The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions Speaker - David Platt | Together For The Gospel 2012 | Audio Fix

I am honored and humbled to be with you tonight I know that I am the least deserving pastor in this room to be standing here at this moment I have one overarching truth that I want to communicate as clearly and as biblically as possible one overarching truth here it is a high view of God's sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions a high view of God's sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions maybe another way to put it people and more specifically tonight pastors pastors who believe that God is sovereign over all things will lead Christians to die for the sake of all people's pastors who believe that God is sovereign over all things will lead Christians to die for the sake of all peoples I want to show you this in Revelation chapter 5 so if you have a Bible I hope you do I invite you to turn with me there as you are turning I want to be clear about a few underlying premises behind what I am saying tonight hopefully putting these on the table from the start will clarify where we're going maybe even disarm you a bit from objections that may already be rising in your mind and your heart so few underlying premises number one local ministry and local mission are totally necessary local ministry and local mission are totally necessary I'm not saying tonight nor would I advocate at any point that we should neglect local ministry there are people in your church my church who are hurting their marriages are struggling the children are rebelling they are walking through cancer and tumors and all sorts of other trials and we as pastors must not neglect local ministry to the body nor should we neglect local mission in the community we have been commanded to make disciples and that command will play out most naturally most consistently right where we live in our communities in our cities in Birmingham Alabama where I pastor there are thousands of people without Christ and they need to hear and believe the gospel I want the local church God's entrusted me to lead to be zealous for the glory of God in Birmingham every week I want to encourage every member in our body to make disciples right where they live and work and play so first premise local ministry and local mission are totally necessary yet second premise global missions is tragically neglected local ministry and mission totally necessary global missions tragically neglected you say what do you mean I was near Yemen not too long ago the northern part of Yemen has approximately eight million people it's twice the population of the entire state of Kentucky do you know how many believers there are out of eight million people they estimate twenty or thirty that's a problem there are more believers in a Sunday School class in most of our churches than in all of northern Yemen they join two billion people in the world today who are classified as unreached meaning that they do not have access to the gospel unsure unreached does not just mean lost people say well there's unreached people right around us meaning unsaved people but that's not what unreached means unreached means you're lost and you don't have access to the gospel by which you can be found there's no church no Christian no Bible available around you practically to live among an unreached people means that you will be born you will live and you will die without ever hearing the gospel that we celebrate in this room tonight and there's two billion people in 6,000 people groups for whom that is a reality at this moment global missions is tragically neglected which leads to the third and final underlying premise and it's particularly pertinent pertinent to us tonight global missions is tragically neglected and third premise pastors have the privilege and responsibility to lead the way in global missions pastors have that privilege and responsibility to quote George Pentecost from a hundred years ago to the pastor belongs the privilege and responsibility of the missionary problem Pentecost maintained that mission boards can and should do what they will organizing methods devising movements raising money but it is the responsibility and privilege of pastors to feel the weight of the nations and to fan a flame for God's global glory in every local church I think he was right over two billion people and 6,000 people groups are not yet reached with the gospel this is a problem not for mission boards and mission agencies to address this is a problem for every pastor and every local church represented in this room to address so if you put all these parentheses together pastors we love people in our local churches local ministry and we love people in our local communities local mission to the end that one day all peoples in all the world receive the gospel of God and Revere the glory of God global missions and what drives all of that in the heart of the pastor and in the heart of a local church is rock-solid confidence in the sovereignty of God over all things I want to show you that in Revelation chapter 5 follow along starting in verse 1 John writes then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it and one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and add seven seals and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne and when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders all down before the lamb each holding a harp and golden pole bowls of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering Myriad's of Myriad's and thousands and thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever and the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshiped very simply I want to show you for theological truths that spring from this text and then based on those truths I want to offer for practical implications for us as pastors so for theological truths in this text number one our sovereign God holds the destiny of the world in the palm of his hand our sovereign God holds the destiny of the world in the palm of his hand verse one I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll this scroll that we find out in the chapters that follow contains God's foreordained plans for the future contains the course of history leading to the end of the world and the consummation of God's kingdom it can contains God's sovereign will for all creation and ultimate redemption it contains God's sovereign decrees for the future glorification of believers and the final damnation of unbelievers and it's all in the hand of God the last verse in chapter 4 right before this makes clear that God holds all creation in his hands worthy are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created by your will God is sovereign over at all he's sovereign over all nature the wind blows at the bidding of God the Sun sun's heat radiates according to his commands every star in the sky comes out at night because he caused them each by name there is not a speck of dust on the planet that exists apart from the sovereignty of our God he is sovereign over all nature and he is sovereign over all nations our God charts the course of countries and he holds the rulers of the earth in the palm of his hand and this is good news it's good news to know that Ahmadinejad in Iran is not sovereign over all and neither is Hameed Karzai or huijin tower kim jeong-hoon or Benjamin Netanyahu or Barack Obama our God is sovereign over every single one of them and he holds them in his hands he's sovereign over them he's sovereign over you he's sovereign over me sovereign of everything he creates all things sustains all things knows all things he ordains all things and he owns all things the author of creation has authority over all creation he has all the rights American Christians you don't have rights God alone has rights he has the right to save sinners and he has the right to dam sinners people say well what about man's response to doesn't man have anything to do with his destiny well sure he does man is certainly responsible in human history but God is sovereign over human history not long ago I was traveling to Indonesia with JD Greer who led one of the breakout sessions earlier today we were going to preach there and encourage the brothers and sisters we flew on different flights and JD's flight arrived on time but mine did not I was delayed for an hour than two then three eventually for close to 24 hours Delta it's it finally got me on a plane where I experienced yet another delay took me 70 hours to get to Indonesia so JD got to preach some of my sermons that I was supposed to preach while I was sitting on Delta airplanes and in Delta terminals for 70 hours now in this situation was God sovereign absolutely God was sovereign he knew what was going on in Indonesia he knew that JD's a better preacher than I am JD needed to be preaching those sermons instead of me God was working in all kinds of ways in this an infinite number of things that he was doing God was sovereign over the whole picture but ladies and gentlemen Delta was responsible without question responsible don't miss we make choices God is in control of everything God's in control of creation God's in control of salvation God's in control of Mission a side note here this is key whenever we start talking about thinking about global missions if if we're not careful we will start to look at the vast loss to surround the world and we'll start to think man God really needs our help I remember one of the most shameful moments of my spiritual life hiking in East Asia going in and out of unreached villages with gospel literature trying not to get caught it's a tough trip a grueling trip when we'd set up camp one night a little bit of daylight left so I went off by myself to read for a couple of minutes I had a copy of toasters knowledge of the Holy with me and I sat down I looked across the countryside I thought about a hard day of hiking in this difficult area and the thought that came to my mind was God must be glad to have me on his team and I opened up tossers book where I just so happened to be on the chapter dealing with the self-sufficiency of God and toes are said to me Almighty God just because he is almighty needs no support the picture of a nervous ingratiating God fawning over men to win their favor is not a pleasant one yet if we look at the popular conception of God that is precisely what we see 20th century christianity Tozer said has put God on charity so lofty is our opinion of ourselves that we find it quite easy not to say enjoyable to believe that we are necessary to God probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help we commonly represent him as a busy eager somewhat frustrated father hurrying about seeking help to carry out his benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world to many missionary appeals are based upon this fancy frustration of Almighty God an effective speaker can easily pity in his hearers not only for the heathen but for the God who has tried so hard and so long to save them and has failed for want of support I fear that thousands of younger persons into Christian service for no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation his love has gotten him into and his limited ability seemed unable to get him out of add to this a certain degree of commendable idealism and a fair amount of compassion for the underprivileged and you have the true drive behind much Christian activity today brothers and sisters let me remind us from the start God does not need us in this room he does not need you he does not need me he does not need your specific church or my specific church he does not need to gather for the gospel or any one of our denominations or associations the reality is every one of us every one of our churches together in this room together for the gospel and all our denominations and associations could drop dead and turn to dust and God will still make a great name for himself among the nations God involves us God involves us in his mission not because he needs us but because He loves us and in His mercy he has invited us to be involved in his sovereign design for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth be assured of this though our sovereign God holds the destiny of the world in the palm of his hand second theological truth the state of man before God apart from Christ is utterly hopeless the state of man before God apart from Christ is utterly hopeless verse two I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open scroll or to look into it this scroll that contains the grand purpose of God in Redemption the erotic radication of evil and the defeat of death in the world the final removal of sin and suffering and pain and persecution the end of all world wars and physical diseases and natural disasters the coming of the kingdom of God to man the recreation of a new heaven and a new earth where we will enjoy him and reign with him forever and ever it's all written on the scrolls who is able to open it who is able to bring about these things and the silence of heaven testifies to the sinfulness of man no one is worthy and John is weeping he gets a glimpse of the state of man before God apart from Christ and he has no hope see man's need for Christ see man's misery without Christ here and all over scripture apart from Christ man is cut off from God Colossians 1:21 under the condemnation of God Romans 5:12 apart from Christ man is enslaved to sin and in the snare of the devil John 8:34 2nd Timothy 2:26 apart from Christ man is the object of God's wrath Ephesians chapter 2 verse 3 destined to die forever in hell a place of fiery agony mark chapter 9 conscience torment Luke chapter 16 and continual destruction 2nd Thessalonians 1 where the smoke of sinners torment goes up forever and ever and there is no rest day and night revelation 14 Thomas Watson said thus it is in hell they would die but they cannot the wicked shall be always dying but never dead the smoke of the furnace ascends forever and ever oh who can endure dust to be ever upon the rack this word ever breaks the heart George Whitefield used to speak with tears of the torment of burning like a livid coal not for an instant or for a day for millions and millions of ages at the end of which people will realize that they are no closer to the end than when they first begun and they will never ever be delivered from that place see what John is weeping loudly in Revelation 5 this is no casual matter we say things like we had a hell of a time or you played a hell of a game or that was a hell of a song and the way we talk about Hell shows that we have no idea what we are talking about there is real eternal wrath awaiting sinners before holy God and John knows this and he's audibly wailing at the prospect of the future before God apart from Christ now we know what's about to happen in this text but before we move on just pause for a moment and contemplate the state of the unreached in the world people who exist before God apart from Christ that never even heard of him and they have heard of God more precisely they have seen God Romans 1:18 what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made a plain of them since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood for what is remain so that men are without excuse every unreached person in the world has knowledge of God whether it's the man in the African jungle the woman in the Asian village the tribe in the Amazon rainforest and the nomads in the remote desert even if they haven't heard the gospel they have seen God I've seen him have knowledge of him and they have rejected him although they knew God verse 21 they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him but their thinking became futile their foolish hearts darkened they claim to be wise but they've become fools it's changing the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal men and birds and animals and reptiles they have rejected God people ask me what about the innocent guy in Africa who's never heard the gospel what happens to him when he dies and the answer to that is easy he goes to heaven without question the only problem is he does exist there is no innocent guy in Africa if there was he would not need the gospel because he's innocent he'd go to heaven because he has no sin the problem is there are no innocent unreached people in the world every unreached person in the world stands guilty before God that's what I didn't mean Christ so put this together and realize what this means pastors follow this there's Tremblant thought of this there are over 2 billion people in the world at this moment whose knowledge of God is only sufficient to damn them to hell forever and no exist they've rejected him they deserve his wrath and that's where the story ends for them I've never heard that there is a redeemer they exist before God apart from Christ and they're utterly hopeless in that state but there's hope there's hope theological truth number three the greatest news in all the world is that the slaughtered lamb of God reigns as the sovereign Lord of all the greatest news in all the world is that the slaughtered lamb of God reigns as the sovereign Lord of all one of the elders said to me weep know Lord behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered the one who's promised centuries ago to patriarchs of old the Lion of the tribe of Judah to whom shall be the obedience the people's Genesis 49 the root of David there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit the Spirit of the Lord shall rest on him and he will stand as a signal for the people's Isaiah 11 Jeremiah 23 I will raise up declares the sovereign Lord for David a righteous branch and he shall reign as King the Lion of the tribe of Dave of Judah and the root of David has come and he has conquered weep no more Oh throughout history from the beginning of time men have come and men have gone women have come and women have gone all of them the noblest of them the kindest of them the strongest of them the greatest of them all of them have fallen prey to send all of them every single man and every single woman a slave to Satan all of them generation after generation century after century every single man and every single woman succumbed to death but then came another man unlike any other before or after him this man did not fall prey to sin this man possessed power over sin this man was not enslaved to Satan this man would crush that ancient snake this man did not succumb to death this man triumphed over death where O death is your victory where O death is your sting the sting of death of sin the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ the root of David the Lion of the tribe of Judah has come and he has conquered how how did he conquer John turns around to see the strong lion and behold he sees a slaughtered lamb this is the Apostle who recorded the words of John the Baptist who when he saw Jesus said look the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world harkening back to language from exodus 12 when the Israelites took that innocent lamb into their homes kept it for 14 days and then killed it and spread its blood over their doorposts the people of God were saved from the judgment of God under the banner of the blood of a lamb and so Isaiah centuries later speaks of a lamb who would be led to the slaughter he prophesized the only Son of God would be crushed according to the sovereign will of God how would this lion conquer by suffering as a lamb by paying the penalty to our sin and experiencing the condemnation do our souls he was marred despised rejected stricken smitten afflicted wounded chastise oppressed and pulverized in our place and all who hide under the banner of his blood will be saved he is the slaughtered Lamb of God and yet he is standing the Lamb of God has apparently not only endured death in our place apparently he has defeated death in our place isn't this wonderful that the one who is sovereign over death bears the scars of death crowned him the Lord of love behold his hands inside those wounds yet visible above and beauty glorified no angel in the sky can fully bear that site but downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright crown and the lord of life who triumphed or the grave and rose victorious in the strife for those who came to save his glories now he's seeing who died and rose on high who died eternal life to bring and lives the death may die he was risen from the grave with all power and all authority in heaven and on earth seven horns depicting his might seven eyes depicting his sight seeing all things knowing all things and uniquely able to accomplish all things so in verse seven we are astonished to read that he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne breathtaking audacity isn't it no one in heaven or earth or under the earth able to take the scroll and yet Jesus walks right up to the throne surrounded by living creatures and elders and a host of angels and he takes it from his hand the slaughtered lamb of God reigns as the sovereign Lord of all you may say well I thought God was sovereign but now you're saying Jesus is sovereign yes is there any clearer picture of the divinity of Christ than his authority to accomplish the sovereign will of God while angels praise His name God doesn't share the spotlight with just anyone god only shares the spotlight with himself Jesus humbled himself as a lamb and became obedient to death even death on a cross therefore God exalted him to the highest place and has given him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father this is the greatest news in all the world the greatest paradox in all the world salvation through sacrifice the consummation of God's kingdom comes through the crucifixion of God's Son apparent defeat gives way to astonishing victory and there's hope for all peoples which leads to the fourth theological truth in springing from this text the atonement of Christ is graciously and gloriously particularly the atonement of Christ is graciously globally and gloriously particular follow this four living creatures and 24 elders fell down and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransom you purchase people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth graciously particular atonement Christian he has ransomed you he has purchased you think about Knox back in the words of Ephesians one God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ has chosen you in him before the foundation of the world that you should be holy and blameless in his sight in love he predestined you to be adopted as his son through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will he willed it to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in him in him you have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of your trespasses according to the riches of His grace which he lavished on you according to his purpose in him you have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will God purposed to save you Christ purposed to purchase you Christian feel the weight and wonder of this amidst your weakness amidst your struggles amidst your suffering amid trying moments in your life your marriage your family posture amid days of conflict in your church in the midst of those days that you want don't don't forget this before the Sun was ever even formed before a star was ever even put in the sky before mountains were ever established on the earth or oceans were ever poured upon the land before any of that Almighty God on high set his sights on your soul and he purposed to save you he sent the Sun according to the purpose of his sovereign will to purchase you for him graciously particular atonement we're talking about unreached peoples tonight talking about people billions of them who were born and live and die without ever hearing the gospel and you and I have been born into a time and a place where we have heard the gospel can I remind us we had nothing to do with where we were born God in His sovereignty ordained your life and my life to be counted among the reached and the saved graciously particular atonement and globally particular tournament Christ is not just burst it's you and me he has purchased people for God from every tribe in every plane which and every people in every nation all of them now remember this is not talking about nations like we think of countries and 200 geopolitical nations in the world today that's not what's being talked about here this is athenais tribes and families and clans and people's what we commonly call people groups today but we see all over Scripture amirite sand Hittites and parasites and caiman Canaanites and Hivites and Jebusites and today we talked about the Baloch and the Berber of the way and the Han and the list goes on and on over 11,000 people groups spread throughout the world groups of people that share similar language cultural characteristics and Jesus died to purchase men and women from every single one of them his atonement is globally particular the is why he commanded the disciples to make disciples of all nations that's why he's given us this command Matthew 28:19 is not just a general command to make disciples wherever we can Matthew 28:19 is a specific command to make disciples among every people group in the world so follow this brothers and sisters if there are 6,000 people groups that have still not been reached with the gospel of Christ then we have missed the point of the atonement and our obedience to the Great Commission is incomplete it's incomplete if we just make disciples our Commission is not just to make disciples our commission is to make disciples of all the nations of all the peoples the sovereign will of God is that people from every single people group will be ransomed by Christ the sovereign command of Christ is for you and I to make disciples among every people group on the planet that's the point of the atonement particular atonement is driving global missions here so if we believe revelation 5:9 if we believe that Jesus died to purchase people from every tribe and tongue a nation then we will go to every tribe and telling a nation we will go and make disciples of all the people groups why why think about because we feel guilty that we are reached because we feel guilty because all the resources we have people say aren't we just guilting people into going overseas guilting people into going to unreached peoples no no what drives passion for unreached people's is not guilt we feel bad so we go know what drives passion for unreached people's is not guilt its glory its glory for a king it's people who believe that our King deserves the praise of every single people group on the planet not just select ones here and here and here and here people who believe now go that's what drives us the atonement of Christ graciously globally and gloriously particular and his sovereignty God is gathering together a kingdom of priests who purchased for his praise from all nations and all clans of all colors can you see it see it the beauty of every single ethnic group in the world gather around one throne joined by millions and millions and thousands and thousands of angels sang together with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing every ethnic group in the world joining every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and light forever and ever amen it's what we live for and this is what we died for a high view of God's sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions so for practical implications then for pastors who believe in the sovereignty of God for implications for pastors who know that our God holds the destiny of the world in the palm of his hand for implications for pastors who feel the weight of man's utter hopelessness before God apart from Christ for pastors whose eyes and hearts have been open to the greatest news in all the world the slaughtered lamb of God reigns as the sovereign Lord of all for implications for pastors who believe that the atonement of Christ is graciously globally and gloriously particular what shall we do does divine sovereignty mean we sit back and do nothing we just float in the sea of God's sovereignty well he accomplishes his purpose in the world no for implications for we do in response to this text 1 let us lead our churches to pray confidently let us lead our churches to pray confidently for the spread of the gospel to all peoples honestly tortured you to pray consoling God's sovereignty does not negate prayer God's sovereignty necessitates prayer we ran right over it in this text when the 24 elders around the throne in verse 8 we're holding golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints it's very similar what we see few chapters later in chapter 8 verse 3 when the seven seal is opened and verse three in Chapter eight says an angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the altar before the throne and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the Saints rose before God from the hand of the angel do you hear this God has sovereignly ordained the prayers of his people to bring about the coming of his kingdom God will consummate his kingdom ultimately and eternally in gracious response to our prayers so pastors let's teach our people to pray your kingdom come tell them Matthew 24:14 tell the members of your church that the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come tell them that and tell them to pray for that leave them to cry for the end to come for the gospel to go as a testimony to all the nations show them how to use operation world and pray for every nation in the world show them how to pray for Saudi Arabs and Iranian Turks in the low heart of South Asia and the Braman of India and the Somalis of North Africa and assure them as they pray that every one of their prayers is piling up at the altar of God where one day at the appointed time he will bring his kingdom and accomplish his will on earth as it is in heaven assure them that one day when all the nations have been reached with the gospel the end is going to come they've said you really believe that well Jesus said it people asked well how do you know how do you know our definition of people groups is right or how do you know when they're officially reached are you saying that Jesus couldn't come back today because there's six thousand people groups still unreached no no it's not what I'm saying Jesus could most definitely come back at any moment we do not know for sure exactly what is meant by people groups or reach these are our best estimates when it comes to the Ethne of the world but I can't improve at this point on the words of George land who called Matthew 24:14 the single most important verse and the word of God for the people of God today he said knows the definition of terms i cannot precisely define who all the nations are but i do not need to know i know only one thing christ has not yet returned therefore the task is not yet done when it is done Christ will come our responsibility is not to insist on defining the terms our responsibility is to complete the task so long as Christ does not return our work is undone let us get busy and complete our mission let's let's lead our people praying for God's kingdom to come to plead for the day when all peoples are praising his name second let us lead our churches to give sacrificially I'll go quickly here let us leader churches to give sacrificially Christians in North America give an average of two and a half percent of their income to the local church which I think is probably a generous estimate but we'll go with it and churches in North America give an average of two percent of those funds to missions overseas that means for every $100 a North American Christian makes we give five cents through the local church to the rest of the world five cents I recently wrote a foreword for a revised edition of when helping herbes by Steve Corbett and Brian Vickers near the beginning of that book they write these words the Bible's teachings should cut to the heart of North American Christians by any measure we are the richest people ever to walk on planet Earth so I read that and I've got to ask the question why why are we the richest people to ever walk on planet Earth why is God given us and our church is so much and I'm convinced that Psalm 67 is the answer may God be gracious to us bless us make his face shine upon us so that your ways may be known on earth and your salvation among all nations the earth has yielded its increase Oh the earth is yield its increase God our God has blessed us so that all the ends of the earth might fear him the sovereign God has willed for us to be wealthy for the sake of his worship he's given us wealth in the world his worship in the world so does your budget in your church reflect a priority on the spread of the gospel to unreached peoples let us lead our churches to give sacrificially third implication let us lead our churches to go intentionally to go intentionally to all peoples let's lead our churches to go intentionally pastors are your people going to unreached people's pastor are you going to unreached peoples let's lead our churches to send a variety of different people through a variety of different avenues to a variety of different peoples let's let's lead our churches to send people short term now there are foolish ways to do short term missions trips to look a little more like a little more than Christian tourism or trips that actually hinder the work of the gospel and other places but there are wise ways to do short term missions partnering together with long term disciple makers and long term disciple making processes around the world think of a short term team that we recently sent to the largest unev angeles island in the world almost 50 different people groups on this one island millions of people who've never met a Christian never heard of Christ so he sent a team to work with the gospel partner we have on that Island the gospel partner sent this team together with a couple of translators in two remote villages among one of these unreached people groups the team went hiking and praying ask God to do what he did and Lydia's life just sovereignly open somebody's heart to believe and the sovereign God of the universe did just that this team had the opportunity to share the gospel with a household in this remote area of the most unev ant alized island on the earth and upon first hearing of Christ the family and that household believed on him the power of the articulated gospel our partner translators have followed up since them and a church is now formed among this people group the first church the first Christians and dis acne and this people group and praise God we got to be part of it people start getting in on God's global plan like that and they will want more so then send a mid-term that's how we classify people who go from anywhere between two months and two years high school students college students sending every one of them out that we can we call it the Mormon ization of the Church of Brooke ills except true gospel not just college students semi retired retired brothers and sisters teachers who are off during the summers and so on all of that fueling people go in long term packing their bags selling their possessions moving overseas to plant their lives among unreached peoples follow with me there's no question that in the New Testament we see Timothy type people and Paul type people Timothy type people who whom God calls the standard Church among the reached shepherding the body Paul type people whom God calls to leave the reach and scatter to the unreached and pastor there are men and women in your church whom God is calling - Paul type ministry maybe not everybody but some of them God is calling them to pack their bags and move overseas to spread the gospel among unreached peoples so are you encouraging them are you calling them out are you coming alongside them are you taking time during the year in your preaching and in your pastoring to speak specifically to them are you leading the church to fast and pray like Antioch in acts 13 and saying God who are you calling out next to go to unreached people groups overseas and just waiting until he answers are you listening see if he's calling you to do that Church sending out in a variety of ways I'm not just talking traditional missionary routes although yes that but also vocation is mission I'm talking about a businessman and a schoolteacher in our church who said hey we can teach school and do business among people who have no access to the gospel just like we can't only people who have access to the gospel let's go to the people who have no access and work there talking about people with gifts and skills and passions and training and medicine and business and sports and education fanning out among the nations for the sake of God's fame are you leading your church to go intentionally people say well aren't there other Christians over there who can do that better than us aren't there local Christians who can do this better than us why don't we just send money and let the locals do it no that's the point in these people's there are no locals it's what it means to be unreached now I have local Christians and local churches so we don't just send our money while we sit back and let them die for the spread of the gospel which leads to the last implication let's lead our churches to pray confidently give sacrificially and go intentionally and ultimately let us lead our churches to die willingly let us lead our churches to die willingly for the spread of the gospel to all people's high view of God's sovereignty feels death-defying devotion to global missions pastors who believe that God is sovereign over all things will lead Christians to die for the sake of all peoples Oh brothers I remind us unreached peoples today are unreached for a reason they're hard to reach they're difficult to reach they're dangerous to reach many of them don't want to be reached and they will oppose you when you try to reach them so how then is revelation 5 1 through 14 in the picture of God's sovereignty contained here fuel death-defying missions the dangerous people groups think about it we've already seen how God's sovereignty compels us to go she just has purchased them for himself so we're compelled to go but not only we compelled to go because of God's sovereignty we're also confident as we go because we know that when we go to dangerous people groups we know that nothing can happen to was apart from the sovereign will of a good and gracious God nothing that's why when the church first experienced persecution and acts for and they prayed to the Lord first words out of their mouth for Sovereign Lord they knew that their persecutors could do nothing to them outside of the sovereign will of God this is huge Joseph stone a pastor who was interrogated abused beaten Romania said that what got him through all of that was a high view of God's sovereignty what got him through the beatings interrogations was a realization those soldiers who were doing those things could do absolutely nothing to him apart from what God would allow them to do he recounts one time when he has been interrogated by six men and he said to his interrogators what is taking place here is not an encounter between you and me this is an encounter between my God and me the interrogators looked puzzled and someone said my God is teaching me a lesson through you I do not know what is maybe he wants to teach me several lessons I only know sirs that you will only do to me what God wants you to do and you will not go one inch further because you were an only an instrument of my lord some said every day I saw those six pompous men is nothing more than my father's puppets when we send out church planning teams to go among dangerous people groups we're sending them out with confidence because we know they know that nothing can happen to them apart from the sovereign hand of a God who desires their good and His glory won't they suffer won't it be difficult well of course it will but why will it be difficult because the sovereign design of God for the spread of the gospel and the world includes suffering he's wilded it always has we know this from revelation 5 God ordained the suffering of his son for the salvation of the world we know this from revelation 6 very next chapter verse 11 or we see that God has sovereignly ordained a set number of martyrs to be killed for the spread of the gospel Jesus suffered to provide the gospel we suffer to propagate the gospel now obviously that doesn't mean we seek suffering or martyrdom but it does mean that as we seek Christ and proclaim Christ at the ends of the earth there will be suffering and there will be martyrs and it will all be in the sovereign design of God it's all over the book of Acts how did the gospel go to Judea and Samaria I heard it earlier it's the BT read it through the stoning of Stephen he looked up saw the sovereign man of God son of man standing at the right hand of God while he's been pelted with stones and God in his sovereign will used Stephens death to scatter the church to the ends of the earth Satan's attempts to stop the church only serve to spread the church you think about Paul whenever he was facing danger it was the sovereignty of God kept him going Corinth acts 18 don't be afraid Paul keep on speaking don't be spotted silent why because I have many people in this city that's purchased it's in acts 20 with the elders there from Ephesus compelled by the Spirit I'm going in Jerusalem not knowing what will happen me there I know the Holy Spirit warns me in the prison and hardships are facing me but I consider my life worth nothing to me fully and I finished the race complete the task Lord Jesus has given me the task of testifying to the gospel of His grace Paul embrace suffering is part of the sovereign design of God for the spread of the gospel so that begs the question of us will we do the same pastors will we lead people in our churches to embrace suffering is God's sovereign design for the spread of the gospel will we lead them to die willingly go back to Joseph stone with me real quick for a second he tells this story during an interleague early interrogation I had told an officer who was threatening to kill me sir let me explain how I see this issue your supreme weapon is killing my supreme weapon is dying here is how it works you know that my sermons and tape have spread all over the country if you kill me those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood everyone will know I died for my preaching and everyone who has the tape will pick it up and say I'd better listen again to what this man preached because he really meant it he sealed it with his life so sir my sermons will speak 10 times louder than before I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me after I said this the interrogators sent me home it gets better another officer who was interrogating a pastor friend of mine told him we know that mr. stone would love to be a martyr but we are not that foolish to fulfill his wish I stopped to consider the meaning of that statement I remembered how for many years I had been afraid of dying I had kept a low profile because I wanted badly to live I had wasted my life in inactivity but now that I had placed my life on the altar and decided I was ready to die for the gospel they were telling me they would not kill me I could go wherever I wanted in the country and preach whatever I wanted knowing I was safe as long as I tried to save my life I was losing it now that I was willing to lose it I found it yes so I was with I was with some other assist some others in a difficult part of the world recently we spent part of one day specifically commemorating a brother and two sisters have been shot and killed in a hospital where they were working he's three servants had moved there for the spread of the gospel along this people group they knew that they would face opposition but nothing could have prepared that for the day when a man walked into the hospital with a fake bandage on his hand and a blanket wrapped to look like a baby he entered the office area and immediately unwrapped the blanket to reveal a loaded rifle start in the office and working his way through the rest of the clinic he shot all three of them dead when authorities asked the sky why he did what he did he said it these people kept doing what they were doing people all over this country would believe in Jesus it was most interesting though is not long before that the mission organizations these missionaries were serving with had considered pulling them out for safety concerns and one of the women who was eventually shot said to her supervisor whatever you do don't pull me out of this country you will kill me if you pull me out she knew they knew that suffering and death were possibilities but they believed it was worth it they died willingly why what car causes that kind of death-defying obedience to reaching their death define devotion to reaching the peoples of the world it's confidence in the sovereignty of God confidence that nothing can happen to you apart from his sovereign will confidence that he is wise and in His wisdom God may use our lives to bring about our death to bring about others eternal life and in the midst of all this confidence that God is going to use all of this for the accomplishment of the Great Commission every single every couple every family every team we send out to work among dangerous unreached people's goes with the confidence that when this gospel is proclaimed people are going to be saved that is a guarantee every people group in the world is going to be there in Revelation 5 Revelation chapter 7 every nation every tribe every tongue every people so we can go to the hardest people group on the planet we can preach the gospel and we can know that maybe in our life or maybe in our death somebody's coming out at some point somebody that's rock-solid confident see God's sovereignty provides unshakable death-defying confidence in the face of dangerous people group so pastors let us be finished and done with puny theology that results in paltry approaches to global missions in local churches let us believe deeply in the sovereign God of the universe who holds the destiny of the world and our lives in the palm of his hand let us see the hopeless state of man before God apart from Christ and let us lead our churches to pray go to unreached people's with the greatest news in all the world we have been saved by a graciously globally gloriously particular sacrifice so let us lead our churches let us give our lives let us lose them if necessary for the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom in the accomplishment of Christ's Commission and let's not stop until the slaughtered Lamb of God and the sovereign Lord of all receives the full reward of his suffering Sovereign Lord of all we join with Myriad's and Myriad's and thousands of thousands of angels in worship at this moment and we say to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever we praise You Jesus for purchasing us with your blood we praise you for your mercy poured out on us before the foundation of the world we know that we are in this room not because of any merit in us but solely because of mercy in you and so we pray in confidence that you would use us and you would use the churches you've entrusted us to lead to live and to die in obedience to you for the spread of your gospel and the declaration of your glory among all the peoples and tribes and nations of the earth until your kingdom comes and your will is done on earth as it is in heaven

Channel: Truth Endures

Views: 11,843

Rating: 4.9767442 out of 5

Keywords: The, Fuel, of, Death-Defying, Missions, Speaker, David, Platt, Together, For, Gospel, 2012, Audio, Fix

Id: HDYH9E8ldGA

Length: 61min 33sec (3693 seconds)

Published: Thu May 03 2012