Global Media Outreach (see our interview with CEO Jeff Gowler) The Timothy Initiative (see our interview with CEO, Jared Nelms) Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (see our interview with President Bekele Shanko) Jesus Film (see our interview with Executive Director Josh Newell) Finishing the Task (see our interview with FTT Global Church Planting Strategist Dan Hitzhusen) AD 2000 and Beyond Billion Soul Harvest Transform World Vision 59 Empowered 21 Unreached of the Day (app)  The Finish Line Community Facebook Group The Finish Line Community LinkedIn Group BIBLE REFERENCES FROM THE SHOW Matthew 28:19 | Make Disciples Of All Nations Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Matthew 24:14 | Gospel Proclaimed Throughout World, Then The End Will Come And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 1 Corinthians 12: 4,12 | Many Gifts But One Spirit, Many Members But One Body 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. Romans 11:11-12 | Salvation For Gentiles To Make Israel Jealous 11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! If you have a thought about something you heard, or a story to share, please reach out! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also contact us directly from our contact page. If you want to engage with the Finish Line Community, check out our groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Today we get to sit down with Pastor Cody Killian.  His new book. "Wilderness: Finding God in Desolate Places" has been newly released on Amazon.  His group, "The Joshua Project" is filling up with Christian men who are looking to better themselves.  His podcast recently launched and he is the Youth Pastor at his church.  As if he needed more to do, his second book is already in the works.  This Pastor brings the fire.  His faith is contagious and he is spreading the word of God to whomever will listen.  You don't want to miss this one.  Contact Pastor Cody at @codykillian_  on IGOn Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cody.killian.12 and...https://www.facebook.com/groups/joshuaproject/members/Contact us at @powerofmanpodcast on IGTwitter: @rorypaquettepowerofmanpodcast@gmail.comYouTube/Rumble: @powerofmanpodcastJoin our brotherhood:  Power of Man Within on FaceBook Groups, https://www.facebook.com/groups/490821906341560/?ref=share_group_linkBelieve it!

Message from Kirk Martin on January 8, 2023

Where did it go wrong for AJ? it was probably that night at Wembley in April 2017 when Wladimir Klitschko nearly turned the lights out on the Joshua Project before it really got going. Something scared him that night because he was never really the same. The weaknesses we saw there have never really gone away and as much as many tried to hide them, we could still see them. Even worse, Andy Ruiz and Oleksandr Usyk could also see them. How does AJ go about repairing those in time to save his career? https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing

Roddy and Matt discuss last week's sermon on prayer that transforms the church, focusing on practical suggestions for cultivating a life of prayer that results in good works.We mentioned a few resources in the podcast:- The Joshua Project: https://joshuaproject.net/- Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church, Paul David Tripp: https://smile.amazon.com/Lead-Gospel-Principles-Leadership-Church/dp/1433567636- Register for the Wednesday prayer night: https://biblechurch.life/community-dinner-and-prayer-service

Roddy and Matt discuss last week's sermon on prayer that transforms the church, focusing on practical suggestions for cultivating a life of prayer that results in good works. We mentioned a few resources in the podcast: - The Joshua Project: https://joshuaproject.net/ - Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church, Paul David Tripp: https://smile.amazon.com/Lead-Gospel-Principles-Leadership-Church/dp/1433567636 - Register for the Wednesday prayer night: https://biblechurch.life/community-dinner-and-prayer-service

What is the Joshua project? It was the attempt to take a boxer and turn him into a standalone business. Anthony Joshua would be THE face of boxing and if the right image was created, the commercial deals would fly in for both the Joshua organisation and his promoter/broadcaster. This meant we swallowed spin and BS in quantities never seen before, and many fans still do. This defeat has to be the end of that because it has taken boxing to a dark place where reality becomes insignificant.

According to the Joshua Project, there are still 7,415 unreached people groups around the world. An unreached or least-reached people is a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.Main Points:1. Why should we care? Why should this be a priority for the church? Because we are compelled by our Savior to reach them. We have been given this mission. This is what matters to God.2. There must be within the body of Christ an urgency to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. The gospel must be urgent to us because it is urgent to God. Can I ask you, “Is the work of missions and evangelism urgent for you?”3. What if every Christian took the Great Commission seriously? What if every Christian prayed for the lost, for our missionaries, and the unreached? What if every Christian gave financially each month to ensure that everyone around the world had access to the gospel message? What if every Christian took steps of faith to witness for Christ?Today's Scripture Verses:Matthew 28:19-20 - “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”2 Peter 3:9 - (God does not want) “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”Quick Links:Subscribe to The 5 Minute Discipleship NewsletterDonate to support this podcastLeave a review on Apple PodcastsGet a copy of The 5 Minute Discipleship JournalConnect on SocialJoin The 5 Minute Discipleship Facebook Group5 Minute Discipleship on Instagram

K_Ners: Time is Counting Remix - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiINyM_CJfo Anthony Joshua seems to be on the final lap of his career. Does he still care about legacy or this is about ensuring he maximises the revenue for the Joshua Project?

Thanks for listening to The Shipwrecked Podcast!  In this episode, we'll hear the story of Cameron* and Jaya*, whose hearts first fell in love with the people of India almost ten years ago…and they've been wanting to move there ever since. If you'd like to give financially to Cameron* and Jaya's* ministry, reach out to me at theshipwreckedpodcast@gmail.com.  Resources mentioned in this episode: --> Operation World: operationworld.org  --> Joshua Project: joshuaproject.net  Like what you're hearing?  --> Join the Shipwrecked Facebook group and keep the conversation going: fb.me/theshipwreckedpodcast  --> Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  --> Share this episode with 2 people  --> Contribute on Patreon to help make more episodes like this: patreon.com/theshipwreckedpodcast  Reach out with comments, questions, ideas, and more at theshipwreckedpodcast@gmail.com.  Thanks to Larissa Barnat for making the Shipwrecked cover art! Explore more of her work at larissabarnatdesign.com. Thanks to Ayanda Khumalo for the use of his recording of “O Church Arise”! Find his latest album, Dancing with Angels, on Apple Music, Spotify, or wherever you listen to music. Our vision: The Shipwrecked Podcast was made to connect missionaries worldwide with followers of Jesus by diving deep into the hardest moments in missionaries' lives and ministries, in order to spur on listeners to faithfully persevere through trials, find hope for healing from their own shipwreck moments, live out their role as World Christians, and provide a unique tool for missionaries in their support-raising efforts.

Prayer is an essential part of a Christian's life. It's a two-way communication between us and our heavenly Father. It happens so often and naturally in our daily lives that sometimes it becomes a routine. And most of the time, we pray for the needs for ourselves, our families and people close to us. How about people who are beyond our communities, those in need or being persecuted, those who don't know how to pray or are too fearful to pray, or those who have never heard of Jesus in their entire lives - the unreached people? In this episode, we're pleased to interview Jenny Oliphant from the Ethne Prayer Team. Born in the United Kingdom, Jenny served in missions for many years in multiple locations, including Israel, Bolivia and Argentina. After spending 15 years in Argentina, Jenny and her family followed God's calling to return to the UK in 2012, and started her involvement in the prayer movement, focusing on mobilizing prayers globally for unreached people groups. Through partnership with Joshua Project, Mission Frontiers Magazine and other organizations, Jenny and the Ethne Prayer Team can bring first-hand information collected from the field workers to the global body of Christ who are ready to pray, which helps those prayer warriors to not only pray for specific struggles but also to celebrate their breakthroughs as well. Are you ready to pray for the unreached? If you find it too hard to keep up the commitment, Jenny has a brilliant suggestion - find another person or a group of people to pray with you! Praying with others helps us stay focused and keeps us accountable, and better than that, we're building relationships with God and with our brothers/sisters at the same time by praying together. Read more about the ministry: https://ethneprayer.org/ The Ethne Prayer team is a relational community which catalyses and connects prayer strategists to pray and mobilise the body of Christ to see God's Kingdom preached and demonstrated amongst all people groups particularly among the least reached peoples and places. More prayer resources for UPG and missions: Join us October 24 – November 27 2021 in 15 days of prayer for Hindus all over the world! https://pray15days.org/ Powered by Firstory Hosting

According to Joshua Project, there are 17,400 people groups living in the world. Of that number over 7,000 are considered unreached.  That means no Bible, no missionary, no church and no Christian presence. Why are we telling you this? Because today's special guest is from a ministry that is targeting 510 of those unreached people groups!  In this special podcast, host Greg Kelley interviews Matt Green the VP of Marketing for Pioneers. This ministry was started back in 1979 and their mission is to empower gospel-driven Christians to go to the ends of the earth together in relentless pursuit of the unreached.  Are you passionate about reaching the unreached? Make sure to listen. Links: Subscribe to our Podcast  Learn more about A THIRD OF US and the 1:11 Prayer Challenge  Download the Great Commission Action Guide Follow us on Facebook   Become an Advocate  Get Involved with Pioneers 

When when nations depart from the truth of God as found in the Christian faith, he raises up and blesses new nations faithful to Him and his word. In this episode we are going to take a look at the the fact that while the United States was once a vastly biblically illiterate post-christian nation, it is no longer due to its broad but shallow knowledge of the Bible. In stark contrast Cambodia has become a very biblically literate nation. As such, Cambodia God has blessed Cambodia with success and a vibrant Christian community of more than 300,000 believers-largely protestant according to the Joshua Project. With an 8.8 percent evangelical growth rate-compared to a global evangelical growth rate of 2.6 percent it's one of the faster-growing regions in the world. And all God's people said, “amen” and thank God for Cambodia! Please consider giving us a FIVE STAR REVIEW in iTUNES and help us reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ by simply SHARING this with your friends and family. Also make sure that you Smash the SUBSCRIBE button with the old Gancio Sinistra (Italian Left Hook)!We just uploaded a new episode on a HOLLOWED OUT-GENERATION-Z and you don't want to miss that! The link for that episode is: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/46398618/download.mp3

In Episode 37 we speak with Gabe Handy, the Director of Digital Strategy at the Jesus Film Project. Gabe has worked with the Jesus Film Project for nearly 15 years. He started with a computer science degree and jumped into the workforce right out of college, but eventually, he felt a calling to give more than finances to God, but also use his technical skills and talents to grow the kingdom.  When the iPhone came out he was challenged with the idea of what it would look like to get the Jesus Film on their phone. Which lead to the challenge of focusing on accessibility and distribution. Be sure to listen to the full episode to hear more about how Gabe and his team drive engagement and with scripture digitally. Resources: https://www.jesusfilm.org (Jesus Film Project) https://www.jesusfilm.org/watch/do-you-ever-wonder.html/english.html (Do You Ever Wonder Series) https://joshuaproject.net (Joshua Project) https://mobileministryforum.org (Mobile Ministry Forum) https://gospelforenneagram.com (Gospel for Enneagram) Contact Gabe https://fiveq.com/personalize (7 Day Personalization Challenge)

The guys are joined by Kevin Hasenack, a pastor at Calvary Wellspring, to talk about global mission. The Bible is clear that people from every tribe, nation, and tongue will be in the fold of God, so what is our role in it all? Kevin and his wife were missionaries in North Africa, and shares some of his personal experiences, as well as how people in America can get involved even today.  Several resources are discussed in this episode, and here are some links to the ones mentioned. thecalvary.org/residency  Joshua Project - https://joshuaproject.net God's Heart For The Nations - https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Heart-Nations-Jeff-Lewis/dp/0989954528 https://pioneers.org/gods-heart-for-the-nations-jeff-lewis-videos Let The Nations Be Glad - https://www.amazon.com/Let-Nations-Be-Glad-Supremacy/dp/0801036410  

Every ten years, Joshua Project updates the numbers and percentages of reached, unreached, and unengaged people groups on the earth. Shockingly, in between 2010-2020, the number of Unreached People Groups increased…not decreased. Today, there are more Unreached People Groups (UPGs) on the earth than there were 10 years ago. We are headed in the wrong direction! In this episode, we continue the conversation about Unreached People Groups and tackle a few key issues that are hindering our progress towards seeing the gospel touch every nation.

Every ten years, Joshua Project updates the numbers and percentages of reached, unreached, and unengaged people groups on the earth. Shockingly, in between 2010-2020, the number of Unreached People Groups increased…not decreased. Today, there are more Unreached People Groups (UPGs) on the earth than there were 10 years ago. We are headed in the wrong direction! In this episode, we explain what a an Unreached People Group is, the status of world evangelization, and what the numbers are telling us.

Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm talks about the future of progress on racial issues in America and how African American civil rights leaders have historically rooted their message in the Hebrew Bible. Rabbi Lamm is the founder of The Joshua Project, which brings together Americans from different faith traditions and creates new coalitions and collaborations around life, culture, history, and politics. He also hosts the Good Faith Effort podcast, where he speaks with thinkers, writers, artists, and faith leaders to explore how the Bible continues to inform our lives today.

In all the chatter of the signs, and Rev 13, the system to come in, that is so pressing in our information age right now, Jesus spoke of the last sign that would bring in the end that will come....only God will know when the Gospel will be preached to all the world, not us...and only the Father knows when Jesus will return. It's out of our knowledge base. The Joshua Project gives statistics on Missions and the work of spreading the Gospel. Is our focus in the same passion?

Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm is the founder of The Joshua Project. He is one of the youngest leaders of a major Jewish organization in the U.S., serving as chief executive of Bnai Zion. Dr. Lamm joins the full cast of Mere Fidelity to discuss the recent resurgence of antisemitism in the world and how we can approach it from a Biblical perspective. Full show notes at www.mereorthodoxy.com/categories/mere-fidelity.

Hear the big announcement that was made on Sunday during the International Day for the Unreached. Listen to the recording of this Facebook Live event. On this episode, Greg Kelley introduces York Aspacher who hosted the Facebook Live event. You'll learn how you can join believers all over the world who are participating in the 1:11 Prayer Challenge.  York serves as Marketing Director with Operation Mobilization USA and also an Alliance for the Unreached Board member. Find out about this global A Third of Us prayer initiative to pause each day at 1:11 p.m. for 33 days, praying for unreached people groups around the world. We are drawing from Joshua Project’s “Unreached of the Day”. LINK: Join the 1:11 Prayer Challenge Subscribe to our Podcast

The One Sided War Of Conversion | Sankrant Sanu | #HinduCharter | Joshua Project SrijanTalks

Is India A Soft Target For Missionary Activities? | Sankrant Sanu | Joshua Project | #HinduCharter SrijanTalks

A Well Planned Strategic Conversion Of Hindus In India | Sankrant Sanu | Joshua Project SrijanTalks

The Business Of Religious Conversion | Sankrant Sanu | #HinduCharter | Joshua Project | Thessalonica SrijanTalks

Conversion Under The Veil Of Human Rights | Sankrant Sanu | #HinduCharter | Joshua Project SrijanTalks

Here we share the heart behind Millennial Missions and our desire to help missionaries connect and others to go.

Are you called to missions? This is an important question – one that (in many ways) demands our thought. The word “missions” has been used a lot lately, perhaps to the point of losing its true definition. What does it even mean? With us this week is Duane Frasier from Joshua Project – talking about what… The post Ep. 108: Are You Called to Missions? appeared first on indoubt.

I've been blessed over the years to have been pointed toward the direction of really great resources which have helped me in my walk with God and here were the ones I recommended for the shortlist. Let me know if you want the long list ahahahah BOOKS: JERRY BRIDGES - GROWING YOUR FAITH https://amzn.to/3jcTCUr C J MAHANEY - LIVING THE CROSS CENTRED LIFE https://amzn.to/3jcTCUr WEBSITES: DESIRING GOD- https://www.desiringgod.org/ GOT QUESTIONS- https://www.gotquestions.org/ JOSHUA PROJECT- joshuaproject.net PODCASTS: ASK PASTOR JOHN https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ask-pastor-john/id618132843 https://open.spotify.com/show/5vPg9kNdtiKdsjAaox2jOC?si=jTNsLlJrRfWbb9FyXr42hg 5 MINUTES IN CHURCH HISTORY https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/5-minutes-in-church-history-with-stephen-nichols/id684370851 https://open.spotify.com/show/0tNCkRF4SSyl7HdyxjLfkM?si=-sEZEF4vS6-LLLtpTMHz6A In a culture of highlight reels and instagram aesthetics its easy for our walk with god to turn into one big performance for everyone else instead of an honest seeking of Jesus for ourselves. but in this podcast we're going to read through the bible together and also get real and talk about the joys and struggles of being a Christian in this day and age...because well…why not Don't forget to drop me a message if you need prayer, advice or have a question x NEW INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/whyyynotpodcast/ Email: whyyynotpodcast@gmail.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@connerjc?lang=en Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/ConnerJC

This episode is sponsored by Davwill Consulting Inc. What if you could get an in-depth look at your thinking?Chris Keaton is an award winning music publisher, artist management consultant and entertainment industry executive who resides in Nashville, Tennessee.A 2016, inductee of the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, he is also a twenty eight year voting member of The Recording Academy (The Grammys). He has also served as a judge in the Miss America Organization.He serves as a Brand Ambassador and influencer for the retail giant Macy's and a Brand Ambassador for Dior Parfums.Formerly VP of Music Publishing for Roy Orbison's widow, the late Barbara Orbison, he was also executive producer of Tony Award winning Broadway star, Lea Salonga's sensational live album, The Journey So Far . He has helped guide the indy artist careers of Tora Fisher, Mike Younger, Johnny Orr, Nine Mile High, and DeDe Wedekind and was instrumental in creating, planning and executing successful radio campaigns for Tora Fisher (Drown) and Johnny Orr (Well Get By-The Autism Song).Additionally Keaton assembled the team who wrote the new State Song for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Our Great Virginia.He co-authored the books The Seven Stupid Mistakes People Make Trying To Get Into The Music Business and The Change 14, Insights Into Self Empowerment and has just released his latest project Dapper.He serves as a Brand Ambassador and influencer for the retail giant Macy's and a Brand Ambassador for Dior Parfums.Chris has served on many boards including the Nashville Ballet, the Virginia Museum of Transportation and the Advisory Council of Nashville's W.O. Smith Community Music School. He also was a mentor in Lipscomb University's Joshua Project.Checkout Chris' new book -  https://store.bookbaby.com/book/dapper1 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit debcrowe.substack.com

While it's easy for us to be focused on natural needs, there is a need that far outweighs the physical realm. It's a spiritual need that everyone longs for -- that is, to be reunited with our Heavenly Father and receive eternal life. In this episode, John talks about how critical it is to reach the lost. As he shares the staggering stats of how much of the world is unreached, let yourself see what God sees about His creation that He loves so much.   To learn more about Joshua Project visit: www.joshuaproject.net Click here to watch the Team Member's Perspective Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoloVvTt6aQ   Stay connected with John Smithwick and Global Ventures: Website: https://johnsmithwick.com/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JRSmithwick Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/johnrsmithwick/?hl=en twitter:  https://twitter.com/johnrsmithwick

In this weeks episode, Josh takes a few minutes to explain the change form The Joshua Project to Boldly Biblical and how it all came about. Soon after the discussion is on why Theology matters even in the moments when Christians want to be sincere in things we do. Don't forget to follow Boldly Biblical on Instagram @boldly.biblical and shoot Josh a DM with any questions, comments, or rebukes. And please subscribe, comment, and leave a ratting on Apple Podcasts, it really helps the show. As always, have a blessed week. New Episodes every Monday! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/boldlybiblical/support

Thank you for listening to The Joshua Project Podcast. A podcast that focuses on encouraging Christians to be Strong and Very Courageous for the Word of God, Truth, and the Gospel of Jesus. Here we strive to engage the culture and all areas of life with the redemptive power of Jesus through His Gospel. In todays episode Josh introduces the Podcast and why it is being created, the purpose, and mission of The Joshua Project. Enjoy! New Episodes every Monday! Podcasts mentioned https://flfnetwork.com/ https://flfnetwork.com/adrobles/ https://flfnetwork.com/project/crosspolitic-show/ https://www.youtube.com/user/Defendthefaithorg https://www.sheologians.com/ https://anchor.fm/thingsyoudonthearinchurch/episodes/Were-back--S2E1-efrk56 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/boldlybiblical/support

In this episode of the Church Planting Podcast we talk with David Platt about the Covid 19 pandemic. If you would like to know more about David Platt you can follow the click link below.David PlattTranscription ALBERT: This is the Church Planting Podcast. Thank you for tuning inALBERT: Every week we sit down with leaders who are shaping church planting efforts.ALBERT: Here’s your host Josh Turansky and Clint Clifton.JOSH TURANSKY: Hey welcome to the Church Planting Podcast! My name is Josh Turansky and I’m joined remotely by Clint Clifton. And it’s good to be back with you to talk again about church planting. Clint, it’s great to be back with you. What’s going on in your life?CLINT CLIFTON: Man! We are just, you know, doing quarantine and I heard something yesterday. A guy was talking about “You know, I’ve had this experience where it seems like everything would go super slow but, in a sense, it feels like it’s flying by.” Are you having that experience too? Or is it going slow for you?JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. Well, everything is weird. It’s very repetitive. It’s like the Groundhog Day effect.CLINT CLIFTON: Yes. It was on a Coronavirus daily podcast, and he was saying the way our memories work is novelty establishes our sense of time. So, when something new or unique happens, our brain puts a marker and says, “Like this is a moment in time.” So, anytime that we don’t have unique experiences then our timing gets all messed up when we have the same routine over and over again. And he was saying, “They don’t have to be big unique experiences, they just have to be slight modifications.” So, he was saying like the difference in eating you know, an apple for breakfast and eating oatmeal for breakfast would be one of those kinds of things that would help you mark time. You know? And so, just talking about shaking up your routine a little bit to make time not feel so disorienting. I thought it was a cool idea!JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah, that’s helpful! I will try that out. I’ve been cooking a lot of food around the house. I love to cook.CLINT CLIFTON: Me too! Yeah.JOSH TURANSKY: Really? Do you like to cook?CLINT CLIFTON: Well, I have a new love for it. I’ve never loved to cook until this season. Matter of fact, 11:30 last night I was up making homemade sweet potato fries.JOSH TURANSKY: Oh, that’s fun! I did this exercise. I think it was at the end of last week where I went back and I tried to think through all of my favorite meals I’ve ever eaten at different restaurants. And then I’m on a journey of recreating every one of those meals. And it’s been a fun science experiment and I’m doing it with my kids. And so, yeah, the Corona virus life!CLINT CLIFTON: You know, I actually went to Amazon and I got hooked on this thing called Taste. It’s like a video recipe you know? It’s just people making stuff but there’s this whole series on the Taste website or Facebook thing where they cook outside. And I don’t know, but there’s something about cooking outside that’s so cool to me. And I am addicted to these videos. I just watch them over and over again. And it’s made me order a few products that have helped me experiment with this. So, I haven’t actually moved my operation outside yet, but I’m very close. But I got myself a new knife, and some like woodblocks to cut my food on. So, I’m super excited. I’m getting jazzed about this. It’s the closest thing I have to a hobby since I was like 10.JOSH TURANSKY: I love it! That’s great. Yes! It’s good. Good. Good. Well, let’s talk about this episode. We’ve got, not really an interview. This is actually a teaching that David Platt gave to a small cohort of church planters. And go ahead and introduce it.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah! Well, me and you were both part of it. I asked David to come and be a part of training some of our church planters. It wasn’t really so much a training as it was a talk to us about how you’re processing this situation, the COVID situation. Talk to us you know, in light of your passions. Of course, David’s passions are global mission and the great commission and making disciples and multiplying churches, those sorts of things. And so, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had the experience in my church of when I think about pushing my people on mission, it feels wrong. It’s like, “This isn’t the time for that. We should not be focused on that. This is a time to be focused on us.” But you know, there’s another part of my brain that says, “No, that’s totally jacked up! We cannot think like that.” And so, I was just curious you know, “Like David, can you lead us through your thinking about all of this.” And it was good! I don’t know. We were both there. It was like 2 hours of a zoom call where we were just talking about these things and he was downloading out about what he was thinking about. And so, what we did here is we just clipped it up and took kind of what I thought where the most memorable pieces of that or the most helpful pieces of what he said. And we’ve got about 15 minutes worth of it here for you today. So, we took 2 hours of David Platt, which is almost everything he says is profound. And we took 15 minutes of the most profound. So, that’s what you’re going to get today. With a little Josh and Clint mixed in the middle.JOSH TURANSKY: That’s right. Yeah! So, in the first segment here that we’re going to introduce, David starts by talking about COVID-19 and just the craziness of this season. And he’s going to emphasize the need for intimacy with the Lord. CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. He does. You know, one of the things about observing him as I have over the last couple of years is, you know, he’s the real deal in terms of his walk with Jesus. He’s admirable in that regard and he really is striving for intimacy with God all of the time. And so, I’m challenged by that just by interactions with him. But to hear him talk about you know a season like this even more our focus should be on intimacy with the Father and yeah, so, he talks about that’s really compelling to me. And so, I wanted to include it in here and even start out our conversation today with that.JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah, let’s jump into that. Let’s hear a word from our sponsor, and then we’ll go straight into this first segment on intimacy with the Lord.CLINT CLIFTON: So much of what we do these days in ministry today takes place online. So, we need somebody to help us with the digital aspects of our ministry. Well I found a great partner in oneeightydigital.com. These guys are ministry guys, they love the gospel and they love the church and they’re super good at what they do. So I want to encourage you to go to over and check out their website it’s oneeightydigital.com. They do all kinds of stuff and they work with big and small churches. So, right now, they’re offering our listeners 20% off of any website or branding project just for mentioning the church planting podcast. So, go over to their website and check it out – oneeightydigital.comDAVID PLATT: Just think about yeah, where God has you, where God has me. He’s given us a leadership mantle and it can often times feel like lonely. Like who else right now really knows all that you’re struggling through? All that I’m struggling through? Like I hope, I trust that we have people in our lives who are honestly sharing with what’s going on in our lives and we were able to be vulnerable to those people. I hope that we always have that. I think the most dangerous times in my life have been when I’ve not had that. I’ve shared before just about one particularly long season in my time at the church of Brook Hills where yeah, I’d written radical. I was selling a bunch of books. I was being asked to preach all over the place. I was really busy in ministry. Doing a lot of stuff but doing it all apart from intimacy with Jesus. Totally apart from intimacy with Jesus. Like I never read the bible throughout that season. Just to read the bible, I read to prepare sermons but that was it! I never prayed just to be with the Lord. I hardly prayed privately. It was bad! And I look back on that time, and I’m so thankful for God’s grace because of all the different directions that this could have gone in. That by His grace, it didn’t go in. But all that to say, like to comeback to this truth like intimacy with God just like you and God. You and God. There’s nothing more essential, valuable, satisfying, there’s nothing better than that! And to realize that and I just praise God for His grace. And it was actually Heather who He used to really wake me up from this really bad place that I was in. And don’t get me wrong, I was working hard. Like working really hard in ministry. But I was totally missing the point. So, anyway, I hope I pray that in these days, like right now, I honestly don’t know around this zoom call where your intimacy with the Lord is, to the extent of which it’s missing. I hope that more than anything else in this call that this is just an encouragement meant to draw back into intimacy with Him.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah so, David, as you heard there, is just encouraging us to intimacy with God and I hope that resonates with you like it resonates with me. I want to be that person that has a close relationship to walk with Jesus you know? Everybody I know who walked closely with Jesus, it’s seen and it’s experienced by those who are around them. By me when I’m around them. It’s in their countenances, it’s in their speech, and man I just want to be the kind of person that my children grow up thinking, “My dad walked with Jesus.” And my wife thinks, “My husband walks with Jesus.” And the people in my church think, “There’s an authenticity in my pastor’s faith. It’s not just his job or the thing he does.” And man, I just hope that that’s true about all of us. JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah, you know, what I appreciate about it as I was thinking on this call with David is that he became popular, maybe is the word. He became popular at the same time as a whole wave of other pastors kind of where called celebrity pastors. And it’s interesting how a lot of those guys have fallen off the boat or aren’t around anymore or aren’t pastoring and yet David is just plugging away. And I think it comes back to this idea of intimacy. He’s the real deal, he loves Jesus, and man, such good stuff! CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. And I’m thinking, in some measure just to speak to that, I think some of the reason that he is still in it with so much light shined on him and his ministry is because he is scared to death of God. You know, he lives in the fear of God you know? It’s not just in the trembling of his voice when he’s preaching, but it’s in his life the trembling of his life before God. I mean he just seems to have like a center of reverence that most of us don’t have. And that’s one of the things I admire about him. But yeah, we’re going to turn now talking about global missions. And so, part of the purpose of the conversation was to really ask the question, “Like how do we global mission in this season?” Has that been a struggle for you Josh?JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. It is. I mean we’re supporting our missionaries but it’s hard without being with the body to like disciple around at. I think it’s really important. But this part of the conversation, I just loved it! I’d never heard this story from David Platt that he’s going to tell here. And this really was inspiring!CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. And you’re going to hear that he’s going to talk about a new category. Most of us are never going to go and become missionaries and reach parts of the world and among unreached people groups. But he’s going to give us category right now that everyone of us can become and will directly impact the spread of the Gospel among the unreached. So, let’s listen to this.DAVID PLATT: I just remembered the first time I ever sat, I was telling somebody about this yesterday, and opened the bible and somebody walked me through from Genesis to Revelations and showed me God’s passion for His glory in all the nations. I was in college at that time. I’ve been a Christian since I was 6 years old as much as I could tell. But I never really seen that at the scripture. And it totally sent my jaw to the ground just like, “This changes everything.” And I started reading “Let the Nations be Glad” by Piper and singing it over and over again in the scripture. And that made me conclude, as I went to seminary, “I think I need to be a missionary.” Because there’s tons of people that I started hearing about this unreached people groups that never heard the Gospel among them nations, among the ethne which I trust you realize that I use nations I’m not just talking about countries. We’re talking about ethnic groups, people groups, tribes, people, we’re just calling them nations those words that we see in scripture not just 200 or so geopolitical entities that we would call countries or nations today. But anyway, I started hearing about unreached people group and I said, “Okay. It’s a no brainer. I need to become a missionary.” And so, the president of the International Mission Board at that time when I was down in New Orleans seminary president of the IMB comes to preach in chapel, I get asked to take him to breakfast. I tell Helen the night before, “I’m taking the president of the IMB to breakfast and like this is my chance to tell him we’re ready to become missionaries. Is that okay with you if I tell him that?” She’s like, “Sure! That’s okay with me.” And we’ve talked about this a good amount. It wasn’t just like random conversation for dinner. So, we prayed like that night and the next morning like with anticipation, I go off, I sit down with Jerry Rankin. I sat down with Dr. Rankin I said, “Dr. Rankin I could see this all over the Word. I see the need in the world.” Just like pouring out my heart. “My wife and I are ready to go as missionaries.” And he looks back to me and for about 60 seconds encourages me to what I just said to him, and then spends the rest of the rest of breakfast talking to me about the need for pastors to shepherd churches among the reached for the spread of the Gospel to the unreached and for pastor just shepherd churches for the spread of God’s glory among all the nations. Well like big picture, my prayer, what’s driving away I think about this practically in McLean Bible church. My prayer, my hope, what I want to work towards is every member of this church living in such a way that if God where to pick them up from Metro DC and put them anywhere in the world, that they would be enabled, equipped, empowered, to make disciples and gather together as a church and be a church without dependence on any programs to do it for them, any professionals to do it for them, with just dependence on the scripture of God and the word of God. That they would know the word and the Spirit are sufficient for that task. And they would know how to do it. So, that’s the big picture that’s driving me. Here’s what I’m thinking about in the days to come. I don’t just want to return to business as usual, like “When are we going to get back to the way things were?” Like, “Yes! I cannot wait to gather together in person like with all with the church like no question.” But we don’t need to do everything we were doing before. Like we have an opportunity. A pretty unique opportunity to reset some things and to rethink some things and make sure as we come back, that we’re focusing what we need to focus on. Let’s not come back and let’s just start instituting everything we did before in ways that actually are not best for making disciples. Like, I want to think through other things we need to do differently. In our leadership, we want to continually evaluate, “Is this the most faithful effective way to make disciples?” And so, especially during these days, let’s think through not just how can we get back to the way things where. Like, how can we step into a new normal? And not just when it comes to, effects of vaccine or treatment or whatever but we’ve got an opportunity to come back together. And as we come back together, to really shape what people think about when it comes to how to make disciples most faithfully and effectively.JOSH TURANSKY: Man! Such good stuff again that David was sharing there. That really was impactful in my own life as I appreciate him sharing the story there from his seminary experience and the thrust. And the cool thing is this is not just story that happened, but he’s lived it! He’s lived it out! He’s doing it. CLINT CLIFTON: When you think about the implications of that conversation like what if David Platt had gone to the mission field, you know? I mean, I don’t know if there’s any in our generation, maybe John Piper, who has been a catalyst for more people going and giving their lives for the spread of the Gospel among the nations. Not to mention the books they’ve written and the sorts of things that they’ve done. So, very impactful conversation that happened with the young seminary student.JOSH TURANSKY: Man, that’s huge! Alright, let’s go into this next section where he’s going to talk about the reached diversity on reach. What were some of the things that you’re hoping that church planters will hear in this section?CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah, I mean he’s really talking about the dichotomy here between you know, loving those people that are right around us and caring for them but maintaining our responsibility to take the Gospel to places where it’s not known to preach Jesus in places where He’s not named. And yeah, he’s kind of making an argument of both and argument for us and you know, I think it’s really easy for us to say, “No. What Jesus wants for us is to reach more people.” When the truth is the great commission panta ta ethne is for us to take the gospel to all the people of the world which he unpacks here for us. And it really isn’t just about reaching more people. It’s about reaching more people according to Jesus’ command.JOSH TURANSKY: Amen! Yeah, great section. Let’s jump right into this third segment that David Platt shares.DAVID PLATT: Like some people could say, “David you’re talking about God’s glory among the nations. Don’t you care about like Washington DC? Like don’t you care about people who are right in front of you?” It’s like, “Yes.” And we don’t have to choose between caring about people in front of us or people far from us. And we actually care about what God cares about. And He cares about people right around us and people far from us. And I think about Jesus like he uses Elise for the Father’s glory among the nations. And he spent most of his life in a pretty isolated geographic area but he was doing something there. He was making disciples in ways that we’re going to reach far beyond that place. And he was doing it towards that end. And so, I would just say in thinking about God’s glory among the nations, how do we make His glory among the nations? Well it starts with making disciples right where God has called us to be. Like every single one of us is tempted to just focus on places that Gospel has gone. I say that because well it’s just reality when you look at missions, resources today from North American churches, 90 plus percent of our resources are spent in places where the Gospel has already gone. What makes them unreached is that they have little to no access to the Gospel. They don’t have people who can share the Gospel with them. They don’t have any churches in a lot of those places. So, hardly any churches that are preaching the Gospel.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah, in this next section you’ll here in the beginning I actually asked David a question about COVID19 you know? Even I said this in the beginning but I sort felt a flatness to my zeal for global mission because I feel like this is just not the right time to talk about global mission when you need to be talking about other things. Right now, people are dealing with so much to just kind of lift their eyes up to the people in other parts of the world who are lost and without Christ is really not going to be helpful right now. It’s not going to be received well by our hearers. But he really turns that on its head in this little segment. And you know, sometimes when you ask somebody question you don’t expect a real substance of answer. But he gives us one here. He gave me one that’s been rattling around in my head for the last 2 weeks since he said it and has really shaped the way I’m talking to people about global mission in this season. JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. I don’t want to steal the thunder but just like you said, it’s been rattling around in my head too so, don’t skip ahead! This is an important segment to listen to. Let’s jump right in! Segment number 4.24:04CLINT CLIFTON: I’m a 100% with you, but I know that to a church planter who’s trying to you know, trying to get their church out of the dirt in a middle of the Corona Virus you know, that seems like sort of a farfetched idea, you know? Even trying to leave my church for the commission at all. Can you think of any like bottom shelf ways to get going in that that you would encourage to lean into?DAVID PLATT: I would say simple bottom shelf ways one, this is why I was hesitant to like even go there today but why I decided to still go here today, in this conversation, that’s what we’re going through right now, because I just want to encourage every brother and sister on this call like, “What you are doing in personal ministry these days and disciple making these days on the smallest level, is a part of a global plan. And so, don’t ever underestimate like the care for like calling up a widow who is immunocompromised and finding out how to best care for her is totally disciple making, shepherding, loving the church for the spread of God’s glory among all the nations. She’s included in that for sure!” And even to go back to Jesus like I mean he spent most of his time with his 12 guys in a way that would made them lead beyond. So, one, don’t underestimate just the things you’re doing are part of the picture. So, if you’re walking with somebody who just lost somebody lost a family member or friend due to COVID19 I don’t think that’s necessarily the time to talk about unreached people in Butan. But to the extent of which it’s appropriate, so that’s what I mean by appropriate, so, one of the things I’m communicating is just think about what we’re walking through, think about urgent spiritual and physical need in the world like welcome to their world! Like there’s so many places in the world where you’re not guaranteed to meet supply, where you’re not guaranteed medical care that can heal you. Like this is a lot of people in the world that are living in a place that there is no cure for the simplest infection that we can get from a CVS even today and they don’t have access to that kind of medical care. And they never heard the Gospel. So, maybe just step into their world a bit. So, one, how can we pray for them? Introduce them to Joshua Project? Introduce them to ways to pray for the nations through that? And then two, just think through you know? Again, as appropriate. If somebody just lost their job and their trying to think, “How am I going to put food on the table for my family?” It’s probably not the best time to press in and say, “Yeah. How are you going to sacrifice more for the unreached in the world?” But at the same time, I was doing something last week with people who are living in slums and their sacrificing for the spread of the Gospel among people around them. So, I just think it’s a part of discipleship that we don’t want to neglect at any point. How to appropriately do that beyond this time? I would say there probably is! Some pulling back and pressing in really hard there. But always seeing what we’re doing on a day in day out basis as a part of the bigger picture and looking for way for us to connect to the bigger picture. I think we always want to do that.JOSH TURANSKY: Man, what a great paradigm to present. And it’s so true that people that we’re pastoring have had this taste of suffering that is a normal universal experience. And I love the fact that he brought this out. And it is so true and it’s a great way to capitalize on this moment. Why was it rattling around in your head Clint?CLINT CLIFTON: Well, just first of all, it’s just frustrating that there are people in this world that can see things like that when the rest of us can’t, you know? Why weren’t we all innately given the ability to like see that sliver of truth to highlight to people? Because man it is so great. The truth is maybe it actually changed the conversation for me from “This is a bad time to talk about global mission.” to “This is the perfect time to talk about global mission.” Because we are living in a Hosea kind of way. We are living the example that God wants to teach to us. I mean we are experiencing maybe for the first time in all of our lives as Americans, fear of you know, where’s are food going to come from? What’s going to happen to us economically? Are we going to be able to sustain ourselves? Are we going to have jobs? The fears that much of the world lives with daily. And I just think, after hearing him say that, “Man, what a cool opportunity it is for our people to gain a heart of empathy for those that need Jesus around the world.JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. Brilliant! Brilliant! Let’s talk about this next segment, the final segment, number 5. I can’t remember if we asked him or he just started talking about faithfulness but this is really good.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah, I don’t remember either but it is good. And I feel like this conversation happens a lot. I mean I’ve had many conversations about faithfulness. Matter fact, in church planting circles, we end up saying the phrase “successful church planter” or “unsuccessful church planter” a lot just because you know, it’s one of those things. If a guy goes and pastors an existing church, and the church is still there when he quits or gets fired or whatever, he’s been you know, in some measure, successful. Difficult to measure his success. I guess you can look at the numeric side of the church from when he left and stuff like that. But it’s not really something that happens in existing churches. But church planting is so raw. I mean if you go out to start a church and a year later there’s church there and you were successful, if it’s not there, then you are not successful. And so, I think we and up talking about success or failure a lot. And anytime that conversation comes up, there’s always somebody in the room who says you know, well, you know, “What does success mean really?” You know, they question the sort of world view of success which they should! It should be undermined. And David addresses that head on here. But he not only does that, but he goes further to tell us how he has interpreted success over the years and what it looks like specifically for him to be faithful. I never heard him say these things and it was helpful for me to think you know, I wonder if I have particular you know, kind of thoughts or ideals in my life that I say, “I’m doing this things that I am a success in God’s eyes.” “I am successful.” You know?JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. Really good! Really good! So, let’s jump right in to this fifth segment. I love what he says here.DAVID PLATT: Only God can bring about disciples. Only God can bring new churches. Only God can bring about this that even spiritual growth in Christ only God can bring about. Now we can be faithful to do x things in order to work towards that. So, let’s clearly identify, what are the x things we can be faithful to do and then work out those. Last thing I’d say here, three things that have always come on my mind when it comes to faithfulness, I want to work hard at the things God’s told me to do, I want to work smart at the things God’s told me to do, and number three I want to trust God. Work hard, work smart, trust God. So, work really hard. I don’t want to be lazy! I say I don’t want to overwork in ways too but I want to work hard at the things God’s told me to do. I want to work smart just because I’m preaching the word, there might be ways I can think about preaching more effectively. And so, I want to think through those. So that’s the work smart. I want to care for every member of the church during this time. There might be smarter ways to do that, then do that. I want to connect with people who are far from Christ. So, what are the best ways to do that? So, work smart. And then if we’re working hard and working smart, then we can trust God. We can defer that to God.JOSH TURANSKY: Alright! So, there we go. That’s a word from David Platt. You know, because this podcast is primarily sponsored by New City Network and that is an arm of McLean Bible church where David Platt is a pastor, we have this unique access to David in that way and so, I just really appreciate you taking in and leveraging the relationship so that we can share this with the broader church planting audience.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. Thank you. Well, I mean like I said, this isn’t a commercial for David Platt. But like what I said at the beginning, he is the real deal. There’re many people that I’ve gotten to know in the ministry world that as I get to know them, the less I’m impressed with them and David’s not that guy. I’ve been more impressed with him and I’ve been challenged to follow Jesus in ways that I’m not generally when I hang out with pastors. Yeah, hope that we can all learn from this and we don’t get to say this very much but I so appreciate McLean Bible and their investment in this. They don’t have to do this. They don’t have to make it possible for us to have a podcast or you know, to train church planters or to invest in church planters but McLean Bible is so incredibly generous. And it’s so crazy because for so long I know you haven’t been in the Washington area long enough to understand this, but for so long the church not only wasn’t supportive of church planting. It kind of had a posture against it. And so, you know, it’s just been amazing to watch the leadership their starting with Lon Solomon, their previous pastor, that you know, under conviction from the Lord and response to the scripture, beginning to turn the trajectory of the church towards multiplication and mission. And now it’s in to the point that it’s embedded there in their mission statement. That they exist to glorify God by disciples and multiplying churches beginning in greater Washington DC. And so, it’s very cool to be a part of. It’s exciting to see a large church that they could do really anything they want from a resource stand point, put their energy into churches.JOSH TURANSKY: Amen! Amen. I’m grateful too! I’m just so blessed to see the example that they’re leading with and its good stuff. Good stuff! CLINT CLIFTON: Well that’s just fine Josh. Thanks!JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. Thanks Clint.CLINT CLIFTON: Where do church planters come from? Well they don’t come from seminaries and they don’t come from a factory. Church Planters come from congregations. Their developed by Pastors who love and are prepared for Gospel ministry and sent out. But many churches don’t know where to begin and many Pastors are overwhelmed with the day to day duties of Pastoral ministry and don’t have time to put together a robust training program for the people in their congregation to be equipped. The North American Nation Board is helping with this. They have developed a thing called the Multiplication Pipeline. And it’s a three-level training course that takes place through multiple years for you to have the material and the guidance to get somebody in your congregation ready for church planting. The Multiplication Pipeline is available on NAMB’s website. You can find it at namb.net/pipelineALBERT: Thank you for listening to the church planting podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast app.JOSH TURANSKY: Today’s episode of the church planting podcast is sponsored by New City Network, The Church Planting Ministry of McLean Bible. A special thanks to today’s guest Pastor David Platt. Josh Turansky produced todays show. Zukey Bastien was our show runner and her husband Nick was our editor. Thanks to Hudson Turansky who provided administrative and web support for the program and last but not least thanks to you for listening through all the way through to the very end of the church planting podcast. If you’d like more information about the show feel free visit our website www.churchplantingpodcast.org. There you can find all of our past episodes as well as notes and links from today’s show. We’re also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter so check us out there on the social. And be sure to tune in next week for another episode of the church planting podcast.

In this Episode: An interview with Global Partners Missionary Care members, Rich and Deb Stinehart.  As All Shores members they are preparing to leave for Europe in the coming year! Contact Information: Thad Spring: thad.spring@allshores.org Rich Stinehart: rich.stinehart@gponline.org Deb Stinehart: deb.stinehart@gponline.org  Global Partners Page: https://www.globalpartnersonline.org/missionary/wm04-0432/  Stinehart Newsletter: https://globalpartnersonline.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4d5542eff485508b56b4da962&id=280df2a120 Joshua Project: https://joshuaproject.net  All Shores Wesleyan Church: https://www.allshores.org Prayer Link: https://allshores.prayerloft.com  Submit your questions to the podcast! Leave a voicemail at 616.846.9022 x333 or email a question to thad.spring@allshores.org  Write a Missionary: Take the time to create a card or letter, take a photo of it, take a photo of yourself and email both to thad.spring@allshores.org.  Here is a list of our current partners: Dave and Dina Horne (Europe) Luke, Kyla, Graeson, and Owen (Europe) Rich and Deb Stinehart (Europe) Ben, Sharon, Micah, Zoe, and Anna Ward (Asia) Cory, Jen, and LeYanna Ellison (Mongolia) Ben, Diana, and Abigal Veurink (Colombia) Audrey Gray (Colombia) Edgar, Erika, Gabriel, Aliana, and Caleb Gomez (Mexico) David, Kate, three children (Karis People Group) Marissa Knoll (Zambia) Makayla Rimes (Dearborn) How to give to the GO Fund: E-giving on www.allshores.org  Set up All Shores as a payee through your bank’s bill pay system (include “GO Fund” in the memo) Give cash or check in a giving envelope (available at a Connection Point)

Even if you are not called to be a missionary, you are called to live a missional lifestyle. David P. Jacob is a missionary and teacher who encourages others to live missionally. Right now, he is the director of Center for Missionary Mobilization and Retention. The organization works to help those who are called to be missionaries around the world. David shares about his new book, It’s Your Call, which focuses on the importance of seeking God above calling. He talks about how to develop a missional lifestyle and how every part of the Body of Christ is important. Whether it’s finances, prayer, or encouragement, each believer has a part to play in the Great Commission. Check out Our Sponsor: http://megavoice.com/engagingmissions (http://megavoice.com/engagingmissions) It's Your Call (Affiliate) - https://amzn.to/2W47Rma (https://amzn.to/2W47Rma) What We Talked About00:23 - Thank you, listeners and sponsors! 02:18 - Episode summary 03:11 - Why did you write your book? 04:19 - Learning to seek something else 07:50 - Everyone’s adventure in missions 12:17 - Remembering that what you do matters 14:48 - Forming a missional life 18:11 - What are you doing as the missionary in residence? 20:40 - Stories of transformation through missions 22:19 - How do you prepare students for trips? 23:24 - The importance of yearly trips 25:22 - What do you hope to see God accomplish? 27:20 - Finding how to get started 28:29 - Center for Missionary Mobilization and Retention 30:54 - Common questions about missions 32:42 - Praying for unreached people groups 34:04 - How can we best pray for you? 35:44 - Closing thoughts Resources & Contact InfoIt's Your Call: To a Missional or a Missionary Call (https://amzn.to/2W47Rma) (affiliate) Center for Missionary Mobilization and Retention (http://missionarymobilization.org) Joshua Project (http://joshuaproject.net) David's Email: Djacob@trinitybiblecollege.edu (mailto:Djacob@trinitybiblecollege.edu) Facebook: @missionarymobilization (https://www.facebook.com/missionarymobilization/) Show LinksFacebook: @engagingmissions (https://facebook.com/engagingmissions) Messenger: @engagingmissions (https://m.me/engagingmissions) Twitter: @engagingmission (https://twitter.com/engagingmission) Leave a Voicemail (https://engagingmissions.com/voicemail) Become a Patron (https://engagingmissions.com/patron) Listen for Free (https://engagingmissions.com/quicksubscribe)  

Every question you might have about the unreached may be answered in today’s special podcast. Today Greg Kelley interviews Dan Scribner, director of Joshua Project. Joshua Project is regarded as the leading source for data on unreached people groups. On their website, you’ll find critical information about unreached people groups, how to pray for them and where they’re located. Access their free resources about the unreached. You might even consider adopting a people group to pray for.   Links:   Download the Great Commission Action Guide Experience the IDU Webcast Event on the IDU website and on our Facebook page June 9. Learn more about Joshua Project and access their Free Materials

God has made a beautiful mosaic of over 17,000 people groups each with the ability to glorify Him in a unique way. The problem: worship does not arise from among tens of thousands of these tribes. In fact, There are more people alive today who don't know Christ than in any other time in history. In this episode of Missions Pulse, David Joannes interviews Dan Scribner, team leader at Joshua Project. This conversation is not just about crunching numbers, but finding the value behind the statistics. Jesus left the ninety-nine for the one. He still desires that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. See the full episode here: http://davidjoannes.com/defining-the-yet-unfinished-missions-task Make sure to subscribe to the audio version of Missions Pulse podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher. Visit www.missionspulse.com for direct links.

Have any suggestions for the podcast? Email us at podcast@graceky.org   Passage: Hebrews 13 Final exhortations to believers to be: Outward focused Unashamed Obey, submit, & pray for their leaders.   Discussion / Questions: What does it look like to extend your friendship, your time, your talents, your resources for others? What would it like to be intentional in showing hospitality to friends and strangers as a family? Check out the Joshua Project for ways to be praying for the unreached and persecuted around the world. Consider helping out with Capernaum Day Camps for those with disabilities. What are situations where doing things God's way will make you look weird? Talk about it and process it with your students. Pray for your student's small group leaders regularly!   Announcements No student ministry activities on Easter (4/21) CAMP REGISTRATION OPENS 4/28!

Have you considered what you can do to help reach those who seem to have no chance of hearing the Gospel? Even if you aren't called to "go" you'll be inspired by what Duane Frasier shares about the Joshua Project.

In the world, there are over 7,000 different people groups that have never heard of Jesus. Our guest, Duane Frasier, works with Joshua Project to make that number smaller day by day. He does this by researching about different people groups and communicating with missionaries who want to reach them. The goal is to spread the Gospel to every people group that has not heard about Jesus. Their work has helped missions across the globe and has opened people’s eyes to the need for ministry. Through Duane’s work and the work of many others, people of every nation and tongue can hear the Gospel. What We Talked About 00:24 - Episode summary 01:19 - Introduction 01:34 - Working for the Joshua Project 02:30 - Exciting moments in ministry 03:47 - The purpose of the Joshua Project 05:07 - How have you seen this information used? 07:02 - Reaching the uttermost parts of the earth 08:09 - God’s faithfulness in times of transition 10:54 - How did you end up as a pastor in Mexico? 13:22 - What has God been showing you recently? 14:00 - A foundational Scripture 15:40 - Realizing the need for missions 18:22 - What was the realization like for you? 20:22 - Maintaining passion and focus in ministry 22:05 - Learning to engage better 23:51 - Has there been anything that surprised you? 24:57 - The importance of gaining knowledge 25:48 - Suggestions for those interested in missions 27:42 - Internet and book resources 28:53 - How can we best pray for you? 30:29 - A challenge for the listener 32:11 - Closing remarks Episode Resources & Contact Info joshuaproject.net (http://joshuaproject.net%20) operationworld.org (http://operationworld.org) Show Links Facebook: @EngagingMissions (https://facebook.com/engagingmissions) Messenger: @EngagingMissions (https://m.me/engagingmissions) Twitter: @EngagingMission (https://twitter.com/engagingmission) Leave a Voicemail: https://engagingmissions.com/voicemail (https://engagingmissions.com/voicemail) Become a Patron: https://engagingmissions.com/patron (https://engagingmissions.com/patron) Subscribe: https://engagingmissions.com/subscribe (https://engagingmissions.com/subscribe)

This is the 2nd part of Mike’s interview with Duane Fraiser of Joshua Project. In this 2nd half, we talk more about the lists of People Groups that exist and some of the finer details of how information is curated and collected for these lists. At the end of the episode, we get to a […]

We are very pleased to interview Duane Frasier with Joshua Project! In this first part of a two part interview, Duane and Mike talk about the list of People Groups that ministries use to determine which people groups are yet to be reached. They talk General Facts of the list, how many lists exist, and […]

Voices in missions today tell us we should all become “global Christians.” In this episode we answer what that means and how to do it—with all the resources everyday believers need to stay informed. If you missed one of the resources or books we recommended, here’s the list: Joshua Project Operation World Mission Network News The Global Missions Podcast Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper Missiology by John Mark Terry Introduction to Global Missions by Zane Pratt, David Sills, and Jeff Walters Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Amy Carmichael: Beauty for Ashes by Ian Murray Borden of Yale by Howard Taylor Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot Want to ask a question for a future episode? Email alex@missionspodcast.com. Powered by ABWE International.

Chris Keaton is an award winning music publisher, artist management consultant and entertainment industry executive who resides in Nashville, Tennessee. His lifelong career in music has included many years as a touring performer, a recording artist, songwriter and record producer. In 2016, Chris was honored by being inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and is also a twenty five year voting member of The Recording Academy (The Grammys). He has also served as a judge in the Miss America Organization. He co-authored the book The Seven Stupid Mistakes People Make Trying To Get Into The Music Business and is working on his next project Politeness Man - A Guide For The Modern Man.  Chris is a big believer in giving back and has served on many boards including the Nashville Ballet, the Virginia Museum of Transportation and the Advisory Council of Nashville's W.O. Smith Community Music School. He also volunteers as a mentor in Lipscomb University's Joshua Project. Website: www.chriskeaton.com ________________ Your Host! Deb Crowe is known by many to be authentically undefined! She looks at life as limitless in all she does! Check out her new website www.debcrowe.com launching the end of October 2017!

Duane Frasier from the Joshua Project helps us understand who we mean when we talk about unreached people groups, where they're located and how we can use the 'Unreached of the Day' to lift them up in prayer each day. [et_social_share]

Disillusioned by the "Holy” City Well, we come to Isaiah 60, this morning to one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. So I'm smiling because I say that just about every week, I know. I mean, I love the book of Isaiah, but this chapter, Isaiah 60, gives us such an incredible vision of The Radiant City of God that we're moving toward through faith in Christ, that I can't wait to preach it to you. Now I love church history, I love looking back at moments of church history and there's so many illustrative moments that come along the way. And I want to choose a moment from the life of Martin Luther before, years before he was converted. He was an Augustinian monk, and he was sent from Nuremberg to Rome to an important conference to do some business for his monastic order. He went with a brother Monk and they traveled for 700, almost 700 miles by foot, through Southern Germany, into Switzerland then through the Alps, the snow-covered Alps in the winter, finally making it through into the plains of Northern Italy. They moved on down the Italian boot and they came to a little rise. A hill Where for the first time in his life, Martin Luther was able to see Rome, what some people wrongly call the eternal city. What Luther called the holy city. And as he... When he first saw it, he first caught a glimpse of it, he fell down prostrate on the ground. Overwhelmed with religious zeal. And he cried out, "Oh Holy City! Oh Rome! The city sanctified by the blood of martyrs. I come at last to you." Then he got up off the ground and he walked into Rome, and he discovered what that city was really like. And he was disillusioned by the wickedness and the immorality, and the false religion that he saw there. He was disheartened by it and disillusioned by it. And he went back to his order and was silent for a long time because of his disappointment at that city that had been the focus of his pilgrimage. Now, that whole story, it really happened in history, but it's a kind of a parable, of what's going on in the hearts of people around us all the time. To some degree, we're all making our way through this world, as if on pilgrimage and we're going to some destination, some city of our dreams and our hopes. And how often does it happen that whenever we arrive we find ourselves bitterly disillusioned by what's there? The whole thing is disappointing. Does not satisfy. It's filled with wickedness and immorality, and disappointments, and we're turned off and we don't know what we have now to live for. That's where Luther was at. Now, praise God, a few years later, he found the gospel and when he read in the Book of Romans, that the righteous will live by faith, he said "The gates of paradise were open," and he went through so he still has this sense of entering into a city, but it was a different kind of city. It was a heavenly city, a city of glory and radiance, and beauty. In the timeless allegory of the Christian life, Pilgrim's Progress Christian and Hopeful, are making their way also toward a city. A destination, called in that parable by John Bunyan, the celestial city, the heavenly city. And at one point in their pilgrimage, they meet a group of men, godly men called shepherds. And the shepherds had them to a high mountain and gave them a telescope, which was a relatively new invention in Bunyan's lifetime interesting, but they had these two pilgrims looking through, with shaking hands, through a telescope, whereby they could see for the first time the celestial city, see what it actually looked like. So friends, this right here is the telescope. This is what we get to look through this morning to see the city where we're going to. And can I tell you it's a joyful glorious radiant place we're going toward. We will not be in any way disappointed when we get there. And I think the more that our hearts are filled with visions of the new Jerusalem, to which we are going, if we are Christians, we are going there, the better it is. For us, for our families and for even lost people who are around us who desperately need the message of hope, that's locked up in our hearts. They desperately need to hear the nature of our hope in that heavenly city, to which we are going. The book of Hebrew speaks of this city, in Hebrews 11:10, it speaks of Abraham was. It says "…he was looking forward to a city with foundations whose architect and builder is God." I think that's the faith-filled life that we should be... We're looking forward to a city. That's what faith is about, it's... Another word for it is hope. We are filled with hope as we look ahead to that city that is to come. It says later, a few verses later, in Hebrews 11:16, it says that these faith-filled men and women "were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Isaiah 60 in Context Well, this morning, in Isaiah 60, we get to look at that city. We get to understand some of the nature and the beauty of that radiant spiritual city to which we're going. And we get to look at it through the telescope of the text. So really I would urge that you take your Bibles and look with me as I'm just going to walk through the 22 verses of Isaiah 60. I'm going to try to understand the phrases here. It's not easy to interpret this book. Isaiah was a prophet, a Jewish man who lived about seven centuries before Christ was born. He lived one century before the Jews were exiled to Babylon, and he has a vision here, of the building, or we could say The glory of Zion. And so the stunning glory of Zion, whatever that means, we're going to talk about the glory of Zion, the city of God is revealed in this chapter in words that I believe, and this is the key to my interpretation of the chapter, words that soar vastly beyond the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem physically after the exile to Babylon. Isaiah the prophet saw the exile to Babylon a century before it happened, but he looked beyond that in some way to the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem after the exile. But these words just go far beyond that. And I would urge you also to keep your finger here in Isaiah 6. We're going to move through it is our home base, but also to look with me at Revelation chapter 21. And we're going to see in Revelation 21:23 and following, verbiage language, that's almost identical to that of Isaiah 60. So the Apostle John in the Island of Patmos, as he sees the new Jerusalem that's yet to come is using language from the chapter we're looking at today. And so, friends, we are not talking about the mere rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile to Babylon. We're talking about something vastly more glorious than that. A vision of a city that's in construction. Now, it's beautiful right now but it's getting more and more beautiful every day. And that God calls on you if you're a Christian to serve that city and to get involved in building it for the rest of your lives. It's a vision that should consume the rest of your life. It's worth your life to give it to the building, and the glorification of this city. And so in this chapter we're going to see displayed Zion, the city of God, the people of God in glorious prophetic perspective. We're going to see the diversities, the beautiful diversity of worship that's going to flow into this God, into this city from people all over the Earth. And for me, I'm going to see that in light of the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the Earth, where elect from every tribe and language, and people, and nation are coming over into faith in Christ, and are going to beautify that city with their unique patterns of worship." That's what we're going to see in this chapter. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. The Idea of Zion Now we got to begin by understanding the word Zion. So we're talking about Zion here. The first time the word Zion appears in 2 Samuel 7 when it speaks of a literal physical city that David conquered from the Jebusites and the word Zion then appears in the text there as the physical city of Jerusalem in Palestine, Zion, the City of David. And then, it's used in the historical books like when Solomon built the temple there in Jerusalem, the word Zion was used there. It's used again and again in the Psalms and the prophets. The word Zion means immediately Jerusalem, but more specifically the city where God chose to put his name, for His dwelling, where he would dwell with his people together, Zion, the city where God dwells together with his people. So His glory cloud descended into Solomon's temple, and it remained there, and that was a sense of God's presence in the city of Zion. However, as the prophets continue to prophesy the word expanded to take on a bigger, fuller meaning, and so it refers more in prophetic perspective to the city of God where God will dwell with His people forever, and takes on a more of a heavenly sense at that point, because the physical city of Jerusalem became defiled like Rome in my opening illustration, became defiled with idolatry and wickedness. And so in the book of Ezekiel, the glory cloud departs from the physical city, the temple, and the Physical City of Jerusalem and goes away from that place. The Jews were exiled to Babylon and the Babylonians destroyed the temple. They destroyed the city and the Jews are living there in exile and they're pining for the day when they can return, and they can read the scroll of Isaiah, the prophecy of Isaiah that speaks very clearly about the rebuilding of the city. And they would have seen it in that light, but the language here just goes so far beyond, it just soars vastly higher than the mere rebuilding of the city in Palestine. It's bigger than that. So then the city of Jerusalem, becomes a type and a shadow of something bigger that's coming, a spiritual reality, a type and a shadow. This heavenly Zion, this heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal City of the Living God, where God and His people will dwell together in face-to-face fellowship. That's what's prefigured by the word Zion. Now, the Apostle Paul in the New Testament speaks in Galatians Chapter 4 of the "Jerusalem that is above…" He uses that language "The Jerusalem that is above" He says in Galatians 4:25:26, "the present city of Jerusalem… is in slavery with her children." That's the physical lower earthly city. That present physical city of Jerusalem is in slavery like the woman Hagar and her son Ishmael. They are slaves, okay? In slavery. But Galatians 4:26, "the Jerusalem that is above is free and she is our mother." So, the restoration of the Jews back to the rubble-filled streets of Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah is merely the re-establishment of a physical type and shadow of a heavenly reality. The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem show that the perfect glory of Jerusalem had not yet come. For the Gentile nations that surrounded that rebuilding project were hostile to the Jews. They were a threat to them and a danger to them. And this chapter speaks of perfect peace in which the gate stand to open all the time and there's no threat, but only peace and prosperity. So the prophetic vision of Isaiah 60 is of a radiant, glorious, majestic, perfect city in which the wealth of nations is going to stream in to that city and beautify it, and make it wealthy and prosperous. It is the city of God. Look at Isaiah 60:14. There it speaks of "The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel." So that's that word Zion, the City of the Lord. And in this verse and throughout, we're going to see the themes of military victory over enemies and peace with former enemies and the ownership of the Lord, it's called the City of the Lord. So, we have a beautiful picture here, not just of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, but something far greater than that... And not just the enriching of a physical city of Jerusalem, where a Jewish king would sit and physical wealth is being sent as tribute from distant lands, but something far better than that. Actual spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And so, the animals and lambs and all that that are offered in this language of the Old Testament are really just types and shadows of a true worship that's coming from people all over the world. And it speaks ultimately of mission. So, that's the preamble, you're thinking, "How long is this sermon going to be?" Friends, as long as it needs to be, it's a glorious chapter. So, let's take it like a gift and let's just unwrap it line by line. I. Zion Commanded to Arise and Be Glorious (vs. 1-2) Let's look at verses 1 and 2, Zion here is commanded by God to arise and be glorious. Look at verse one, "Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you." So God speaks, I would say with resurrecting power to Zion. Rise up out of the dust, rise up out of the ashes, rise up and be glorious. Now, as I said, the physical city of Jerusalem immediate context, the Babylonians would destroy that city. They would level it, they would rush through the breach in the wall, and they would kill all the Jewish soldiers there and they would destroy it, they would go to the temple and they'd strip off all the gold from the wood and they would steal the gold and then they would burn the wood. And they destroyed the temple, they destroyed the walls, they destroyed the city, they razed it to the ground. It was burned with fire, and the people would mostly die by the sword, famine, and plague. A small remnant would be preserved, but they would go off in chains as slaves to Babylon. They were exiled to Babylon and there they lived for 70 years. At the end of that time, a small remnant of them would be allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild it. Here, I believe Isaiah predicts at least that but far greater than that. He commands this city to rise up, as if out of the dust of the ground and be glorious. I believe that the 42,000 Jews that would return under Ezra at the command of Cyrus the Great to rebuild Jerusalem are somewhat in view here, but the language is greater than anything like that. The real glory of Zion is the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and His resurrection. And the fact that, He can speak into our degradation, into our sin, even into our death and entombment and call on us to rise up out of the grave and be glorious. And that's awesome. The final glory of Zion will be in her people, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, redeemed from death, risen from the grave. Listen what Jesus said in John Chapter 5, he said, "Do not be amazed at this for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out. Those who have done good will rise to live." And, what will they be like when they come up out of their graves? Well, friends, they will be glorious. It says in Matthew 13, "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." We're going to shine like the angels that announced the birth of Jesus, remember how the glory of the Lord shown around. You're going to be radiant, you're going to be shiny, radiant in Christ. It says in 1 Corinthians 15, speaking of the resurrection of the dead, the body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. [Ponder that.] It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." So, Isaiah 60:1 in which God commands Zion. Rise and shine and be glorious is ultimately fulfilled in our resurrection. Zion’s Glory a Contrast to the Darkness of the Nations Now, Zion's glory is a contrast to the darkness of the nations. Look at Verse 2. "For behold, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you." So here we have a clear contrast darkness, even thick darkness, that covers the whole planet, and there's this one city, that's radiant and glorious, a light shining in a dark place. How beautiful is this? You know how it says in Isaiah 9, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light, and those who live in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned… For to us, a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders." That's the light in the dark place, but the whole world here in 60:2, is shrouded in thick darkness, and there's this one shining light. This Zion. Recently, I was reading about a terrible mining accident that happened in Russia, in October of 2003 and an underground lake was unleashed, broken through and started to flood in where the miners were and many of them were killed, some escaped but then there were some that were trapped in an air pocket and they were there for almost six days. And after a little while their batteries on their helmets went out, flickered out, and they were in total darkness without very much hope of survival. They had no food, they only had the water that was flooding in and threatening their lives. After almost six days they heard sounds of explosions as other miners were blasting through 60 yards of rock to eventually get where they were. And they did get where they were. And the wall got broken through and the first light, they had seen in almost six days was the light on the helmets of their rescuers. I'm thinking, if you're in that inky black darkness, you're going to move toward the light. You're going to move toward the lights, your only hope. And I get the picture here in this text that Jesus as the glory of Zion is humanity's only hope. We walk apart from Jesus, we walk in darkness. We are enslaved in a kingdom of darkness. Ephesians 2 says that, Ephesians 6 says that "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this present darkness." So we're in this darkness, a Satanic darkness apart from Christ. And that darkness that covers the earth now of those apart from Christ will be eternally completed in hell, a place of utter darkness, where people who do not know the forgiveness of the Lord, who do not come into the light of the city of Zion by faith in Jesus, will be relegated or cast out into utter darkness. The darkness represents the absence of the blessing of God, the absence of God in every respect except as the just condemner of them in their sin. So that's light and darkness. And we are called on to call people out of the darkness into the light. We are presently, by faith in Christ, already citizens of Zion. We're already living in the light. We're walking in the light as He is in the light. And we're told in the Sermon on the Mount to let our light shine before men that they may see our good deeds and glorify God who is in heaven. The reason is that they are without hope and without God in the world, and we are called on to do the works of the kingdom, works of mercy ministry to the poor and needy in the city and in other places, works of evangelism, reaching out in the office place, works of righteousness that attract people to know God. II. The Nations Drawn to the Glory of Zion, and Glorify it More (vs. 3-9) Now in verses 3-9, that's the very theme, that the light is magnetic and attracts people out of the darkness to it. Look what it says in verse 3, "And nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn." Zion is shining with a supernatural glory, the nations are attracted to that light. Now, obviously under Ezra and Nehemiah, there was a small amount of light. When Nehemiah rebuilt the wall in 52 days, it was said that all the surrounding nations trembled with fear because they knew it was only possible through the power of God. So that's a small light, but it's not as glorious as the light of Christ. And so verse 3, "Nations come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn." This must be Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ is appealing, it's attractive, it calls on people to come, to leave their darkness and to follow Christ. Zion’s Sons and Daughters Carried Home Now, in verse 4 and 9, Zion's sons and daughters are carried home, they're carried to the city. Look at verse 4, "Lift up your eyes and look about you. All assemble and come to you. Your sons come from afar and your daughters are carried on the arm." Look again down at verse 9, "Surely the islands look to me. In the lead are ships of Tarshish bringing your sons from afar with their silver and gold to the honor of the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, for He has endowed you with splendor." So here's the idea. The splendor, the glory of the place, is attractive and brings the sons and daughters from afar, even from distant places. And they're coming from as far away as Tarshish, that's Gibraltar. I mean, you think about living in Palestine, and the Mediterranean Sea was the ocean. They didn't know all of the earth and the Atlantic Ocean and all that. So you're thinking Gibraltar, that's like the ends of the earth. And from that distant place, Zion's sons and daughters will be carried and brought home to the city. Now, for me, this must be a picture of missions. It's a picture of evangelism, a picture of the gathering of the scattered people of God. It says in John 11:51-52, it says here that "Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and not only for that nation [listen to this] but also for the scattered children of God to gather them together and bring them and make them one." So that's the work of Christ and the work of missions. He is there to gather the scattered people of God worldwide and bring them together. They are the sons and daughters of Zion. The Diverse Glories of the Nations Beautify God’s House Now look at the diverse glories of the nations as they beautify God's house. Verses 5-9, "Then you will look and be radiant," speaking again to Zion. O Zion, you're going to look and be radiant. And "…your heart will throb and swell with joy. The wealth on the seas will be brought to you. To you the riches of the nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba will come bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple. Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nest? Surely the islands look to me. In the lead are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your sons from afar with their silver and gold to the honor of the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, who he has endowed you with splendor." So here God is speaking to Zion of her radiance in glory, but the glory comes from the wealth of the nations. Do you see it? These caravans of camels. Now, this is what makes Isaiah so wonderful, caravans of camels. Not a major feature in the 21st century, I know. We're not really looking for the camel caravans. And so you have to take this language and kind of expand it to say, look, there is a movement, a bringing of wealth and riches toward Zion, but we're going to lift it above the physicality of caravans of camels. Sorry, that's a hard thing to say. Yeah, lift it up and say, the real treasure are the people and their worship as they come to Christ. That's what's going on here. So yeah, look, the Gentile nations are going to be involved in beautifying the city. So Cyrus and Darius, these pagan kings, Artaxerxes, paid for, at a low level, the rebuilding of Jerusalem. They paid for the rebuilding of the temple, they paid for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Artaxerxes helped Nehemiah with money. Friends, that's not what Isaiah 60's talking about. At a low level it is. But these kings and distant lands are going to beautify Zion spiritually. That's the work that's going on here. Honestly, the Jews that lived in those days were so disappointed with the small temple that was built under Haggai, do you remember, that they wept. The old timers, you know? It's like, "Ugh, if only you could have seen Solomon's temple. This is nothing." It was depressing. And so you remember how in Haggai the cries of anguish were mixed with cries of joy. That's not what Isaiah 60 is talking about here, the language here is of a vast beauty and wealth that goes beyond anything that they'd ever seen. Now it's spiritual, the building is spiritual, the sacrifices are spiritual. This is the building of the church of Jesus Christ out of living stones from every nation on earth. 1 Peter 2:5 says, "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." That is a spiritual approach to this. We are offering spiritual sacrifices every time we serve God. So these verses in Isaiah predict the amazing success of the gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ in winning a multitude from every nation on earth, even the most distant. So the streaming of wealth carried by the camels from Midian, Ephah and Sheba, that refers to tribute paid to the Lord Jesus by hearts of faith from Gentile converts. Who Are Nebaioth and Kedar? Now in verse 7, take a look at verse 7, it's really interesting. Isaiah singles out Nebaioth and Kedar. Now Nebaioth and Kedar were, we're told in Genesis 25:13, the first two sons of Ishmael. These are Ishmaelites. Friends, these are Arabs. Descendants of Ishmael are the Arabs who live in the Arabian boot and in the Horn of Africa and in North Africa, in the Middle East and spread out. Almost universally, Muslims today, some of the most hostile militant opposition to the Gospel of Jesus Christ comes from descendants of Ishmael. And yet, Isaiah 60:7 gives me hope that there are elect from among those Arab people that are going to be won to Christ, and that's awesome. So we need to pray for the spread of the gospel among Arab people, descendants of Ishmael, so that not literal animals, the rams of Nebaioth are brought, but their heart of worship is brought to Jesus through faith in Christ. They are offering sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus. I was reading recently off an account from YWAM, Youth With A Mission, they're doing work in the Middle East and this YWAM director told of an ISIS jihadist who came to faith in Christ in the beginning of the year 2015, it's an incredible story. I couldn't believe it when I read it. Now, this jihadist was in the process of executing Christians, but he had repeated visions of a man in white who told him, "You are killing my people, and you must stop." Finally it came to one particular Christian man who was just about to be beheaded, and he said to this man, this jihadist, he said, "I know you're going to kill me, but I want to give you my Bible so that after I'm dead you may read it." And then the man was killed, but this ISIS man took the Bible and secretly began reading it. He had more intense dreams ultimately of Jesus calling him to follow him as a disciple, he sought out and found the YWAM field worker and is in the process of being discipled right now. Now, I've thought a lot about that story, I thought about the rams of Nebaioth and of Kedar coming to faith in Christ and I thought with tears of the price tag of that man's conversion. You know how Paul said, "I fill up in my body what is still lacking in regard to the afflictions of Christ." It took the blood of Jesus infinitely above anything else, but then it took the blood of a martyr to save that man. And that man who died, beautified the temple of God, made it more beautiful. Look again at verse 7, doesn't it say to some degree, "I will beautify my beautiful place"? In other words, it's already beautiful, it's beautiful before you were born, it's beautiful before you did any good works, but you can beautify it a little more by your cheerful sacrificial service to the Great Commission. III. Zion More and More Beautiful as the Riches of the Nations Stream In (vs. 10-18) Now, in verses 10-18, Zion becomes more and more beautiful as the riches of the nations stream in, it's going to get more and more radiant more and more beautiful. Verse 10, "foreigners will rebuild your walls and their kings will serve you." Obviously, the rebuilding of Jerusalem under various pagan kings is at least somewhat in view here, but it goes far beyond that. Evangelists and missionaries are building the heavenly Zion right now all over the world, and some tribal leaders and chieftains and rulers will come to faith in Christ and then themselves will use their positions of influence to lead others to Christ, and God's wrath is atoned for in all of this, verse 10, "Though in anger I struck you in favor I will show you compassion." Jerusalem didn't happen to be accidentally destroyed by the Babylonians. It was an act of God's wrath, it was an act of his justice brought down on that city for their idolatry, and God could say to Jerusalem, "Though in anger I struck you, now in my favor I will build you up, in my favor I will show you compassion." But let's be honest, the Gentile convert from all over the world were storing up wrath themselves before they were converted; every one of them were children of wrath, every one of them deserved to be struck dead. All of us are like that. We all, like the rest, we're by nature objects of wrath. And in anger, God didn't strike us, his wrath was poured out on the substitute, on Jesus who died in our place that we might live forever. It is by those who have been rescued out of the wrath of God into his compassion and favor that this city is built. Zion’s Gates Eternally Open: Security and Prosperity And so in verse 11, "Your gates will always stand open, they'll never be shut day or night so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations, their kings led in triumphal procession." And look again at verse 17 and 18, "Instead of bronze, I will bring you gold and silver in the place of iron, instead of wood, I will bring you bronze and iron in the place of stones. I will make peace your governor and righteousness your ruler. No longer will violence be heard in your land nor ruin or destruction within your borders but you will call your wall salvation and your gates praise." So, we have here a clear prediction of peace and prosperity. Gates never shut, day or night. Now, honestly, this is the clearest indication to me in terms of exegesis, that this text is not talking about the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Why did Nehemiah build the wall? Let me just take a step before that and say, "What did Nehemiah build?" He built the wall. Why? because Jerusalem's in danger. And you remember as things went on, the danger got greater not less. And they had to build that wall with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. And Nehemiah commanded that the gates be shut at night. So this is not talking about that, dear friends, the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This is talking about something else. So look at Revelation 21:23 and following. There, it speaks of the new Jerusalem that's going to descend from heaven in the future at the end of the world, the new Jerusalem that's getting built right now by missions. "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp, and the nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut." So this is definitely the language of Isaiah 60. But then he goes beyond that, John goes beyond that to say, "For there will be no night there." So you don't need to wonder about day or night because there is no night. So I go back to verse 2 in Isaiah 60 and see, "Darkness covers the earth." Well, now what's going to happen, light will cover the earth, there won't be any darkness left. Only believers in Christ, only those brought in as sons and daughters of Zion will be left. Those are the only ones that will be left to enter the city, no darkness left, no rebellion, no wickedness at all. So look what it says, "On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it, nothing impure will ever enter it nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." Now the text in Isaiah speaks of glorious building materials, because... I mean, we don't know what glory looks like so he uses language of materials that are wealthy, like precious stones, like gates of pearl in Revelation. But here it says that instead of poor building materials, bronze, and iron, and wood, and stones, everything's going to get upgraded, there'll be gold instead of bronze, and silver instead of iron, and bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. In other words, I can't tell you how much better it's going to be, it is just going to be vastly better than anything you ever experienced. Now, you remember Solomon made all of the... They had so much gold flowing into Jerusalem during Solomon's reign, they don't know what to do with it. Remember? So they made golden shields. I'm thinking like an engineer, what did they do that for? It's heavy and soft, it's not incredibly helpful, but I'm sure they look spectacular. They also were the desire of other nations, like Shishak from Egypt, who came after Solomon's foolish son, Rehoboam, lost the kingdom. Shishak invades and takes the gold. Shields, takes them all, brings them back to Egypt. And so, Rehoboam made bronze shields instead of the gold, a definite downgrade. Because of sin. Well, what's this text is saying is everything is going to go the opposite direction, everything will be better. Everything improved, everything more glorious, in every way. A Warning to All Nations Who Refuse to Serve Zion There is a warning here in verse 12 to the nations that will not serve Zion, will not serve the king of Zion. Look at it, verse 12, "For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish, it will be utterly ruined." That's a direct warning to the nations of the earth. It's not much different than Psalm 2, when God the Father speaks to his son, Jesus, in Psalm 2 and this is what he said, "I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me," that's like basically Jesus saying, "God the Father said to me…" "You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I'll make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You'll rule them with an iron sword. You'll dash them to pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings, be wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling." Psalm 2:12, "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry with you, and you'll be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." It's the same thing. Look again at Isaiah 60:12, "For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish, it will be utterly destroyed." It's a warning. "Flee to Christ." Now, in verses 13-16, Zion is beloved and served, no longer hated. "The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the pine, and the fir, and the cypress together, to adorn the place of my sanctuary, and I will glorify the place at my feet. The sons of your oppressors will come bowing before you, all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel." Verse 15, "Although you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all nations. You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Now it's remarkable for Isaiah to speak of Lebanon here. It was Hiram, King of Tyre, King of Lebanon, who sent massive trees, cedars of Lebanon, floated them down to a port city in Israel where they would be used to build the temple. It seems now that God is not so interested in the actual trees of Lebanon as in the Lebanese people themselves. And so, "Lebanon will beautify this spiritual sanctuary by repentance and faith in Christ." That's what God wants, he wants the Lebanese people, and they, by coming to faith in Christ, will beautify or adorn the place of God's sanctuary. IV. The Eternal Glory of Zion (vs. 19-22) We end up in verses 19-22 of the eternal glory of the city of Zion. It says, "The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moonshine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory." Verse 20, "You sun will never set again. Your moon will wane no more. The Lord will be your everlasting light and your days of sorrow will end." This is the clear language of the new Jerusalem. There's no doubt about it, not anything earthly like this has ever been seen. The light of the sun and the moon become obsolete. God, when he began creating said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And then on the fourth day, God created the sun and the moon and the stars. I had some clever postdoc student at Duke, unbeliever, from an oriental nation say that this is proof that the Bible is just metaphorical and all that because there's all this light, but the sun, moon, and stars weren't even created until the fourth day. I said, "Do you have lights down in the basement of your lab there in Duke?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "Are there any windows down?" He said, "No." "So it's in total darkness?" He said, "No, we have lights down there." I said, "Oh, so you're able to do light where there's no windows at all, but you think God can't? God is able to do light. He's actually really good at it. He can shine radiantly long before there's a sun or moon or star. He just delegated the job on the fourth day to the sun, moon, and stars." Well, guess what? At the end, he's going to take it back. We don't need the sun anymore, don't need the moon anymore, don't need the stars anymore, I'll take it from here. And the glory of this city is going to be God's glory and Jesus will be the lamp of God's glory and the entire place will be radiant with that glorious light. Look at Revelation 21:23-24, "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp and the nations will walk by its light. Now he also says, "The Lord will be everlasting light and your days of sorrow will end." This is well known to be fulfilled only in heaven. No more sorrow, no more pain. Revelation 21, "I saw the new Jerusalem coming down like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband and now at last, God is dwelling with man and God will be with them and be their God and there'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Final two verses it says, "Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands for the display of my splendor. The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord and in its time, I will do this swiftly." So that's our future, dear friends, our future in Christ. V. Applications Applications, first, just brothers and sisters, renew your hope by looking at this heavenly city. Look at it. Look through the telescope that we talked about. You're not going to be disappointed. It's not like, "Yeah, but don't look too closely." No, look closely. Look really closely. Look at the details. I've walked very quickly through this chapter. Go back and look at the details of what this beautiful Zion is going to be like. Celebrate this. It says in Colossians 3, "Set your minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, you will appear with him in glory." This is your future glory. Set your heart on that. Why should you do that? I want you to be filled with hope. I want you to be like radiantly, energetically hopeful at work or at school or wherever you go tomorrow. I want you to be kind of like a light bulb tomorrow. Why? So that people who are presently lost, who are without hope and without God in the world may ask you to give a reason for the hope that you have, and you can tell them about Jesus. So smile. See? There you go. Smile. It's glorious. It's radiant. You're going to a happy place and nothing can stop it. Be filled with joy and let your hope, your light of hope shine to hopeless people. They don't have this hope that you have, and especially let your light shine when you are afflicted, when you have physical pain, when you have a bad diagnosis, when things are going poorly for you economically in life, shine with hope because at that point it shines even the more brightly. Let's see also and embrace the missionary thrust of this whole chapter. It's all about this light shining to the ends of the earth. Sons and daughters brought from afar. Ron was talking about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We are Southern Baptist. We are in voluntary cooperation with other Baptist churches just like ours. We pool our money together and out of that pool of money, we send out people to distant lands to share the gospel. That's a good work. Our church's goal is $150,000 for Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We will not make it without sacrifice. We'll not make it without cheerful giving. So pray about what God would have you to do financially in terms of that offering, but just embrace missions. Find out more and more about unreached people groups. I would suggest that each one of you goes to Joshua Project or to some other website. Find an unreached people group and pray for them everyday. Pray that God would raise up missionaries to go reach them with the gospel. I also want you to notice that God delights in a vast array of diverse worship. As I said years ago, and I continue to say, God loves more forms of worship than you do. And so there's this vast diversity of worship from every tribe and language and people and nation, and God loves it. I'm not talking about the kind of diversity that people talk about these days. I'm talking about amoral, beautiful diversity that God created in different cultures and languages. It's a beautiful thing. And I want to finish by just urging any of you that are here that have not yet trusted in Christ, trust in him. I want to see you there. I want you to be there. I would love for it to be the case that you walk up to me in the streets of the new Jerusalem and say, "I don't know what it was, but it was that sermon in Isaiah 60 that showed me how much I needed Christ. And I repented of my sins and I looked at Christ crucified alone. I stopped trusting in my works and I believed in him and now I'm here. Praise God." Close with me in prayer.

In this episode, we talk around a recent Joshua Project article entitled, ‘Has Everyone Heard?’ The stats and facts surrounding the issue of reaching the unreached is staggering and very compelling! Listen, react, and Share!

Focus: to invite us to join Jesus’ compassion driven mission by prayer and being sent as we trust in His provision. To download the video referenced in the sermon click HERE. To download the link to the Joshua Project referenced in the sermon click...

Introduction: Why Do You Do What You Do? I want to begin this morning by asking a searching question. Why do you do what you do? Why do you do everything that you do? Do you know why you do what you do? The story is told in the days after the October Revolution, that brought communism to Russia, that the leaders of the communist movement were looking for future leaders of the nation, and so they set people to different tasks, to different jobs, and there were three men that were assigned to build a brick wall. And after they'd been working a while, the leaders went to the first man and asked him, "What are you doing?" He said, "I'm putting this brick up on that wall." They went to the second man and said, "Comrade, what are you doing?" He said, "I'm building a brick wall." They went to the third man and said, "Comrade, what are you doing?" He said, "I'm building a new world." They chose the third man to be the leader out of those three, because he had a vision for what the communists were trying to do. Now, history has proven, the 20th century has proven that vision was empty, it was really a satanic lie. Wasn't a new world they were building, but that's what that man thought they were doing. And so, I put to you today, what is your vision for what you're doing? Let's take a test case of why you came to church this morning. Why did you come to church this morning? Well, it's what you do on Sunday, I'm putting this brick up on that wall, you see. Well, because I want to be a good leader to my family, and my dad, he took me to church, and I want my family to be raised right, I want them to learn the right way to live, and I think you can't do that without church. I'm building a brick wall. I come to church because the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has saved me, and he's building a kingdom that will never end, and to the praise of his glory, I want to live for him. And I want to be sharpened in my own gifts, and I want to be prepared to advance the Gospel, and I can't do that unless I go to church. And furthermore, he, being the Lord and master of my life, has commanded me to do this. I'm building a new world. What's your view of why you do everything you do? I think we're going to get a glimpse this morning into why Paul did what he did. And I want to begin by asking a simple question about the Apostle Paul that comes right up out of the text. And the question is, why hadn't Paul visited Rome yet? That's the question I want to put before you. Comes right out of the text. Why hadn't he come yet? Paul is seeking to answer that question. Now, last week, we had, somewhat unusually, a whole sermon, essentially, about one verse. I don't do that often, and thank God for it. Alright. We'd still be back in Romans Chapter 6 with no end in sight. Alright. So as one sermon... And I think it was useful and beneficial to focus in on one verse, and to try to understand Biblical counseling. And that's fine, and good, but now I want to take a step back from the careful consideration we gave to that one verse. And, by the way, every verse of scripture bears that kind of careful scrutiny, and more. We're not saying that. But I want to just take a step back, and look at the whole context of why Paul talked about competent to counsel. What was he getting at there? And I think, in this section of Romans 15, he's seeking to do three things. First, he's explaining to them why he hadn't visited Rome yet, why he hadn't been there yet. Secondly, he's asking them for help on his way to Spain. And thirdly, he's preparing them for a very short stay in Rome when he's on his way to Spain. I think those three things he's doing, among some other things, such as explaining his whole strategy for missions, which we'll get to, God willing, next time. I. Why Paul Hadn’t Visited Rome But I want to say to you that Paul deeply wanted to visit Rome. The Roman Christian should not, in any way, feel slighted by the fact that Paul hadn't been there yet. It wasn't as though he didn't want to come. It wasn't as though he felt... He thought very little of their progress in the Gospel, or felt that they weren't a strategic church. No, no, no, far from it, Paul affirms several times in this letter how many times he wanted to come to them, and how deeply he yearned to have fellowship with them. Right in chapter one, verse 8 and following, he says this, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world." So, no, you're not an insignificant congregation, you're right there in the heart of the Roman Empire. And then he said, "God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the Gospel of his son, is my witness, how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times." So, no, I don't fail to care for you, I care deeply for you. And I pray that now, at last, by God's will, the way may be open for me to come to you. "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong, that is that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to see, but have been prevented from doing so until now, in order that I might have a harvest among you, as I've had among the other Gentiles." So, no, Paul didn't fail to desire to come, he wanted to go to Rome. So, if Paul deeply wanted to share Christian fellowship with them, and if it would have been a richly blessed time if he had come, then why hadn't Paul been there yet? Well, that's what he's seeking to answer here. And why would he only be passing through quickly on his way to Spain? Again, that's what he's seeking to answer here. And I think, in answering these questions, we're going to get an insight not only into the intense, passionate, focus of the Apostle Paul, but also to answer question, what kind of intense passionate focus should we have to our lives? And what role, what priority should frontier missions have for us, individually, and for this local church? That's what I'm about this morning. Basically... Let me say, quite directly, when I get done, I would like you to feel a sense of a passionate focus to your own life that's, to some degree, tailor-made for you. And if you don't have it, to go seek it this afternoon until you get it. And secondly, I would like us to be about, in a very intelligent, clear way, a strategy for advancing the Gospel to those who have never heard of Jesus before. That's what I'm about. So, individually, I'd like each of you to have a passionate focus that's connected to the Great Commission and tailor-made to you and your spiritual gifts. And secondly, I want this church to take its rightful place along with the other churches around the world in advancing the Gospel to the frontiers. I guess I'm done, aren't I? I don't need to do anything more. Well, I'd like to do a little explaining, with your permission, and I like to ground it in text, because it's there. Paul’s Calling Had Prevented Him From Visiting Rome Why Paul hadn't visited Rome yet. Well, let's go to the end of our section, and work a little bit backwards. Verses 20-22 are the key to answering the question of why he hadn't been to Rome yet. Paul there says, in verse 20, "It has always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written, 'those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.' This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you." Do you see the answer to the question? What is the answer to the question? I hadn't been there yet because my calling prevented me from it. And what was Paul's calling? Well, he was called to be a frontier, pioneering, trailblazing, church-planting, evangelizing apostle to the Gentiles, that's what he was called to do, and he knew it. He was called by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles, with the priestly duty of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to them. And his understanding of that call was that he was to give priority in his life to the regions of the world that had never heard of Jesus before. And, as we learned last week in verse 14, now you see it in context, the Roman Church was a mature church, with good leadership, with brothers and sisters that were full of goodness, complete in knowledge, and competent to counsel one another. And therefore, they didn't need him to come, you see. Now, it doesn't mean that everyone in the city of Rome, had heard of Jesus, that wasn't it. But it wasn't a frontier, not by his definition, it had a good solid church, and they were able to have a harvest among the Romans there, and that's why he wasn't going to go. Although, he says in verse 15, he had taken the time to write them boldly, to remind them about a few points, yet, they were a fully mature church. II. Paul’s Passionate Focus And so, here, we get a glimpse into the central calling of Paul's apostolic life, and here we get a glimpse also into Paul's passionate, concentrated, white-hot focus. In 1987, I went on a mission trip to minister to Afghan refugees, and these refugees had been chased out of their country by the communist Russians who were carrying on that satanic worldview that we talked about back in 1917. And the Muslims had toppled the communist government in Kabul, and so the Russians came in to restore order. And in so doing, they made lives a living hell for thousands and thousands of refugees who fled to Pakistan. And I think there can be few earthly circumstances more miserable than fleeing from your country because of helicopter gunships, running to a country that only partly is willing to tolerate you there, but has no plans to take care of your needs, knowing that every relative that you've been separated from, there's a likelihood that at least some of them are dead, those could even be your parents, your siblings, your children, your spouse, you may never see them again. And you've been stripped by the experience of every single worldly possession you have, and the future is looking very dim indeed, and worst of all, from my perspective, you don't know God. Without hope and without God in the world, that's what they were. What a dreadful, dreadful situation. And so, we start to minister to them, and one of the things we wanted to do... The problem there is that there weren't a lot of trees, and so therefore, they couldn't make fires to cook their food. And so, we brought them solar ovens to cook their food and boil the water, which is very important to purify the water, and all that. These things were designed to concentrate the sun's rays, to catch them and focus on a certain place, where if you put a pot of water or some meat, it could boil water as fast as your stove, almost as fast. Or it could cook meat as quickly as an average oven. It was really amazingly designed. The concentration of the sun's rays on the central point, it was hot enough to boil water. And I think I see that in Paul's life. I see it in the internal journey in Philippians 3, when he says, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, one thing I do, I press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." There's a concentrated focus on the internal journey. But when it comes the external journey also, he has an ambition, he has an ambition. Now, let's look at that word ambition. He says in verse 20, "it has always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known, so I wouldn't be building on someone else's foundation." A World Full of Ambitious People You know, the world is filled with ambitious people. You look at Napoleon, for example, an empire-builder, you know what he said about ambition? He said ambition is never content, even on the summit of greatness. Oh, he had a vision for the world too, didn't he? And he was willing to pay in blood, not his own blood, but he was willing to pay in blood to see his vision, his ambition realized. And the measure of his commitment to his ambition you could see in the blood tracks of the French army coming out of the snows of Russia. He was an ambitious man. There's all kinds of ambitions, great and small. Athletes have ambitions too. I was reading about Ted Williams, who, early in his career, said, "It's been my ambition since I was a boy that when people saw me walking down the street, they'd point to me, and say, 'There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter that ever lived.'" Now, I'm hoping along the way that he found our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because that's not going to do very well for you on Judgment Day. But that was his ambition, to be the greatest baseball hitter that ever lived. Businessmen, look at Bill Gates, he's a man of soaring intellect, amazing comprehension of the software industry, and of, almost, I would think, a ruthless ambition to make Microsoft, in its industry, what the oil, Standard Oil was in the 19th century. Or some of these railroad magnates who were called, by some, the robber barons, they were ambitious men and they were willing to build an empire of business. Ambition is somewhat of a neutral thing. It totally depends on what it's connected to. If it's a good thing in the eyes of God, then ambition for that good thing is itself a good thing, but if it's plugged into something evil, it's a wicked thing. Ambition drives a lot of achievement in this world, for good or evil. Ambition overcomes every obstacle. It organizes life and power and concentrates it, like that solar oven, in a single direction, so that things get accomplished. It drives a person to make great sacrifices to achieve that goal. That's what ambition does. But ambition can also drive an individual to self-worship, to ego gratification. A Holy Ambition Now, Paul had a godly ambition. Look again at verse 20, "It's always been my ambition," he says, "To preach the Gospel where Christ was not known." Here, he identifies the grand and glorious ambition of his life of ministry. He's called to be a trailblazer, to go where no man had gone before, he's called to survey the terrain, to level the ground and lay the foundation of a new work for the glory of Christ, in location after location. He was called to be a pioneer and to open up new works for others to follow. Now, the word, the Greek word for ambition here is made up of two smaller Greek words, which means love and honor. For the love of the honor of doing it, that's what it is. And he yearned for the honor of being able to go into some pioneer trailblazing place, and advance the Gospel of Christ. Now, Paul's whole life, I think, as we know it in the scripture, was characterized by drive, wasn't it? He was an ambitious man before he met Christ. He was a ladder-climbing Jew, a Pharisee who wanted to become the greatest Jewish man that ever lived, I think. And so, in Galatians 1:14, he describes himself, "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age, and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers." So he was ambitious. And in that zeal and ambition, he went on the road to Damascus, with letters in his hand from the high priest, to arrest any in Damascus who were Christians, and bring them back to Jerusalem for judgment, breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. That ambitious drive wasn't crushed on the road to Damascus, it was just redirected, is that how we should put it? How about 180 degrees, the opposite direction? Turned around, entirely, a different way. And why? Because he saw the glory of the risen Christ. He saw the glory of God and realized his ambitions were small and petty, they became, Philippians 3, like rubbish to him, nothing to him. From that point on, Paul knew why God had left him alive, he left him alive to accomplish a mission. Now, so many of us lack a single focus to our lives, a drive, a reason for getting up and doing what we do, an overriding vision of life that characterizes and describes everything that we do, and helps us make decisions on whether we should go to Rome or not. Doesn't seem to be a theme that holds it all together, helps us decide what to do, where to live, how to spend our money, how to spend our time, what our job should be, what our career should be. To change the analogy a bit, it's like going through life like a sailing vessel, but there's no rudder, and the captain of the ship has no idea where he's going, he's got no charts, no compass, no sexton, it's in the fog, just drifting wherever the wind blows it. Let me tell you something, Paul was not like that. He knew exactly why he was alive, and what work Christ had left him to do. For Christ had met him, with killing power, if he had wanted to, on the road to Damascus, and decided to let him live. He deserved to die, and he knew it, but he decided to let him live. "As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly, a light from heaven flashed around him… and he heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.'" Now, the words, "I am Jesus" changed his life. For the rest of his life, he knew that Christ had risen from the dead. "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now, get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." That is the Lord speaking. He is giving direction to Paul's life. Paul would bend the knee to Christ the king, the Lord, and he'd say, "What do you want me to do, Lord?" And he said, "I'll tell you what to do, you'll be told what you must do." So, from the start, there was a sense that Paul's life was forfeited. He deserved to die, and anything, from that point forward, was Christ's to do with, as he saw fit. Have you come to that place in your life? Have you come to realize that you don't and you didn't, apart from Christ, deserve to live? And anything you live from this point forward should be for his purpose, and his glory alone? Paul came to that point, and he expresses it clearly in this moving farewell address to the Ephesian elders. He said, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the Gospel of God's grace." Complete the task. Finish the race. Do you have a task? Do you have a race that you're running, or are you just living from day to day? Paul knew what his task was, the task the Lord Jesus had given him. And even names of the task, of testifying to the Gospel of God's grace. The Application of Paul’s Godly Ambition Well, okay, that's his worldview, now he's going to apply it to a specific question. Should I go to Rome or not? Should I go to visit the people in Rome? He applied it first to his life of preaching, and he said, from... His whole focus was he was going to preach where those who had never heard of him, heard of Christ, would hear of him. Look at verse 21, he was going to occupy his time fulfilling an ancient prophecy. "Rather, as it is written, those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand." This is a direct quote of scripture, Isaiah 52:15, which is the introduction to perhaps the greatest prophecy of Christ in his atoning sacrifice, in the Old Testament, it's an introduction to it. The glorious suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Well, this is the introduction to it. Isaiah 52:13-15, this is what the prophet said six centuries before Jesus was born, "Behold, my servant will act wisely, he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.So will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand." The suffering servant, the one whose appearance is disfigured beyond human recognition, he's going to sprinkle many nations, and kings will hear about them, but they haven't heard yet. Paul read that, and said, "That's my life calling. That's what I am called to do, so that those who have not heard will hear, those who have not seen, they will understand." Bringing the Light to the Gentiles That was his life calling. He made this intensely personal, these ancient prophecies about Christ, they became the marching orders of his private life. Speaking to the hostile Jews in Pisidian Antioch, they were rejecting the Gospel, and getting angry and hostile, and opposing him. So he said, "Look, we had to speak the word of God to you first. That's what we're called to do, to the Jew first. But since you rejected, and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles, for this is what the Lord has commanded us." Oh, you could circle that word "us" in Acts 13:47, this is what the Lord has commanded us, "I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Now, that is fascinating. It's a quote from Isaiah 49:6. One of the greatest prophesies of Christ ministry to the Gentiles is in Isaiah 49:6. He says, that's God says, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light to the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." That, my friends, is a conversation between the father and the son, what theologians could call an inter-trinitarian conversation. The father says to the son, it's too small a thing for you just to save the Jews. I'm not sending you into the world for that. That's too small. I'll do that, but I'm going to do more than that. I'm going to send you into the world to be the light of the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation, my name, to the ends of the earth. That's why he sent Jesus as the apostle of our faith, he sent him into the world for that. It's too small a thing for you just to save the Jews. Paul read that statement and he applied it to himself. This is what the Lord has commanded us. It's too small a thing. He's commanded us, concerning Jesus, that you may take my salvation to the ends of the earth. He's commanded me, he's commanded you, he commanded Paul and Barnabas, he's commanded us to take his name to the ends of the earth. This is what the Lord has commanded us. And so, I've been busy doing it, from Jerusalem all the way around to Yugoslavia, that's Illyricum, very hard word to pronounce, and to understand. But it's Yugoslavia, right across from Rome. I was close, I could have jumped on a ship and come right across, but I didn't have time, I was doing frontier evangelism so that the ends of the earth would hear about Christ. That's why. Verse 22, "I have often been hindered from coming to you." "I have been busy preaching the Gospel." Basically he is saying, "You brothers and sisters at Rome, you're mature, you're well-lead, you're competent to counsel, you're all of these wonderful things. You don't need what I have come to bring. I could help you. We would share each other's fellowship, and some mutual encouragement, and some spiritual gifts, but I am not staying long. I am going through to Spain and I need you to help me on my way." We'll get to that next week, God willing, and the following week. "I'll have you help me on my way to Spain, but I'm not setting up shop in Rome, I'm not buying a house, okay? I'm just moving on through." Do you have a focus like that? Do you have a compelling reason to live everyday? Do you know what God is calling you to do with your life? Is your ambition holy or is it self-gratifying, ego-gratifying? Does your passion get applied ruthlessly to rule out lesser things that are not connected with your calling, like for Paul going to the church at Rome? Now, when we were doing the baptism, I said, "You know, the greatest thing that could ever happen to you is to have your soul saved by faith in Christ," just as Jimmy did. Praise God for you, brother, and praise God for what God's done in your life. But there may be some in a congregation this size that have not been saved, you've not been justified by faith in Christ, that is your task, that's the race in front of you. Don't leave this place today without trusting in the Messiah. Don't leave this place today without looking to Christ for salvation. Trusting in his blood and his righteousness alone. You're not ready for judgment day yet, if you haven't. And then, God will give you a race to run, he'll give you a work to do. III. The Variety of Roles in Completing the Great Commission Now, not everybody's going to get the same race. I want to say that very directly. There are variety of roles in fulfilling the Great Commission, a variety of them. Not everybody is called to the same ambition. We already covered this in Romans 12, as you remember when I preached on Romans 12. Romans 12:4-6 is the teaching of the body of Christ and "just as each of us have one body with many members, and the members don't all have the same function, so, in Christ, we, who are many, form one body, and each belongs to the other, and we have different gifts according to the measure of grace given us." We have different callings. Now, I want to make this plain and clear by looking at two words in the text today. One is the word foundation, and the other ambition. Let's look first at this word ambition. It's used only three times in the New Testament. I want to take what I consider to be the foremost one, and that's from 2 Corinthians 5:9. There, Paul is explaining how to live in light of Judgment Day. Judgment Day is coming, and according to 2 Corinthians 5, all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one of us may render to him an account for the things done in the body, whether good or bad. So, in light of that, how should you live your life? Paul said, "I'll tell you what your ambition should be, and mine is too." "So whether we are at home or away we make it our ambition to please him [Christ]. That is a soaring ambition over every single Christian life. And that goes down to the details of your life, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. You can, as I said earlier, eat a ham sandwich to the glory of God. You can wash dishes to the glory of God. But let me tell you something, on the final day, when you stand before God, and all you did was eat all your ham sandwiches to the glory of God, you will have wasted your life. Be strategic. So that's one use of the word ambition. That's for everybody, make it now your ambition to please Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:9. The second use we've looked at here in our text. Paul's ambition was to be a frontier trailblazing missionary, to tell people who have never heard of Jesus who Jesus was. That's his ambition. There's a third very interesting use of the word in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and 12. Listen on this one. There, Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody." That wasn't Paul's ambition. Lead a quiet life, Paul did not need a quiet life. So if he intended to lead a quiet life, he was bored of his ambition, but that wasn't his ambition. This is speaking, perhaps, to heads of families, to homeowners, to people who have families, and they're in a community, in a culture, and they're not called to be frontier trailblazing missionaries, they should settle in and make their life a light to the Gentiles around them, to live for the glory of God in that way. So we have three uses of the word ambition, and they show that we don't all have the same calling in life. Let's look at this word foundation. He said, "It's been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not named so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation." Well, Paul, what's wrong with that? Is that a sinful thing, a bad thing to build on someone else's foundation? Not at all. As a matter of fact, Paul was counting on faithful people to follow him up and build on his foundation. He just wanted them to be sure they did it right. So in 1 Corinthians 3, just a few pages later, in Romans, but in 1 Corinthians 3, go ahead and look there, 1 Corinthians 3: 10-13, just about four or five pages over. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is talking about his ministry, and Apollos's ministry. Paul went first to Corinth and preached, then Apollos came after him and followed it up. And in 1 Corinthians 3:10 and following, Paul says this, "By the grace of God, I laid a foundation as an expert builder. And now someone else is building on it." Do you see that? It's not a bad thing to build on someone else's foundation. There's nothing wrong with it. "Each one should be careful how he builds, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ, if any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light, it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work." So Paul said, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow." We Must All Help Advance the Great Commission We have different tasks according to the assignment of the Lord. There it is. We are called to different things. Now, what's my point? I think that each of us must have a passion, a drive, a desire in our lives, but they're going to be different, but we must all help to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those are Jesus' final words to us, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age." Just as he said in Luke 19:10, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Is that the center of your life and ministry, or is it just to eat ham sandwiches to the glory of God, to be sure you thank God for all of the blessings he gives you? Will that be enough for you on Judgment Day, to stand in front of him, and say, "That's what I did. I always sought to eat my ham sandwiches to the glory of God, and give you full thanks for the blessings you gave me in my life." In 1906, James Fraser was studying engineering at Imperial College in London. Later, he became a legend, as Fraser of Lisuland because of his frontier evangelism and church-planting in the Yunnan province of China. The turning point of his life was in college, when he read a two-penny pamphlet about the needs of the Chinese. And it began with these two sentences, changed his life. James Fraser read this, "If our master returned today to find millions of people un-evangelized, and looked as, of course, he would look to us for an explanation, I cannot imagine what explanation we should have to give. Of one thing I am certain, that most of the excuses we're accustomed to make with such good conscience now, we shall be wholly ashamed of then," end quote. That's what he read in the pamphlet. He said, "Oh, I'm not living right." He may be eating his ham sandwiches to the glory of God, but he wasn't living right, he wasn't living for the glory of God, for an overriding passion for the unreached people groups. He was never able to escape the power of those sentences. Many years later, John Piper, who's a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, was preaching at Bethel College, and he talked about James Fraser of Lisuland. And this is what he had to say, "A few years ago, when I had to preach my first mission sermon at Bethlehem, I took the Yellow Pages of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul phonebooks and counted the number of churches in the Twin Cities. There are more churches in the Twin Cities than there are North American Protestant missionaries to the 1.9 billion people that make up the 10,000 unreached people groups, the Muslims, Hindus, Chinese, and Buddhist unreached people groups. Let me say that again. There are 1.9 billion people in 10,000 unreached people groups, served by about 700 North American missionaries, but there are more churches in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul than that." John Piper continued, "I can only think of one explanation for the state of affairs, disobedience. What will we say to the master who commanded us 2000 years ago to make disciples of those 10,000 peoples? It was a personal crisis for me, like it was for Fraser, and I told my congregation that I would have to resign and engage more directly in frontier missions if I couldn't be convinced that by my staying the Gospel could advance more readily to those frontiers than if I went myself." He had to filter his own future in pastoral ministry through that filter. Well, I was disturbed by that. I read that and said, "Have I filtered my own future here at First Baptist through that?" Have you filtered yours? That the Gospel could be advanced more readily if I stay than if I go. IV. Three Options for Frontier Missions So I have come to the conclusion that there are three options for us, then, in frontier missions. What are frontier missions? It's the unreached people groups, people who are identified by culture and language and geography, they are in a certain area that have no viable witness to Jesus Christ. There's no foundation laid there. Joshua Project, www.joshuaproject.net, they give constant information about unreached people groups. They estimate 6,622. You know how important the Joshua Project number is, eternally? Not very, except that it motivates people to get going. You know the real number that matters? The one that God thinks, okay? When he says the work is done, then it's done. But why are the frontier missions so important? Let me give you two reasons: Number one, because Jesus said that history won't end until they've been reached with the Gospel, that's the finish line of the human race. Matthew 24:14, "This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come." And secondly, because in the book of Revelation, in Revelation 5 and 7, there are people mentioned there from every tribe and language and people and nation. Revelation 5 says they've already been bought by the blood of Jesus. Revelation 7 says they will someday be around the throne with white robes. So it's already a done deal. It just hasn't happened yet. That's why frontier missions are important, and should be, for your life. Three Options: Go, Send, Disobey So what are the three options? You ready? You can choose one, you have to decide what you're going to do. I'll try to make it clear. Your three options are as follows: You can go, you can send, or you can disobey. Those are your three options, you can go, you can send, you can disobey. So choose one. I fear that too many of us are choosing the comfortable third option. Maybe they didn't know they were disobeying, but that's what they're choosing. 700 North American missionaries to the 1.9 million people in 10,000 unreached people groups. Could it be that some people didn't hear God call them and give them their race, their finish line, and they never went, and they should have? Well, let's focus on those who send. We're a sending church. Do you realize that 12%, goes to the Southern Baptist Convention automatically, so you're automatically advancing the Gospel just by giving money to the church, right? Is that enough? Oh, well, toward the end of the year, we have the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and the giving here has more than doubled in the last eight years. That's very encouraging. So if you give a gift in December, are you sending at that point? Is that enough? William Carey, the first Protestant missionary, he preached what was known as the deathless sermon, attempt great things for God, expect great things from God. Out of that, came a small Baptist mission-sending group. It was so small that the first meeting was in somebody's parlor. That's all that that deathless sermon produced. But he said, "I will go down into the dark hole of heathenism if you will hold my rope. That's what sending is, you're holding someone's rope as they descend into the dark hole of heathenism. You're holding someone's rope as they go down to the unreached people groups, and none of them that are left will be easy to reach. Some of them will only be reached by martyrs. You're holding the rope as somebody goes down into the hole. Are you holding the rope? Are we holding the rope? That's my question. I would love to see our church, in '06, '07 adopt, very clearly, an unreached people group, find out what missionaries are called there, or if there are none, than pray until some come, until some of you decide to be our unreached people group missionaries, and go get the requisite training, and go, until that group has a viable church planted among them, and then, when we feel they're strong enough, then we'll adopt another one. I would urge us to do that until the Lord returns. To me, I think that's what holding the rope is about. So, as I come to the end of the message today, let me ask what I asked at the beginning, why do you do what you do? Why do you go to work? Why do you come to this church? Why do you get up in the morning? Are you just putting a brick on the wall, day after day, eating each ham sandwich to the glory of God? Do you understand? Do you have a bigger vision of wanting a good family, a good family life, to live for the glory of God in that way? Etcetera. You building a wall, or are you building a new world by the power of God? Do you have a world-changing vision that Jesus shall reign from shore to shore till moon shall wax and wane no more, that the nations are Christ, but not all of them confess him yet. What are you living for? Close with me in prayer.