Personalized Local Church Centered Missions

Now if you would take your Bible, turn back to Matthew chapter 28. I say turn back because I asked you to mark that earlier in our scripture reading, but we'll start off in Matthew 28 verses 16 to 20 and then halfway through the message we'll go over to Acts 13 those verses that we read earlier. Now for two weeks we have been in this short series but a very important series that I am titling the structure and the function of the church. Now most of you know that we are studying our Grace Life Wheel which is a simple diagram that illustrates the basic structure and function of our church.

We are learning that the church structured and functioning can be a very, very powerful expression of the church because we can do the same thing as we should and if we are empowered by the Holy Spirit the church functions powerfully. Think about that. The church functions powerfully. Now let me explain what I mean when I say that if we are empowered by the Holy Spirit the church functions powerfully. If you look at your copy, your handout of the Grace Life Wheel at the very center of the church is the preaching of God's Word.

We learn that when the Word of God is preached in and through the power of the Holy Spirit then the lost are brought to faith in Christ and the saints of God grow in their faith and in their walk with God. And I am confident that you can begin to ask saints of God, brothers and sisters how the Word of God preached and taught is growing them and edifying them and correcting them and I hear that from time to time from some of you. And we hear that the Word of God is impacting the lost and bringing them to faith in Christ. That's the power of God at work folks. Last week we started to study that which flows out of the preaching of the Word.

That is every member ministry through the ministry of small groups and we learned that when we do the work of small groups in and through the power of the Spirit then the entire body is built up in the faith and we even work together to reach the lost. Now look around you in your small group. Do you not see growth in brothers and sisters? Do you realize that God is using you to build up brothers and sisters? Do you realize that when you minister to one another and you speak to one another about what you are studying in God's Word you are building one another up?

And I challenge you in your small groups get together in your evangelism, get together in your prayer for your lost sons and daughters, your lost neighbors, get together, team up in that work. I'll give you an example. When I came to faith in Christ in 1989 I walked into the door of Highland Baptist Church in Laurel, Mississippi and half the church knew who I was. Now it was a large church. Half the church knew who I was because they had been praying for me and I didn't even know those folks but they teamed up together in a powerful way.

Now this morning we move on to another function of the church that flows out of and is connected to the preaching of the Word that is missions. But this is much more than missions. This is personalized local church centered missions empowered by God the Holy Spirit. Now before we get into our verses I want to correct I want to dispel some wrong thinking when it comes to missions. You could probably add to this. We must see that the responsibility of taking the Gospel to the lost world from across the street to the far corner of the globe is not the job of a Christian institution. So many churches have this wrong view.

So many Christians have this wrong view in this type of error the church gives money and token prayers to the machine, to the institution, to that organization that does that work. Also we must see that the job of evangelizing the lost world to the lost in our town, the lost in our state, and even the places thousands of miles away where people do not even speak our language. That is not to be subcontracted out. But from many churches, from many believers that's what's done. They hire others to do the work you see. They give money, they give token prayers so that others can do the work.

So that responsibility is contracted out to missionaries. They are the subcontractors you see. We must also see that the work of taking the Gospel from people in our town to people in the most dangerous places in the world is not just for the exceptional Christian. That's the way many believers view missions. Many believers in many churches think that missions is for the exceptional Christian. You know it's for the elite Christian when it's really for all of the believers. Of course every believer's ability, every believer's role in work is different in the work of missions. We all have different gifts. We all have different spiritual gifts.

We all have different abilities and opportunities. And we all have different callings on our life from God. But we are all called to be a part of this work. So this morning we are studying what I'm calling personalized local church centered missions. Personalized local church centered missions. Now this is how we're going to approach this subject. First I want us to see that we are commissioned for the work. This is where we will be in Matthew chapter 28. We are commissioned for the work. Second I want us to see the Holy Spirit's calling in the work. And that is when we'll turn back over to Acts chapter 13.

So in our outline number one our commissioning for the work. Our commissioning for the work. Now let's go and look at our Matthew 18 passages verses 16 to 20. Most of you know these passages as the Great Commission. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him but some doubt it. And Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age. Now let me explain some background really what's going on here. Jesus had already been crucified. He was dead and He was buried. But as we know on the third day raised from the dead.

And for about 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension Jesus appeared to many proving that He was indeed risen and He met with His 11 disciples and other followers for the purpose of teaching them and preparing them for what was about to come next. Well what was coming next? After Jesus ascended back to Heaven the church would be birthed in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. After that day the church would become what the church was intended to become and the church would do what the church was to do. Well what was the church to do?

One of many things they were to do was to take the Gospel to the nations and here in Matthew 18 these verses that we just read we have Jesus commissioning His disciples, His followers for this work. But a question, what is a commission? Think about that word. What is a commission? I was curious about that word this week and I looked it up. Webster's definition of a commission really helps us here. Webster says a commission is a formal written warrant granting the power to perform various acts and duties. Webster goes on to say that a commission is an authorization or a command to act in a prescribed manner or to perform prescribed acts.

Well that is exactly what we have here. Jesus was granting His disciples and His church power to perform certain acts and duties. He was authorizing and commanding them to perform certain prescribed acts. So let's look into this commissioning and I want us to see three basic things here but really there is so much more. But first we see certain authority. In verse 18 Jesus plainly said that all authority in heaven and on earth have been given to Him. Now the King James uses the word power but all of the modern translations that we use use the word authority.

Now this simply means that because He perfectly fulfilled God's plan in providing redemption for man God granted Jesus all authority, all power in heaven and on earth. So what that means here is this. Jesus was declaring to His disciples and followers that as God He had all authority to commission them for this work. And then second we see certain activity or certain work. I like activity because it helps me in my alliteration. Here we see what this commission consisted of. They were commissioned to a certain activity or a certain work or certain works. And the Lord lists three things here but by implication there is a whole lot more.

Number one the Bible text says they were to make disciples. Now within these verses we must see that the work of evangelism and the miracle of the new birth, the miracle of the lost coming to saving faith in Christ it's implied. Those things are understood within the work of making disciples. Think about it. For the disciples and the followers of Christ to make disciples it is understood that they would evangelize the lost and that some would truly come to saving faith therefore becoming disciples. So the disciples and the followers of Christ were to make disciples. But a question what is a disciple?

Is that someone who is made a profession of faith? Is a disciple someone who is a member of a church? Is a disciple someone who has been baptized? Is a disciple someone that goes to church and even participates in things like small groups? You see a disciple was a common name, a common description for the early believers in Christ. In fact the term disciple was the most common name for those early believers in Jesus. But the term disciple was used to describe someone who attached themselves to a teacher.

They were students of that teacher and they would literally attach themselves to their teacher in such a way that they would even live with that teacher. By living with their teacher and by being attached to their teacher they were able to do more than just learn for them. They were able to become like them really in every way. As a matter of fact culture, history and scholars tell us that this was very common in Judaism. A student would attach themselves as a disciple to a teacher. Well that is what the disciples of Christ were. They followed Christ, they lived with Christ, they learned from Christ.

They became or were on the path of becoming like Christ. As a matter of fact the disciples of Christ were first called Christians of Antioch because the Christians of Antioch were Christlike. They were little Christ's. Well there's a lesson here for us. Let's make sure we understand what a Christian truly is. We live in a day in a land of cultural Christianity that is far from Christian. And so we have to work hard to know what a Christian is. A Bible Christian is a disciple of Christ. They are Christlike and becoming more and more Christ like every day. They are actually little Christ's.

You know sometimes preaching verse by verse, book by book things come up that shock people. I heard someone say that when we were in the book of Philippians, one of our Wednesday night studies, I talked about the fact that Christians believers are literally the saints of God. Well I heard someone had never heard that. I heard they said, "Well I'm not sure about that." They went and studied and they went and studied and they came back and said, "You know that's biblical. What I'm trying to show you is this. Bible Christians are the saints of God. Bible Christians are disciples." But then number two they would have baptized those disciples.

Here we see what comes first after one is converted to Christ. The New Testament Scriptures teach that after one comes to saving faith they are to be baptized by immersion as a symbol of their union with Christ. They are to be baptized by immersion as a symbol of their death and their burial of their old life and their new life to come which is in Christ. And baptism is the New Testament profession of faith. So the disciples and the followers of Christ were to make disciples and they were to baptize them. Now there are a couple of lessons here. First we baptize those who become disciples by coming to saving faith in Christ.

And look church, baptism is only for those who have been born again. They give a credible profession of faith of being born again. That's who baptism is for. And I've seen so many people be baptized for any and every reason imaginable. That is an abuse of the doctrine. That is an abuse of the text. That is an abuse of what baptism means. I'm going to pick on Baptists because we are Baptists. And I've come from the Baptist tradition. I've seen Baptists baptize people because they've rededicated their life. Well rededication isn't in the Bible and you don't baptize people for those types of reasons.

I saw a lady once stand up in the baptistry and she said she was being baptized because she was being delivered from the idol of food. The gentleman who was baptizing this lady obviously was disturbed. Maybe it didn't come out in counseling. But what an abuse, what an abuse, a terrible abuse of baptism. But the second thing here, those who have been born again are to be baptized. The New Testament biblical teaching is clear. Those who come to saving faith are to be baptized. And I teach them this often especially when we have baptism. But number 3, they were to teach those baptized new disciples all that Jesus had taught them.

Here we see what comes after conversion to Christ and baptism. They were to teach these new converts what Christ had taught them. And here we have another implication. It is implied that they were to teach them the rest of the Scriptures. So the disciples and followers of Christ were to make disciples. They were to baptize those disciples. And then they were to teach them what Christ had taught them. And then teach them the rest of God's Word. But then third, we see a certain ability. Here at the end of verse 20, Jesus told them that He would be with them always to the end. And this can be seen as several things.

This can be seen as a promise and it is. This can be seen as a word of comfort and it is. But we need to see that this is more than a comforting promise. This is a fact. He said that He would be with them. You see it? Now how does this relate to ability? In commissioning them to make disciples and then baptize and teach those new disciples, He was telling them that He would be with them to give them the ability to do these things, things that they could not do without Him. So, look at what we see here. Just before the birth of the Church, Jesus was commissioning His disciples to a particular word.

And as we see the birth of the Church, we see and understand that this commissioning was to the disciples, to those other earlier followers, and also to the Church as well. This commission was given to the disciples, but by extension it was given to the Church and the Church throughout the ages. And the book of Acts proves that out because the New Testament Church there in the book of Acts and continuing lived out this commission. And Luke Church, all this talk about evangelism and the lost coming to faith in Christ, and disciples and baptism and teaching them all these things, it sounds a lot like a Church, right?

You see when we see the progression and the development of the New Testament Church starting in the book of Acts and on, we see these things happening where? In and around the New Testament Church. And look folks, always remember that the person or the people who want to do these things disconnected from the local Church and not for the purpose of birthing a local Church, they are really not biblical. What did Paul do? Paul went from city to city making disciples, organizing churches. And then when he came back around he worked in those churches to help them in their sin and in their problems.

But notice that I left out what some see as the heart of this commission, this "go" which is the beginning of verse 19, what does it say? "Go therefore and make disciples." Now we need to see and understand that this word "go" what it means. And having the correct understanding here will help us see that this is for all the Church not just for those elite Christians. This word "go" here is not the main command in the verses. Actually if we understand the language we really see that it is better understood as you are going or while you are going. And I'm going to come back here and make some much needed application.

Now a question, how does this apply to us right here in our personalized local Church centered approach to missions? I believe, I truly believe that we know that this commission was given to us. Some of you may have even thought, "You know Pastor, you've taught that." We know that. And I believe we know that we should be making disciples. When I press you and press us in that I believe some of you are probably saying, "Pastor, we know that's our work and our responsibility." But what I believe that we do not know or what we might not know is we should, maybe we've missed it is this.

And it has to do with two words, "authority and ability." Look Church, Christ our Lord has all authority. And He has given to us His authority in this work. We do not have the authority of Christ in that we have all authority, no. But we have the authority of Christ in that He has given us His authority to do His work. And when we go out to do this work we do it with His authority. And He has also given us an ability. Because He has said that He is and will be with us in the work. We are not alone in the work. It is His work and He has called us to do His work. And He promised that He would be with us.

And if He promised it is a fact He is and will be with us in the work. So, this leads me to ask a question or two that we must answer. Are we as individual believers in a Church? Are we striking out in this work under His authority with His authority in the work? Are we demonstrating an ability to do this work because He is with us in the work giving us this ability? With authority and ability are we making disciples, baptizing those disciples and teaching them God's Word? And all this taking place in and around our Church? Are we a part of this work of taking even the Gospel to the nations?

And look Church, if we are not doing this we are in sin. If we are not doing this we are in sin. Maybe we have grieved or quenched the work of the Holy Spirit to such a point where we can't do this. If we are not doing this we need to ask why? We need to examine ourselves why? We are learning that we must have the Spirit's power to do all these things, right? What do we see in our diagram? What do we see in our illustration? It is all about being Holy Spirit inspired, Holy Spirit empowered, Holy Spirit enabled. Maybe we need a work of the Holy Spirit of God in us to correct us.

Maybe we need a fresh and a powerful work of the Spirit of God to commission us a fresh and a new. Maybe we need a Holy Spirit work of God in us to make us competent to be able to do this work even though we can't. Now I know I didn't mention this verse earlier, but listen again to what Paul said to the Corinthians. I keep referencing these verses. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 1 to 5. Just listen. Paul's writing to the Corinthian church. He had evangelized these people out of the Corinthian culture, organized this church.

Now listen to what he says, "And I, when I came to you brothers," it's kind of hard to believe he calls some of these people brothers, "and I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling." Let me pause there. Look at the humanity of Paul. What is he saying? I didn't have the ability to do these things. It wasn't within me to preach and to do these things. But what does he say?

In my speech, in my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Notice that Paul tells us that when he went to Corinth obeying this commission that we see here in Matthew 28. But notice how he went. He went in great human weakness and great frailty. But he went in great Holy Spirit authority, power, and ability. And if Paul needed that, how much more do we need that? If Paul needed that, how much more do I need that?

And I personally believe that we need a work of God, a work of the Holy Spirit to call, to commission, and to command us afresh and anew to this work. And if he does and we obey, I do believe that he will give us the ability to do what we cannot do. And I know that to be a fact because he said, "I will be with you." But then let's move on to number two. I want us to see our calling in the work, our calling in the work. Now here's where I want us to go to Acts chapter 13. It's just three short verses, but so much there, Acts chapter 13. Let's read these passages again.

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manian, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetris art, and Saul. Saul would be Paul. I think most of you know that. And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Now earlier I said that the church was born in Jerusalem. But the Gospel and the church did not stay in Jerusalem.

The Gospel was taken to other cities and in those cities, disciples were made and churches were born. Simply those early believers in that first church there at Jerusalem obeyed Christ's commission in Matthew 28. And because they went out in his authority doing his work with his ability because he was with them, disciples were made, churches were born. But if we study the spread of the Gospel, the spread of the church all throughout the book of Acts, we will see many, many cities named. Cities like Samaria, Damascus, Caesarea, and Antioch. And those are just a few.

One scholar that I read, I think it was Warren Wearsby, pointed out that about 40 different cities are named in the book of Acts. In all of those 40 or so cities named in the book of Acts, one is well known for being, we could say Paul's home church, the church in Antioch. Now what I mean by saying Paul's home church is this. Antioch was Paul's sending church when he began his apostolic missionary journeys. Now here in these three verses I want to make five observations about the church at Antioch and how God called Paul and Barnabas out of Antioch. Number one, we see the men leading. Here in verse 1 we see a long list of names. You notice?

Quite a few names. Actually Luke lists five different men, but who he listed is really not important. But what is important to see is that men were leading. Some were New Testament prophets. Some were teachers. One was an apostle. One was an apostles partner. That's Barnabas. But the important thing to see here is that men were listed as leading. Now there is something that we must, must, must see here. You can have a church without men and men leading. But that church will not be a healthy church, period. And if you do not have men leading in the church, the women will inevitably step up and lead.

But we must see that God intends men to lead. And in my opinion, a church will never strike out to work in and to fulfill the great commission unless it is men that lead the way. Of course God uses women. Of course God has many godly women and He uses those women in a great way. But you cannot deny the biblical model is that men must lead the way. So right here men, I want to talk to you. Will you lead out in personalized local church missions? Will you? Will you do it first in your home? You can evangelize someone in Pakistan if you can't evangelize someone in your home. Will you lead out men in your community?

You can evangelize someone on an anchored in truth mission trip if you cannot evangelize someone in your community. Men will you lead out in personalized local church missions by even maybe going around the world, by going around the world and seeing it. If you can't go by helping someone else go, look by making it personalized local church missions. Will you make that a part of who you are? Now right now some of you men are putting obstacles up in your mind. Let me kind of shame you for a minute. A few weeks ago a dear brother visited us from Grace Life Church of Muscle Shoals, and he got down here behind me.

Some of you saw him, an older gentleman in his 70's, Mr. Tommy Singleton. He is a leader at Grace Life Church of the Shoals. Been there for years, and he goes on mission trips all over the world. I heard him with my own ears say that as he has gotten older he has gone to his doctor, he has worked on his health, he said he has exercised to get him better health, he has made some choices so he can travel, so he can work as a missionary, go around the world doing what? Personalized local church missions.

And I watched him walk from door to door, door to door, door to door in Edinburgh, Scotland knocking on the door evangelizing, sharing the Gospel, and helping that church evangelize in their city. Number two, we see the church worshiping. Now at the beginning of verse two we see something wonderful and powerful. We see that these men in this church they were worshiping, but what they were doing, it was more here than you realize. The New American, the legacy standard says they were ministering to the Lord in fasting. And this simply means that these men were worshiping and spending time in prayer and fasting.

And by fasting they were denying their bodies so as to devote themselves in a sacrificial way to prayer, to intercession, to seeking God, and to spiritual work. So we see the church worshiping and we see these men leading out in worship, they were leading out in sacrificial prayer and fasting. Again, of course God can, and He does use godly women when they worship, when they seek God, when they pray, and when they fast. But we must see that the church is at its strongest when men are leading the way. Number three, we see the Holy Spirit calling the second part of verse two.

Now here in the second part of verse two we see a specific and a unique work of the Spirit. Now I say unique because it is only the Holy Spirit of God that can call someone to gospel work like this. It is only the Holy Spirit of God that can truly call someone into this kind of ministry. In our day we may call it vocational ministry. But notice what we see. The text says that God the Holy Spirit called and He said that He set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which He had called them. But notice He doesn't say what the work was. But what is this work? You see God had previously called Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

We see this in Acts chapter 9, specifically in Acts 9.15 when God called Ananias to go minister to Paul who had just been saved. God told Ananias and Paul that Paul was a chosen instrument to take the gospel to the Gentiles. So here in the church at Antioch we see the Spirit of God calling Paul and Barnabas to what God had already set aside Paul to do. Now church I want to say something right here. God still calls men to gospel ministry and even to what we would call the mission field. And I believe in an experiential call whereby a man can tell you with great confidence and boldness that God has worked in His life. God has used His word.

God has used circumstances in His life and the church and other believers. And God has spoken to their heart and mind. God has moved upon their heart. God has moved in their mind, heart, life and their total being whereby that person can tell you that God has called them. That's why I'm here. Church I'll be honest with you do not get behind a man unless they can tell you how God saved them and how and when God called them to gospel ministry. Don't follow a preacher or a pastor or a missionary or someone who says they are in the ministry if they can't tell you how they came to faith and how and when God called them.

And then also look for a church and believers who would affirm that. Fourth, we see the church affirming. We see this in the beginning of verse 3. Here we see that there was an affirmation. The church affirmed this calling and this word. And the church laid their hands on them in prayer signifying that God had called them in this word. Now before I move on I want to point out how the spirit was calling and the church was affirming and all of this went together. Let me explain. Here we have an internal calling. The spirit of God worked in Paul, in Barnabas so they received an internal call from God. And here we have an external calling.

The church recognized this calling. The church affirmed this calling making this an external call. Church wide call. And then fifth, we see the church sending. Next we see the church laying their hands on them signifying that God had called them to the work and then what did they do? They sent them out. So look at what we have here. Within the church at Antioch there were men leading. The church was worshiping but men were leading and they were leading in prayer and fasting. And the spirit of God called two men to the work of taking the gospel to the Gentiles. The church saw this call.

The church affirmed this call and they sent them out after more prayer and fasting. And the church at Antioch and all those believers were together with Paul, with Barnabas in this call, in this work. They were all in this together folks. Now remember something. Remember this church. This is and was a local church calling. Paul was called to be a missionary, an apostle to the Gentiles and Barnabas to go with him. And this mission was a local church centered calling, a local church centered mission in every way. Now I'm going to show you something else that might surprise you.

If you look at your copy of God's Word from Acts 13 to Acts 15, you're going to see what is called the first missionary journey. This is a brief description from Antioch. They traveled to Cyprus verse 4 tells us chapter 13. Then to Antioch of Poseidon, another Antioch that's in verse 15. Then at chapter 14 they went to Iconium. Then to Lystra verse 8 tells us and Paul was stoned at Lystra verse 19 tells us. And then in chapter 14 verse 24 we see that they returned back to Antioch. And what I have quickly zoomed through is commonly called and known as Paul's first missionary journey. Now look over at chapter 14 verses 24 to 28.

Just a page or two over. Then they passed Poseidon and came to Pamphylia. When they had spoken the Word at Pergia they went down to Attila. And from there they sailed to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. What is that speaking of? How they were sent out. Now notice verse 27. And when they arrived and gathered the church together they declared all that God had done with them and how He thus God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles and they remained no little time with the disciples. Notice verse 27 tells us that Paul and Barnabas arrived all the way back to Antioch.

And with the entire church gathered they told them all that God had done through them how God had opened up a door of ministry and salvation for the Gentiles. Do you know what this means? Do you see it folks? They celebrated and they worshiped together for the great commission work they had all been a part of. This was personalized local church centered missions. And if it was good enough for Paul it's good enough for us. Now what specifically does this mean for us? Grace Life Church Brook Haven. What do we need to see and learn right here? We need to understand that God still He is still in the calling business. God still calls people to go.

He still causes people to be on mission. He even calls some to go and even to go to the hard places. Mom, Dad, if God were to call your child to one of the hard places would you send them? Would you send them? They're not yours. Your little boys and girls don't belong to you. They've been entrusted to you. We're going to come back to that here in a moment. And we must see that God calls in what way? How? Does God call randomly? Does God call on a whim? Is this just a random act like the Christian lottery here?

No, in my opinion and in my experience and based on what we see here God calls in this way when we have the church worshiping, when we have the people of God praying and fasting and seeking after God even in sometimes sacrificial ways. I've shared some of this but in my call to the ministry I came out of a church that believed in going and praying and sacrificially seeking God. I was called into the ministry out of that kind of a work and this calling involves and comes out of the church. And I hope we will get to the place where we are exactly like the church in Antioch. I hope that we get to the place where we are sending out.

We are sending out those who were called. They are our own. God calls them. We see it. We affirm it. We lay hands on them and we send them out. Look at the combination folks. We got a healthy church, not a perfect church. We've got a worshiping church. We've got a praying church. We've got a church that prays and fasts and then we have God calling. Then we've got a church sending and a church being in on what God did through personalized local church centered missions. And by the way this is God glorifying. Now right here I'm going to move away from the verses. I want you to look at your copy of the Grace Life Wheel.

Here we see that out of and connected to the preaching of the Word is local church centered missions. And get this church. My preaching should produce this. Now the calling is up to God. How it's fleshed out is up to God. The leaders of the church at Antioch couldn't plan that. It's up to God. But my preaching should produce this. The preaching pulpit of Grace Life Church Brookhaven should produce local church centered missions. Local and beyond. And this is possible. It really is. When we the church are empowered by the Holy Spirit of God to do this. This work that we don't even have. So this is all about the entire local church family.

Personally and strategically being involved in world missions. Mobilizing laborers, prayer, even finances. Why? To the end of glorifying God among the people. And that's our missions world mission strategy statement. Now I want to close by saying we should see that there should be a lot of going as we are going. You see there should be a lot of going on mission as we were going in and out of the church. Starts local. And we should see that we are called. We are commissioned. We have a calling. And God is and we'll be calling us to go. Starts local. Did you realize that the pastor can't have all the ideas here locally?

Somebody told me that one of our lady small groups is really burdened about going to the nursing home. You know what I say to that? Go. That could be the Spirit of God stirring in you to go. Folks in the nursing home need the Gospel. There are folks in the nursing home that need to hear the Gospel. There are folks in the nursing home that need to be ministered to. So locally the pastor can't do it all. The elders can't do it all. So locally we go and we should see a calling to go. But beyond as God gives us opportunity. But notice this when it comes to the nations we have an opportunity.

Within Anchored in Truth we have a network of missionaries and churches and pastors all around the world. And some of them are very fragile. Some of them are very in very hard places. Some of them are barely getting by. Some of these churches and preaching points have one or two believers in them. Some of them desperately need encouragement. They desperately need some to come alongside them all around the world. Now you may be saying, a parent may be saying, "Pastor, this is a dangerous world." Have you been watching what's going on in the world? Yeah. Look church, Jesus has commissioned us. He's called us. He has commanded us to go.

And we go with and under his authority. And we have an ability that comes because he is with us. Folks I'll be honest with you I'm excited about something. Football is right around the corner. But deer season is right around the corner. Many of you know I like deer hunting. Now I've been on a task lately. Maggie informed me last year that one of her favorite hunting spots, the shooting house was not quite up to par. So she instructed me to build her a new shooting house. And I did. Nicest one I've ever built. But deer season is right around the corner. I've been shooting my bow. I've been getting ready. Now I believe in the sovereign God.

But listen, I would like to rather die going around the world to try to win someone to Jesus that fall out of a deer stand. Now I trust God. I'm not afraid to climb up in a deer stand. I'm not a worrisome person. When I'm on the interstate I'm not all to pieces. When I travel to a big city I don't worry. I really don't. I trust in God. God's sovereign. God ordains everything in my life. I just walk with him and live for him. But what I'm trying to show you is this. We do all kind of things in life that are dangerous. And look if he is with us and we are in the most dangerous place in the world we are right in the palm of his hand.

He is with us. He is with us. And you might say, "I can't send my son. I can't send my daughter. I can't be there to protect them. The Lord Jesus can protect your son or your daughter better than you." And I've lived it. I took Aimee to Scotland. Then the next summer she said, "I want to go by myself." I wouldn't worry about that. Not one bit. We were at the True Church Conference last year and I was looking at the lists where people had signed up for trips. I sat back down and I shared with Christy. I sent any sign up to go to Scotland without me. Christy said, "That is not a good idea." I said, "I think it is great." Why was I not worried?

The Lord was with her. The Lord was with her. He was with her in the airport in Atlanta. He was with her in the long flight over the Atlantic. Have you figured it out? If that airplane hits the Atlantic, you're not getting out alive. He was with her in a foreign country. He was with her going door to door. He was with her. Folks, God is with us. Let's not be fearful. Let's not be fearful. He is with us. So what are we looking at? Personalized, local, church centered missions. One more thing and then I will close. You know in many ways folks, Grace Life Church is not very far from being a mission as well.

Now we were an existing church but when we moved in 2020, we had gone through a series of difficulties and about 35 or 40 percent of our people had left. And when we moved, we were almost at mission status. We were small but God was with us. Now what I'm trying to show you is this. We are growing. We are supported now. Look, we are where we are because Anchored in Truth and other churches believe in local church centered missions and they supported us and still do. But what I'm trying to show you is this. We are growing. We are growing. We are healthy. But we still can do these things.

If the church at Philippi could, the church at Antioch could, we can. And I look forward to how God is going to flesh these things out. I'm excited. Let's pray.