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00:00:01 morning church today's scripture reading will be taken from the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5: 15 to 17 and he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again so from now on WE regard no one from a worldly point of view though we once regarded Christ in this way we do so no longer therefore if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old has gone and the new is here this is the word of the Lord morning everyone uh I'm a matale bringing other
00:00:53 matale to join me this morning uh and just wanted to introduce you to them so uh uh first first of all um first of all it's Joel Thrasher he's going to be he's on staff at the Greenville Baptist Association in Greenville South Carolina he'll be speaking in the Cairo service a little bit later also got David and joy Jackson uh they uh David works as a church consultant for the North American Mission board he's going to be teaching downstairs uh in the toml service today they're helping me with the toml pastor
00:01:24 Retreat that's happening in Port Dixon this week so I'm grateful that they're here but I wanted to introduce you also so an old friend uh who's speaking uh in the English Service uh both services today we've known each other 20 years dude uh uh his name is Dr Jared Davis uh and he's from Houston Texas he has a a wife named Jennifer three kids uh and he's been living around Asia uh for as long as I have um [Applause] mama okay Jared Bahasa Indonesia you can test him on that don't test me I will fail Google
00:02:17 translate uh but uh Jared has a heart to bring together the churches in the west and the churches here in the East together to reach the Nations so he will tell you about that today [Applause] good morning so as Brian said my name is Jared Davis my other name is in Chinese it's maong and for those who know Chinese that means the big fuzzy dragon is what it means in uh in English I'll explain that story um in a little bit um but first today we want to focus on this key passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse
00:02:59 15 through 17 but before we do there is a phrase if you remember anything if you forget everything today that's okay but if you remember anything this is the one thing that I hope that you will uh remember it's I live to live for Jesus so everyone say it with me I live to live for Jesus say it again I live to live for Jesus if that's the only thing you remember from today that is great if you remember anything else that's even better but this would be uh great this is the central point of what today is
00:03:30 all about it's about Jesus it's not about anything else it's about him we sang this morning in some of the songs right it says I've decided to follow Jesus there's no turning back right no turning back and he is Christ is enough for me the question is do we really believe that do we really believe that Christ really is enough it's one thing to say and it's one thing to sing it's another thing to actually do and uh if you read first uh 2 Corinthians 1 chapter 1 through 5 uh you will see Paul says the same thing as he suffered
00:04:02 intensely with intense persecution with intense suffering of all kinds and then this passage that we just saw today this passage in uh 2 Corinthians 5:15 comes up and uh in describes that he died for all that we will no longer live for ourselves but instead we live for him who died for us and rose again this is my family in 2016 we did not know this when this picture was taken but this was our last day in the country where we were living at that time um soon after uh we were kicked out and unable to remain in
00:04:37 that place and so then we had to relocate to a new location these are this is my family this is my family at that time my wife and I and our three kids my oldest now is 15 my second one is 13 and my youngest one is now nine um years old the fact that we have kids as a family is a miracle all by itself and we're not going to go into too much of that today but just God is extraordinarily unbelievably uh faithful uh I'm going to tell you a little bit of my story today I hope that my story is encouraging but more importantly that
00:05:07 God's word is cut into our heart that we use that God will use his word to transform Our Lives to make us more like him I'm not taking for granted today that everybody here knows Jesus it's very possible very likely there's people with us that don't know Jesus so I not taking that for granted there are those who do know Jesus and so we're going to be speaking to both both groups at the exact same time I was born in a very Baptist very Christian household my dad is a Baptist pastor uh three uncles that
00:05:38 were Baptist pastors both sides of my family are all very involved in church very stable very loving home none of my family extended family included have ever been divorced before there are no Strife in the family it's a very warm environment my entire childhood however though when I was 6 years old I just saw how difficult Ministry was for my day dad I saw how hard it was for him to be a pastor so as early as 6 years old I swore I would never grow up to do full-time Ministry it's too hard and uh
00:06:11 so you should thank your pastors and those who serve you so diligently and Faithfully it is very very very difficult I grew up and then eventually over time I did well in school and my focus became over time the American dream right the American dream to make a lot of money and have a big house and 2.5 children retire early enjoy life that was the American dream and so that's what I began to pursue I was a good kid I obeyed my parents I studied well I worked hard um went to college went to Texas A&M University with a with
00:06:45 a goal and a focus of not doing Ministry I was going to do ministry part-time but I really wanted to do I wanted to make money right just straight up I want to make money and uh so I became an architect did very well uh Advanced to the ranks of very large International corporate firm very quickly uh God blessed us in the work that we were doing and when I had attained everything I thought I wanted I was about to get married to this beautiful woman I had a new car we had a new house everything seemed perfect I
00:07:17 had friends I was healthy I thought I had everything I thought I would need to be happy and I found out in the end there's really nothing there that it was empty I said this is is this really is this it after everything I've pursued and all my degrees and all my accomplishments and everything I've obtained this is is this really is this really is this really is this really what life is ultimately all about and that came about because one evening I was with some friends we went to a bar together and we
00:07:48 were having a good time and and just in the middle of being there with him uh God asked me for the very first time God spoke to me in a direct way and he asked me a very specific set of questions and the first question was if you die tonight where will you go and the second question was why do you exist why do you Jared Davis why do you exist and I was unable to answer that very simple question I had no idea at that point I completely lost my way my dependence was completely on myself I had worked myself through school I had
00:08:24 managed to work well in my job I had managed to advance in the ranks of my firm I was making plenty of money everything seemed fine but was this really it if I died tonight what would happen to my house and my car and everything else I couldn't take any of with me and is there really a heaven and a hell and is Jesus really the only way I I don't really know anymore at that point I was confused I began to search why why do I exist what is the point of all of this what is the point so I began searching I woke up the
00:08:57 next morning and I saidwell if there is absolute truth because I don't really know anymore but if there is I want to discover what that actually is so I did search the the writings of other religions of other Faith leaders in different areas and then I finally came to the Bible that my parents had given me that I heard all the stories I heard my dad preach the whole thing many times but I had never bothered to read it for myself never bothered to read it for myself so I decided I'm going to determine if this bible really is the
00:09:31 word of God or is it just a good book of good writings with Good Counsel for me to live by which is it which is it so I download this document off the internet from a famous atheist and it said 200 greatest contradictions of the Bible is what it was that's what was called is written in order of the Bible so I decided hey I'm going to compare and see which is right who's right either one is right and the other's wrong or they're both wrong but they both cannot be right right that seems logical seems fair so I began working
00:10:00 through it you read the whole Bible and every spare moment I had I'm reading through it and trying to determine what this guy says is it right is it wrong is the Bible right is it wrong is it God's word or is it man's description of God which is it how do we know that it's faithful that it's true and as I worked through it all the contradictions that this author claimed was there were not actually cont now there were some things that were difficult to understand don't get me wrong but none of them were
00:10:29 contradictions in fact I became amazed with this amazing book I was amazed at what was written inside of it and the story that was weaved in there and the things I was observing in the world and just the absolute chaos of this world and began slowly to believe that this word of God this Bible is God's word but that created a crisis in my heart and that crisis was if the Bible is true and it really is God's word then I have to obey it so what do I do one day I came across this passage and I was shocked by this
00:11:14 passage second Corinthians chapter 5:1 15 see in my mind I had as a child said the sinner's prayer I was baptized and as I grew up over time became disillusioned with things that I had seen but I thought Jesus died for my sin that one day I would go to heaven I thought Jesus had died for my sin so that my sins would be forgiven and those things are true they are true they're not wrong I thought Jesus had died for my sin so that I could receive the blessings of God I thought Jesus died for my sin for
00:11:47 all kinds of reasons it had everything to do with me but this passage says something very different not contradictory but adds to the reason why Jesus died for our sins sins what does it say it says Jesus died for those that they might what no longer live for themselves I was shocked by that I was like wait a minute wait a minute I thought I thought if I believe in Jesus all these great things happen right all these good things happen I'd become a better me ultimately that's really what I had believed the gospel had was is
00:12:19 that Jesus died for me that i' become a better me and this page says something the opposite Jesus died for me so I would no longer live for me I did not know what to do with that I was like I start read it over and over and over again and I and I looked to see if the original text was any different than oh my goodness it actually does say that that Jesus died for me that I will no longer live for me but instead was it say for him whose sake died and was raised I would live for Jesus instead of myself and I
00:12:51 realized I had the whole thing upside down the whole thing was confused I thought he died for me for me in fact I had heard many times evangelists say something of this nature they would say if you were the only person in the world that would believe in him Jesus still would die for you and while that might be true the Bible says nothing of the sort he died for all of us not just for me and he died for us for his own sake and what does that mean exactly right it means we he died for us that we we would
00:13:29 live for him and not for ourselves and why because human nature at its very core and after living among so many cultures and in so many places regardless of culture and regardless of ethnicity human beings at the core are the same the humans when we're born we are selfish we are self-centered we think of ourselves and Jesus died for us that we would stop being selfish so had a crisis a very had a crisis and the entire context of 2 Corinthians is the suffering that Paul and his team was going through and then
00:14:06 he says in the next passage there in verse 16 from now on we will no longer regard according to the flesh even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh up to that point I had regarded Christ according to the flesh I thought Christ died for my own benefit that it was for me and my church and we'd all be a better people because of Jesus and while we were we would be right if you believe in Jesus you will be a better person while that is true that is not the point it's not not the point then verse 17 the famous verse
00:14:33 that you see posted in many places and memorized by many around the world which should be right it's a very very amazing passage in verse 17 of saying that we're New Creation therefore if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation the old has passed away and the new has come so I had a crisis at that point what am I going to do in response to this passage and I realize I have a lot to do but I was scared of one thing I I realized I need to give everything to Jesus like just no holding back just like we read just like we sang earlier
00:15:06 this morning no holding back so I realized I need to give Jesus my American dream I need to give Jes Jesus my desire for my career I need to give Jesus my desires for family I give Jesus my desire for my hobbies and my wants and anything else but I was scared to death of one thing I was scared to death of one thing see my dad had many missionaries come to our house when I was a kid and we heard all their stories for whatever reason I don't know why but I was petrified I was scared that if I really gave Jesus everything
00:15:37 in my life if I really let him be Lord of every area of my life that he would send me to Africa as a missionary I was scared of that I don't know why definely afraid I'd go there and I would get eaten by some wild animal right that's that's what that's what would happen to me so I tried to make a deal I tried to make a deal with God say Okay God I re I recognize that I'm living just for me I'm not living for anybody else really I'm living for me and I need to stop because passage says so right I'm a new
00:16:02 creation the old is gone the new has come I am that new creation now so I need to live as a child of the king which means the king is The King and I do what he says it's not the other way around I don't get to tell the king what to do he tells me what to do and I and I needed to to begin that process so so okay Jesus I'll do whatever you want anything anything you want just please don't send me to Africa as a missionary that was my deal I Tred to make with God and two years later I was in Ethiopia on
00:16:31 a mission trip so God didn't he doesn't listen to me right he tells me what to do that's just how that's how he works and he functions and then over time God then did eventually call us to the field it's not something I wanted not something I desired I did love his church I did love Ministry I did love giving to missions my wife and I started Living what we call a 6040 lifestyle we realized that we could do well on 40% of our income so we gave 60% of our income away 10% to the church and 50% to
00:17:02 missions we just wanted to see the gospel go out to the world but I had no desire to be that person I wanted to fund others to go and I would go on short-term trips but I would not be the one going I would not be going but God has his own plans he does whatever he wants so everyone I want everyone to say this with me I live to live for Jesus say it with me again I live to live for Jesus and so in 2003 God was very specific and he told me the name of a very specific place he wanted me to go I did not know what that place was I had
00:17:37 never been there I had to look it up on Google to find it and discovered it really did exist and I had to confirm is this really God speaking to me or is you know Satan can speak to you too right and so I asked my wife and God told her the same place at the same time and so we told our church elders and our pastors of our church said yes this is God's will for you life for you to go God never told me how long to go so I thought we could go on the short-term trip it was a place over in Asia um and they said you should sign up
00:18:05 with the international Mission board to go long term and I was like oh that is full-time Ministry I don't want to do that right that's not what I want to do so I came with the very spiritual response to rejecting my elders uh invitation I said I am so sorry I am just not worthy to go very spiritual response but in the end you have spiritual Authority you must obey so we applied we applied with the international Mission board and I had a strategy my strategy was I'm going to confess every sin I've ever committed
00:18:39 and then the IMB is going to say you really don't qualify you really should not go that was going to be my strategy so I did that I confessed every sin that I'd ever committed and the result was in 2005 they sent me to Asia that was the result of my strategy it didn't work we arrive in this little place of a million people 80% had never heard the gospel before we didn't know anything uh I knew I knew one thing that 80% had never heard the gospel before that was it that was all I knew and I went around telling everybody
00:19:09 I'm not a real missionary like we had to go to training beforehand and I told her I'm not qualified I'm not a real missionary I don't know why they're sending me but they're sending me anyway so my thought was God will send me for a period of time and then when he finds the real missionary that person will show up and then I'll go home that would be that was my strategy that's what I was hoping for I I was praying for it God please send a real missionary to this place not me I'm not I'm not that
00:19:31 person I'm the architect from Houston Texas I am not this this is not what I'm supposed to be but I did know that people need the gospel in order to be saved the gospel is the power of God and to Salvation Romans 1:16 and so he said well I don't know much and I don't speak Mandarin Chinese and they don't speak English but they still need the gospel so what did we do so uh I had managed while I was in Houston to get these bilingual tracks they were four spiritual laws so English and Chinese and uh in the little city I went
00:20:11 to is a little bitty town no foreigners uh they had never many had never seen foreigners before and so when you walk outside in this freezing Tundra I walk outside everyone's like what what's that and you see oh my goodness there's a white person here this is really strange so they would come over and start talking right I don't know what they're saying I just hear da da da da da I don't know I don't have any idea but they need Jesus right they need Jesus and I it's going to take me years to get enough language to be able to
00:20:36 share the gospel with them and there all and many are going to die and go to hell in that time frame so I need to share somehow some way so we have these little tracks with us I would pull my track out and my very first Chinese word I Learned was the word do which means to read do couldn't say anything else most people learn like thank you and where's the bathroom right I learned D so I hand in the track and I say do and they start reading it but the problem is they ask questions right that's the problem I can't understand a
00:21:06 single question much less I cannot answer any of the questions so I my second word in Chinese was G which means to continue so they were for asking questions I'd just say that was our evangelism strategy in the very that's all we could do right we need nothing else right I was just I I'm a fake missionary I and in the school even ask are you a I said nope I no I'm not I am absolutely not I can say that with absolute honesty I'm not supposed to be here but God sent us anyway and over time as we learn language uh we
00:21:39 Shar in the gospel and this one girl came to Faith this college girl came to Faith and then we took a made a copy of it track and gave it to her and said you should share this with all your friends and family and she led eight of her friends to Faith and they all come to our house like oh my goodness we have nine new Believers in this small group and I don't know what the next step is my strategy to this point was do J do right that was my strategy so I don't really have a step two yet right at this
00:22:03 point I didn't really expect people to come to Faith that fast it was not not my expectation in the in the churches grew and eventually this little small group becomes a church and the church gets too big so it has to have a second church because in that environment you cannot get big if you want to get arrested you get big right so you may plant another church and then that got too big so he plant another church and on it keeps going in the midst of all this and while Ministry was doing great everything else
00:22:32 in life was falling apart our health was struggling we were suffering persecution the place was a difficult place to be I didn't know how to keep going forward in the midst of that environment I was lonely my wife and I are just extremely lonely they people were sweet to us but just there's a language barrier there's a couple a number I want you to remember there a few numbers I'd love for you to just keep in your mind and these are numbers back then that still drive me forward today these are numbers that identify
00:23:13 people first one is 3,150 if you can say it with me 3,150 this represents the number of unreached unengaged people groups around the world 3,000 150 unfortunately when we went to the field 20 years ago the number of U pgs was about 3,150 and today the number of U upgs around the world is about 3,150 what is a uupg an unreached people group unengaged unreach people group are people groups that are isolated from the gospel today there's no one among them who speaks their mother tongue that can share the gospel with them today they
00:23:56 have no churches that meet in their mother tongue today they have no gospel resources in their mother tongue today and most have zero gospel portions or Bible portions scripture portions in their language today they're isolated from the gospel today that's a uupg now in the context we were working in all of them were upgs unreached people groups but not unengaged there were some so imagine if you will there were no churches in the world just imagine this if there's no churches in the world that speak English or Mandarin
00:24:27 Chinese or cantones or Bahasa Malay Bahasa Indonesian or any other Asian language imagine if that were true today myself included all of us would be isolated most all of us would be isolated from the gospel someone sometime in some point history took the time to translate the scripture into our languages and to share the gospel in our languages to preach the word in our languages to plant Church in our languages to Worship in our languages to pray in our languages so that we have access to the gospel today but on planet Earth today
00:25:06 there's 3,150 people groups that still have no access they would have to then learn one of our languages to hear the gospel instead of us be among them and this was our desire so our desire when we got to this little bitty city in the middle of this in this huge country where 80% had never heard the gospel before Our Hope and desire is that one day the churches from that part of the world will be able to send their own missionaries to reach these 3,000 10050 the next number is 155,000 say that with me
00:25:47 155,000 155,000 people today are going to die and enter a christless eternity today and tomorrow 150 5,000 people more will die and enter a christless eternity and the day after that it'll happen again and then again and then again and then again and then again and next Sunday it'll happen again and the week after that it'll happen again and the month after that it'll happen again unless unless we do something about it many of these 155,000 will have never heard the gospel before many will have never
00:26:32 heard the gospel before and that is an unacceptable number 155,000 it's a hard number to even conceive of and it happens every day around the world so we wanted to see that number come down that was our goal we wanted to see churches planted to plant more churches to share the the gospel more to plant more churches to send out their own missionaries into the Harvest that's what we desired in the work that we were doing God was gracious to us and allow us to stay for 12 years in that in that location in that place eventually we did
00:27:13 get the language eventually we were able to operate just fine in the language and culture I was detained a series of times and finally kicked out from that place unable to remain so from there we went down to Taiwan and in Taiwan we were down there for seven years working with the churches in Taiwan and in Malaysia as well a little bit in Malaysia in other countries around Asia and get to see more of Asia and help work with churches around Asia how can the churches in Asia finish the task in Asia and Beyond how did as a churches in
00:27:47 Asia accomplish the Great Commission together with the rest of the world so the vision that drives us ultimately is that all nations glorifying God together this is what we see in Revelation 79 ultimately this is what we're Desiring and what we're hoping for in the work that we're doing so in Revelation chapter 7 verse 9 we have a number that drives us 3,150 and 155,000 are these numbers that you just see every day and you just know they need the gospel today and the only way they're going to get it is if we are
00:28:18 intentional to do what Jesus tells us to do to send people among these peoples that need the gospel so they can be reached but there's a vision a vision that will come come true one day that will come true one day just like we saw in 2 Corinthians 5:1 17 that where a new creation the old has gone the new has come we are New Creation already today if you know Jesus if you know Jesus and one day there will be a day in Revelation 7 9 and 10 where the Apostle John says behold this and after I looked and behold a
00:28:56 great multitude that no one could count from every nation from all tribes from All Peoples and languages standing around the throne before the lamb clothed in white robs and the Palm R in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying salvation Belongs To Our God who sits on the throne into the lamb into the lamb one day there will be a day and if you know Jesus if you know Jesus if you know Jesus you will be around that Throne one day it may not be this instance in Revelation chapter 7 but later on it happens again right we
00:29:34 all around this Throne together and there will be people around you who are different shapes and sizes and colors with different cultures and languages all worshiping the lamb together his whole church all together one day representatives from that 3,150 you new upgs will also be standing around that throne but today there are no Representatives that is why we send missionaries that is why we send people to intentionally go among people groups to learn their language and their culture and share the gospel help them
00:30:17 make disciples and form churches so they can grow their own leaders and send their own missionaries that's what we do that's what we're focused on because of this because of this this vision that drives us why are we here why is this church here to accomplish the Great Commission that Jesus has given us to do that's why that's why we're situated in this place and at this time and in this city here in Malaysia to finish the work here and around the world at the exact same time I got the joy of being with the
00:30:54 churches in Taiwan for those seven years we just moved to Indonesia recently but being in Taiwan with those churches of those seven years working with them and working alongside them to finish sharing the gospel locally and send missionaries around the world together as a joy and a privilege that we got to do and we joined hands with the Malaysia Baptist convention in the exact same Endeavor all working ultimately together but missions sending missionaries is anything but an simple easy task it's a
00:31:25 task of sacrifice and of difficulty and one we have to remind ourselves completely of this very simple concept so I want everyone to read this with me I live to live for Jesus say it again I live to live for Jesus the ability and the desire and the sacrifice it takes to send our own people among other peoples and other nations often times in some places hostile locations among hostile people who do not want us there is a task that takes focus on what Jesus is calling us to do so Matthew 28:18-20
00:32:07 talks It's the Great Commission right this is what Jesus told us to do this is the reason why First Baptist is here this is why we exist this is why every other Baptist Church in Malaysia and every other Church in Malaysia outside the Baptist 2 exists this this is what Jesus gave us to do this is our homework left there's really should be no reason whatsoever that there's 3,150 U upgs left after 2,000 years of work there really should not be and the work is getting done it's getting done together and it's an
00:32:43 exciting time to be a part of it let's all read this together Matthew 28 18-20 if you read it with me please 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 All Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them and behold I Am With You Always to the End of the Age there four verbs there's four verbs in this passage and these four verbs together help us understand how to go
00:33:23 about doing what we're doing says Make Disciples of all Nations not some Nations not Disciples of only people that are like me it's not peoples of only my countrymen it's all nations around the world every single people group around the world now he tells us how to do it there's one verb that's the main verb if you just look at you have to look at Greek grammar to see it but it's one main verb how this passage comes together it says to make disciples and then how do you do that the other three verbs tell us how to do
00:33:52 it we make disciples by doing what first we go second we baptize and third as we teach teach them to obey everything he's commanded us so I was working with these churches in this little in this huge country little BC in this huge country in a place that's not legal to do the things that they're doing and these little churches would reach out to people all kinds of people that were different than themselves and they multiplied over time and then we start working with other churches that are there that we
00:34:20 discover over time and work with them how can we work together to accomplish the gospel together to share the gospel and and to plant churches and to grow leaders and to send missionaries and some of these networks come from very intellectual urban city networks and some come from very rural uh Network backgrounds and they all work together in the course of a number of years uh they shared the gospel two and a half million people one-on-one in one-on-one evangelism planted almost 700 new churches and had 2,500 new leaders
00:34:51 locally raised up to lead those churches but what's even more amazing is that these these Church networks were able to send out their own missionaries they did not have the resources they did not have the money they did not have the people they did not have the background they didn't have the legal standing even to do it but yet they did and still do to this very day we go to Taiwan taiwan's the situation is very opposite they legally exist they have resources they have people they have backgrounds they can legally exist
00:35:24 and the church it was was amazing as in China i' say we need to send her on Mig they say we can't we can't do it I mean we don't have people we don't have resources we don't have the background we can't legally exist and they're focusing on themselves they're focusing on Christ in a worldly way as what we read in 2 Corinthians 516 and then I go to Taiwan where everything's exactly the opposite what was amazing is they gave me the exact same answers they said we don't have money we don't have people we don't have
00:35:56 resources we can't do this and as long as we focus on us it's true if we focus on what we have and who we are it's true we don't have the people we don't have the money we don't have the resources but when our focus is on Jesus it's exactly the opposite if we truly believe the song We sang earlier this morning Christ is enough for me if we really believe that if we really believe that there's no need for excuses we don't need to say we don't have enough people we don't have enough money we don't have enough
00:36:38 resources so in Taiwan they did they set up a Hu International missions its own entity uh together in 2020 this is that organization 2021 it partnered with the Malaysia Baptist convention and so we also have Malaysians as part of hu International missions it's an own local sending entity to help send Baptists from Asia to reach the Nations and so from 2020 all the way through covid and into today they have managed to send 39 Asian missionaries so mostly from Malaysia and Taiwan uh together to go reach the
00:37:16 Nations together working in places that are difficult working in places that are hard that are not easy but if you want to know more about hu this QR code here get you there the we it go.org how to partner with hu how to help support other missionaries how to go yourself if you want to go there are opportunities uh to go we want to partner with First Baptist together in this endeavor uh to equip and train select and send our own missionaries to reach out into ultimately the Harvest as we work together this is what one of the
00:37:48 pre-fill trainings looked like um we do eight weeks of pre-field training beforehand this is one of the groups we've done this many times already uh they're equipped on the front end and then they're sent out and they're sent out working with other uh missionary teams around the world so that these 3,150 uup pgs will finally have access to the gospel last year we were able to engage three U upgs making that number 3,147 instead of 3,150 now many times around Asia and in the United States as well we
00:38:27 talk about missions we're going to go do this together reach the world together amen but then people will say I want to but I can't yet there's all kinds of reasons all kinds of reasons but in Hebrews chap 12 vers 1 and two it lays out a blueprint for us if you will in following Jesus let's start in verse two let's start with verse two and read verse two and then we'll read verse one together let's read verse two together read with me please looking to Jesus the founder and perfector of our faith who for the joy
00:39:02 that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God now notice what it says it starts with looking to Jesus focus on Jesus and what did Jesus do for us it says In this passage that Jesus he's the founder perfector of our faith who for the joy set before him now that's a phrase that at first glance doesn't make a lot of sense first time I read it who for the joy set before him what did he do endured the cross and scored the shame like how can joy and the cross go
00:39:32 together right how does that how does that work ultimately exactly right but he The Joy set before him he knew where this was going to go he knew what would happen by him dying on the cross for our sins right so the joy set before him endured the cross great shame and sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God he's the king and since he's the king and the Lord he gets to tell us what to do so when he says Jared I want you to stop being an architect and give up your whole life and get rid of
00:39:57 everything move to this little bitty place in this little Asian country that doesn't want you there and you're going to be there and you can't speak the language and they can't speak the language your language and you got to figure out how you're going to reach them somehow some way in a way that makes no sense whatsoever I expect you to do it and when you have to stay there and suffer and struggle for years of loneliness I want you to do it and when you're working with these Believers and they're finally owning the
00:40:25 task together with you and they get arrested thrown in jail I still want you to to do it and when you get detained and your question continually over and over and over and over again I still want you to do it and when you love that place with everything in your heart and you have to leave I still want you to do it and when you move to a new country and start all over and work with the church there and slowly work your way to a good relationship working together I still want you to do it and when you're asked to leave
00:41:01 that place that you love so much I still want you to do it that's our King who loves us intensely who has a plan already and our and our responsibilties to join him in his plan that is perfect and wonderful we focus on him not on ourselves we don't focus on what we can do or cannot do we don't focus on our limited resources we don't focus on our abilities or our strengths or our intelligence we focus on Jesus it's that simple but so hard then there's verse one let's read verse one together it tells us how to do
00:41:43 this let's look at verse one says let's read it together therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight in sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race set before us now now look at the the last part we're going to work last part and work our way to the beginning the race is already set before us we don't get to determine our race I don't get to determine where do I want to go and what do I want to do and what do I want to be
00:42:13 it doesn't matter my son my oldest son says Dad would you be proud of me if I became a lawyer or a pilot or a doctor I said son if you're doing exactly what Jesus is telling you to do I'm proud whatever that is if you're doing what Jesus tells you to do I'm proud if you're doing not what Jesus tells you to do regardless of the status in the society no no it won't be we focus on him the race is already set before us the question is are we going to run now look at our role our role is very simple but it's really hard
00:42:51 simple but hard right we run with endurance with what perseverance it says to have perseverance to run this race all we do is run that's it that's your one responsibility to focus on Jesus and run the question is are you willing the question is are you willing or are you only willing to run the race you want to do that was me that was me as a 22-year-old Young Man graduated from college I wanted to do a Jesus wanted as long as it lined up with what I wanted and I was hoping that Jesus would help me do that better
00:43:28 that that's what I thought Jesus was for and then Jesus rocked my world by turning the whole thing upside down and I only get to do what he wants and at first I'm scared of that but over time I realize it is absolutely the best thing is absolutely the best thing my responsibility is very simple your responsibility is equally simple it's focus on Jesus and run the race is already marked out you just run that's it but perseverance why because the race is impossible to do on your own you cannot do it on your own instead we're
00:44:04 filled with the Holy Spirit working with all the power that works inside of us to do the work that God has called us to do but then before that it says there's something we're supposed to do we with perseverance we run the race that's marked out for us and what do you do before that it says we lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely in order for to run the race I have to get rid of this stuff and way too often around the world people say I want to go I want to go but I can't yet eventually
00:44:34 and when I man I I tell you what my time in this part of the world people say I want to go but you know right now uh my kids in school and I really want them to have the best education possible you know and so for me to go reach U upgs my kid can't go to the best school so I need to wait for my kid to graduate from this really great schooling that I have right now and once they've graduated then I'll go then I'll go but what happens when our kids graduate from high school what happens they go to oftentimes University right
00:45:05 well University costs a lot of money and tuition's really high so I need to keep working because I you know as a missionary you just don't make much money so you know I I keep my job and I'll pay for my kid to go through University and then once they go through University and graduate then I'm free to go but what happens when our kids graduate from University they get married oh the marriage I can't miss that I mean the marriage is expensive it costs a lot of time a lot of money and time to do a wedding and when the
00:45:27 wedding is done once my kids are married then I'm free to go but what happens once they get married grandchildren come right oh the grandchildren are so cute and I just can't leave them and my my kids need help we're raising my grandkids and I mean my grandkids just need me right so when my kids grow up old enough to go to school on their own then I can finally then I can finally go and the reality is that some point we never actually go because the reality is there never is a good time to go there
00:46:00 never is a convenient time to serve the king it's always inconvenient it's never a good time are we willing to lay aside every weight and everything can become a weight our Ministries can become a weight the things we enjoy can become a weight not bad things good things can become a weight that tie us down that prevent us from doing what God calls us to do too many times have candidates signed up to go on missions but they're buried in debt and unable to go too many times have people signed up at they're
00:46:36 just absolutely steeped in sin and pornography and unable to go unwilling to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles so they can run with perseverance the race marked out for them looking to Jesus the author and perfector of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross scoring the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne God the question to you today is are you willing are you willing that's the question I have for you today is there any sin is there any weight in you today
00:47:09 that prevents you from doing what God has called you to do today do you know in your heart that God is calling you to go beyond the comfort zone that you have today in order to see his kingdom grow today both here in koal lumur and around the world I want you to say it with me one more time I live to live for Jesus say it again with me I live to live for Jesus and I'm going to pray here and at this time I ask the worship team to come up I'm going to pray and we're going to pray through this together if there's anything in
00:47:43 your heart anything that's holding you back anything that's preventing you from doing what the Lord has called you to do this is your time for reflection and confession I know it happens in my own life still today I still have weights in my own life that prevent me from doing what the Lord has called me to do today so Heavenly Father we do thank you for who you are and what you do we do praise you for being our King we thank you for the fact that you did die for us and you're raised again so that we would no longer live for
00:48:15 ourselves but instead we would live for you who died for us and was raised Heavenly Father we do thank you so much for sending your son so that we can have a relationship with you breaking that barrier breaking that sin that we place our faith in you with your grace you make us yours I thank you for that and I thank you that you have made us New Creation the old is gone and the new has come I praise you that one day there will be a group from every nation tribe and people and language surrounding your throne together
00:48:44 worshiping you together one day that will be true we do lift up these 3,150 upgs to you that you will send us among them you'll send your people among them from around the world so they finally will have access to the gospel I pray for us all of us here today both online and live I pray that you will reveal yourself to us that you will show us where it is in our lives that we still have sins that need to be removed that we have weights in our lives is holding us back from doing what you've called us
00:49:15 to do and I pray that you reveal to us that race that we are to run so clearly Lord I pray that you will just convict us in our own hearts and renew us in our souls and Minds to make us love you you more and to make you known Lord we just love you so very much and it's in Jesus name that we pray [Applause] amen shall we all rise and we sing this song to to response to our [Music] god I am with one ple but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou be me come to thee Oh Land Of God I come [Music]
00:50:30 I Come Just As I Am and waiting not to R my soul of one dark BL to thee whose blood can cleanse he SP land of God I come I come I come broken to be bed I come bounded to be healed I come desperate to be resued I come lty to be filed I come guilty to be part by the blood of Christ the lamb and I'm welome with open arms praise God I [Music] am just as I am I would be lost but mercy and Grace my freom [Music] bought and now to glory in your cross so L of God I come I come I come broken to be I come
00:52:59 wounded to be healed I come desperate to be resued I come lty to be filed I come BR to be paron by the blood of Christ the land and I welome with open praise God just as I am I come broken to be mened I come wounded to be healed I come desperate to be rescued I come empty to be filed I come guilty to be pardoned by the blood of Christ the L and I'm wel with open ours praise God just as I am praise God just as I amen praise you God praise you God God we come before you in humility and in [Music]
00:54:46 need help us God as we now glory in the cross a church I invite you all to please be seated first in a moment we will partake of the Lord's supper together please wait uh for a time where we will unseal this packet together uh but if you profess faith in Jesus Christ and you have not yet received the elements would you please raise your hands so that Asher can come and pass you the elements and the rest of us let's please wait before we open let's wait uh for everybody to receive and wait for my instruction
00:55:25 before we open you can keep your hands raised so that just can come and pass you the [Music] [Music] element first let us take a moment of silence to reflect on God's word to us today to confess our faith failures of falling short of God's will for us and repent of our sins so in a moment of silence let's now reflect and confess [Music] [Music] Lord we confess that it's so easy to neglect your word we confess that even while listening to your your word we make up excuses we justify our reasons why
00:57:06 we do not obey why we do not live entirely in surrender to you we confess our unwillingness to lay aside all the weight lay aside all the sin and we come before you at the foot of the cross we confess that we need [Music] you church let us uh open the elements together [Music] let us remember the good news of Jesus Christ together on the night that Jesus was betrayed he took bread he broke it gave to the disciples saying this is my body which is given for you why did Jesus give us his body Jesus gave us his body
00:58:24 for us that we may receive forgiveness iess for our sins God is the creator of everyone and everything and we are his creation we were created to live for him according to his will but we all choose to live for ourselves according to our will and for that the wrath of God is upon us and he is righteous and just to judge us for our rebellion and for our sin yet God is merciful and kind he loves us so much that he send Jesus to suffer in our place on the cross Jesus Took the punishment of sin that we
00:59:07 deserve that's what it means for Jesus to give us his body Jesus received wrath and judgment so that all who believe in him may receive grace and mercy the forgiveness for our sins church let us partake of the bread together in remembrance of him thank you Jesus for [Music] forgiveness after the disciples ate he took the cup and said this cup that is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood the death of Jesus on the cross not only purchased forgiveness of sins but also establish the New Covenant
01:00:01 Jesus was telling the disciples that through him God is fulfilling the the promise that he made through prophet Ezekiel where God will cleanse his people of idolatry and give them a new heart to love him and live for him and God also promised to put his Spirit within them that they may walk in his statutes and be careful to obey his Ro rules friends this is cause for Great Joy because of the cross of Jesus Christ we are given a new heart no longer a Heart of Stone that Rebels and fights against God and His will but a soft
01:00:44 heart that desires to know God and to please him and because of the cross of Jesus Christ we are given the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live our lives unto God that's why Paul can say that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation because of the Cross we are made new and just as Jesus was raised from the dead so we are raised to New Life a life that lives unto Jesus church let us Stand Together [Music] and as we partake of the cup let's thank Jesus for the New [Music] Covenant let's pray thank you Jesus for
01:01:43 the cross thank you for forgiving us of all our Rebellion all our shortcoming and we thank thank you that by the Holy Spirit you Empower us to live new lives as New Creation help us from this day forward help us to live to tell others of your cross in Jesus name we ask and pray amen Church remain standing for the [Music] benediction okay let's pray May the grace of the Lord Jesus and love of the father and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all the brothers and sisters who are with us today both today and forever
01:02:36 more it's in the precious name of Jesus that we pray amen amen Church uh in a moment of uh silent reflection you can stay and then the service is over if you would like to come up to be prayed for the church pastors and the church chch Elders will be in front to pray with you
