My assigned topic was the go of missions. Every language has a different word order. You already knew that, right? Some of you know that. This is not actually how we would say it. We wouldn't say, go ye. We would say, you go. If you say to someone, you go downtown and get me some stuff. at Lowe's. That's how we say it, right? When someone says that to you, you have been sent, right? So someone gave you a mission when they said you go whatever the place is they want you to go. And then that is also a sent message. that you have to do something. It's not something that you can do sitting here, OK? It's something that you have to do on the go. Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the labors are few. Pray therefore, Lord, the harvest, that he would send forth labors into his harvest. Go your ways, behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. This is Larkin. Hi, Larkin. She's sitting back there with Dad. I ask permission, okay? Look at the last phrase in the verse. I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Now we're going to pretend just for a few minutes that Larkin is a lamb. She's not really a lamb. Right? She's a little girl. Okay. But here's Larkin. and there's wolves all around her. Is she comfortable? No. Is she kind of scared? Yeah, you bet your life, okay. She's scared to death. Are the wolves scared? The wolves are not scared. They've got Larkin surrounded and they are not afraid. You know, when God sends us forth a lot of times, he sends us forth as lambs among wolves, and it gets kind of scary. And when God sends us sometimes, because we're sent as lambs among wolves, and we realize it's scary, we're like, I'm not going to go there. You know, I'm not going to do that. Because the wolves are looking at Larkin, and they're saying, oh, yummy. You know. They're planning on a meal. You know, a lot of times when God sends us, and he sends us forth as lambs among wolves, it looks scary. And we forget the fact that he said, Lo, I am with you always, even under the end of the world. He is a shield about us. He is our defense, and he is our strong power. And even though we're in a scary place, we're going to be OK. Follow me is a go word. And as you read through the gospels, Jesus would walk by people and he would say, follow me. And when they got up, that was a sent message and they followed him. Peter, James, John, Andrew were fishermen. And he said unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Way back in the dark ages when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, I was teaching Bible at Grace Baptist Church, Wilmington, North Carolina, Wilmington Christian Academy. And as I was teaching Bible one day, I looked down and here's Greg sleeping. I said, Greg, you are not allowed to sleep in my class. And I went down and I woke him up. He said, yes, sir, Mr. Wingrove. I went back to teaching. Greg went back to sleeping. I went back, woke him up again, and I said, Greg, you cannot sleep in my class. You have to stay awake. Yes, sir, he said, Mr. Wingrove, I am trying. I went back to teaching. Greg went back to sleeping. I went down and I woke him up and I said, Greg, did you sleep at all last night? No, sir, he said, I didn't. I said, what were you doing? He said, fishing. I said, all night? All night, Mr. Wingrove. I said, did you catch anything? Yes, sir, he said, we did. I said, how'd it go? 120,000 pounds of fish. They're fishing with a fishing trawler, OK? His family were commercial fishermen. Now, if you caught 120,000 pounds of fish and you sold them on the wholesale market for $3 a pound, how would you do? Would you be, how many make that kind of money every night? I didn't think so. It's a good occupation because it pays really, really well. The people that Jesus called to follow him were commercial fishermen. They fished with a boat and a net. And in that day, it was a really good living. These two families were partners in the fishing business. And when Jesus walked along and he said, follow me, they could have said, wait a minute, Lord, one moment, please. Who's gonna pay the bills? We have really good living here. We're okay with this. It's all right. If we follow you, what is that going to mean? Who's going to pay the bill? You know what? As far as we know, they didn't ask that question. They just followed him. You know, a lot of times when people are considering missions, they're like, who's going to pay the bill? And I have to, I've got to answer all these questions before I'm going to go. And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him. Now, the word says receipt of custom, that means he was a tax collector. And in Jesus' day, the tax collector was not a person who was the most loved person in the community, okay? He was the person that was most hated, most despised person in the community, and nobody liked him. except other tax collectors and publicans and other sinners. They liked him, but nobody else liked him. But it was a good living. I mean, you could just fleece anybody out of all the money you could get out of, and everything was wonderful. There was good money there. And he didn't ask who's going to pay the bill. He just got up and followed Jesus. And that night he invited all of his friends to hear what Jesus had to say. That's a really unique idea, isn't it? You get saved, you invite all your friends, and let them know what Jesus said. So he, being Elijah, departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. Elisha was a commercial farmer, Big time operation. Now you may not have seen that in this particular verse, but let me help you understand it. Notice it says he was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen. A yoke of oxen is two oxen fastened together with a plow behind them. A single maulboard plow, whatever in the world that means. I don't know. I do not. There were 11 guys in front of him. And he was the last guy in line. He was the 12th. We've been out west recently, and I've seen harvesters go through the field. A harvester is a thing with a cutting blade wider than the middle pew and the aisle together. Going down the fields, one after the other, harvesting wheat. Elisha was a big-time farmer. When Elijah cast his mantle upon him, he knew what that meant. That meant that God had called him to be the leader of the prophets of the nation of Israel. Now, at this time, the nation of Israel was not the place you would want to pick to go be a prophet, because they had gone into Baal worship, and there were all kinds of wicked kings up there, and I mean, the place was a mess spiritually. They didn't like prophets. That didn't make any difference to him, because he went anyways. Then saith he unto the disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few. Pray therefore, Lord, the harvest, that he would send forth labors to his harvest. This is a very similar passage of scripture to the one that you see behind me. And this is the first part of our going, is praying. We have to pray for harvesters. We have to pray for laborers. Every person ought to do that. When you're doing that, as someone already mentioned, God may call you. He may not call you. Say not ye there yet four months, and then come as harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. We were in Gettysburg, Illinois, where Pastor Walker and Judy were for a while. about three weeks ago. And it's farm country. And everybody was out with their harvesters, taking down the corn, taking down the soybeans. Suppose I said to them, you know, why don't you wait for a while, you know, like four months from now, and then you can harvest your crops. You can go on vacation now. There are four months. Take your time. No problem. You can get it later. You know why none of them were getting it later? Because the fields were already ready to harvest. And if you don't harvest the crop when it's ready, it's going to die before you get it. Have you seen the mission field? Dr. Bacher mentioned this to us this morning. If you've never been there, pick out one of our missionaries and go see them on the field. And when you go, say, what can I do to help? And walk in their shoes and walk behind them and see what they do. I pastored and worked in the states, primarily in churches most of my ministry life. And I never really understood missions in the first year I was in Uruguay and Chile. And then I understood missions. Because I can show you a million pictures of a mission field, but you haven't seen it unless you're standing in the field physically. Because you don't see the field, you just saw a picture. And also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. And he said, go and tell this people. Hear ye indeed, but understand not. And see ye indeed, but perceive not. I was in a church in Maine. And I said one day, which of these beautiful little girls do I get to take home? And Alyssa, four-year-old, said, you can have me. And I said, that is wonderful. That is a wonderful gift. I will take you home with me. And her mother said, no, you won't either. And I forgot all about that conversation. And I'm packing the car, getting ready to leave. And I turn around, and she's putting her toys in my car. I said, Alyssa, what are you doing? She said, I'm going home with you. I said, no, you're not. She said, you said. I said, you know, I travel an awful, awful lot. And sometimes it's day after day, all day before I get someplace. And you'd be sitting back there saying, are we there yet? And I'd be saying, no, we're not there yet. We're not going to be there for a long, long time. We're not going to be there. She said, no, I wouldn't do that. I would not do that. That's why I'm putting my toys in your car, so I have something to do. Plan number three. I said, you know what? I said, your mommy and daddy would miss you so much, and they would be very sad, and their hearts would be hurting, and they would be crying and crying. You know what she said? They'll get over it. God says, whom shall I send? And we're spaced to say, God, you can have me. And mama might be back there hollering, no, no, no, you can't have her, you can't have him. And maybe it'll be dad or grandma or grandpa or uncle or aunt or cousin who says, no, no, you can't have him. We recruit missionaries. Dr. Mark recruits missionaries. And sometimes when you're talking to people, people literally come up to you and you have one person of a couple, a man and a woman who are married, and the guy is really interested in a country, and he feels God call him to that country, and his wife comes up and he says, we're not gonna go there. In other words, God, you can't have them. We say, God, here am I. You can use me. If any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother and his wife and his children, his brothers and sisters in his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Notice the last four words of the verse. If we're going to let somebody, no matter how much they love us and no matter how much we love them, keep us from going when God has called us to go, we can't be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he says. You know, sometimes people tell me this, well, I can't go until mom and dad are kind of old, or they're going to get old, and I think I'll wait until after their funeral, and then I'll go. And Jesus says unto those people, let the dead bury their dead. That doesn't mean you're not allowed to attend the funeral. Between meetings. carrying my mother back to Pennsylvania to her burial beside my father. It's okay. But don't say, God, I can't go because mom and dad are still living and I'm waiting until after the funeral. Otherwise God might arrange a funeral sooner than you would want. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, notice the next phrase, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. God says, I'm going to be with you no matter where in the world you are. Some people say they're out there all by themselves. You know, most mission work today is team missions. The countries where we are missionaries is team mission work. Most of the time we're working with other people from our own board. There are some occasions when we're working with people from other good boards. We have no problem with that. Paul had a lot of people on his team. You heard that this morning's message. Paul had a lot of people on his team. Not only those people on your team, but God says, I'm going to be with you all of the time. I will never leave thee. nor forsake thee, even unto the end of the world." Jesus had healed a man of lots of demons. And now the man is clothed, and it is right mine. And he said, Lord, I want to go with you. That's good. That's good. And Jesus said, no, I don't want you to go with me. Here's what I want you to do. Jesus suffered him not, that means did not allow him to do that, but he said unto him, go to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath compassion on thee. See the underlying phrase? God's talking to you. Well, I'm glad we've had all these missionaries here, and they're going to the uttermost parts of the world. God says your first responsibility is go to your friends. That's your first go. And tell them what great things God has done for you. Say, I don't know how to lead a person to the Lord. Just tell people what God has done for you and about your salvation experience. Get started there. And after you get started there, the Holy Spirit will prompt your brain and things will really flow in. And then they can flow out. First step is you have to go to your friends. The master had sent the servants out with invitations to the wedding. And people had all kinds of excuses why they couldn't come to the wedding. Nobody came. So the servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to the servant, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind. Now, I realize that verse is hard to understand, so let me read it to you so it'll help you. Okay. So the servant came and showed his lord these things, and the master of the house, being angry, said unto the people that Grace Baptist Church go out quickly into the streets and lanes of East Flat Rock, North Carolina. Bring them in. That's what it says. You see that? That's what it says. You know, I ask people this question in a lot of churches where we go. Have you ever walked across the street from your house and invited people to this church? Have you ever walked up and down your street to your neighbors and invited people to this church? You see, the early church, everybody was involved with the people that they knew inviting them to Christ. See, what the verse says is go quickly into the streets and lanes of the city of East Flat Rock, North Carolina, and bring them in. And when we've done that, as the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room. Now, it looks like there's not much room here tonight, this afternoon. But Pastor Hockey promised me they would build a new church out there if you filled this one up twice. Now he didn't really, but I'm sure we would figure out a way to get that done. You know what? God wants heaven to be filled. And he left us with that job. He wants us to fill heaven. And we do it by sharing the love of Christ with other people. And there will be people who will not respond to the Gospel of Christ. Please listen carefully. There were lots of people who heard the message from the Lord Jesus Christ that did not accept it. Right? There were a lot of people who heard the message from the Apostle Paul and did not accept it. Right? There will be people who will hear you and will not accept it. But does that mean we quit? No. That means we keep going, okay? We keep going because yet there is room. But what think ye a certain man had two sons? And he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answered and said, I'm not going to do that. I will not. But afterward, he repented and went. And he came to the second and said, Likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir. But he went not. Whither of the twain of them did the will of his father? You know, you can say, God, I'll go. And then you're not going to go. Or you can say, God, I'm not going to go. Forget it, God, if you think I'm going to do that. And the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart and says, that's what I want you to do. Go get it. Go get it done. You see? It has to do with the will of your father. Are you doing his will or your will? If his will is for you to go, that should be your will. There are three ways to go. Number one, to go ourselves. Number two, to go with our finances, giving so that others may go and stay, and to go with our prayers. Who goeth on warfare at any time of his own charges? A guy joins the military and they say to him, you need to go out and raise $60,000 of your own personal support, right? No, the taxpayer pays his salary. That's what the verse says. And it came to pass after we went out through every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the twelve were with him and certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene out of whom went seven devils and Joanna the wife of Tusa Herod Stewart and Susanna and many others which ministered unto him of their substance. Who fed the fishermen? These individuals who supported Jesus, they fed the fishermen who became fishers of men. They fed the tax collector who became a collector of men. They fed them. And you see, that's the way God works. And when we give to the church, we're giving to Jesus. Because it's his ministry, locally and globally. Which have a born witness of thy charity before the church, I'm reading the last phrase, that we might be fellow helpers of the truth. You know, sometimes I get a call from American Red Cross, and I'm not against American Red Cross, please, but they say, this is a charity, American Red Cross, would you like to help us? Or this is American Cancer Society, would you like to help us? You know what I tell them? My charity is my church. Because when I do that, I'm a fellow helper to the truth, locally and globally. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Notice the last two words. It's not unreasonable. When God says, who can I send and who will go for us? For us to say, God, here am I, you can use me. You can have me, God. That's not unreasonable. It is a reasonable service as a child of God to go wherever he wants you to go. He may not want you to go to the outermost parts of the world. He may want you to stay here in East Flat Rock, North Carolina, or he may want you to stay someplace in the United States. He may want you to go someplace else, whatever that is. It's reasonable request that God ask of you, you see, because he died on the cross for your sins. To redeem you from eternal hell. God took my hell and gave me heaven. Whatever request he ask is not unreasonable. Wherever God wants me to go should be the geography of all of God's children. Some questions. Number one, are you where God wants you to go? If God wants you here in East Flat Rock, don't go anyplace else. If God wants you to be someplace else, don't be here. I'm not trying to run anybody off, okay? Otherwise, the pastor's going to shoot me when I'm done. But wherever God wants you to be, that's where you should be. Some people say to me, do you miss the pastor? And I say, I absolutely do. They say, would you like to be a pastor again? Yes, I would. Am I going to do that? No. Why not? Because that's not what God wants me to do. I'm doing what God wants me to do. Are you doing what God wants you to do? Are you where God wants you to go? Number two, are you going to your friends? We looked at the verse. That's your first going. Are you going to the streets and lanes of the city of East Flat Rock, North Carolina, or wherever you live? Are you going to those streets and lanes of the city? Are you going by giving? We should be doing all these things. Are you going by praying for labors to go? Are we going to the outermost parts of the world? When Jesus said, go into the outermost parts of the world, he was standing in Israel, and one of the places he was thinking about as the outermost part of the world is East Flat Rock, North Carolina, right? This is a long way from Israel, right? Clear on the other side of the world from Israel. This is the outermost part of the world from Israel. But from here, there's lots of other outermost parts of the world that God wants you to go. You have been sent by God, so you need to go, you know, like get going. Pastor Walker was concerned that I would have the same illustration he has, but I told him you don't have to worry about that ever happening. I have a friend, we were in his church recently in Lady Lake, First Baptist Church, his name is Paul Harsh. And one of the things that he does is he has a ministry called Christian Racers, and they do drag racing. Now, I know that's not the way to win anybody the Lord, but it works. And some of you older people will remember that back in the 60s and the 70s, they built muscle cars. How many know what a muscle car is? How many are going to pretend you don't know what a muscle car is? This is a Plymouth. How many know what a Plymouth is? It's called the Big Bird or the Road Runner. Now, this car, when they build it at stock, that means with no alterations, it would start out in a quarter mile doing 105 mile an hour. But if you put a three-quarter race cam in and power pistons in and some other stuff in and a blower on the engine, it'll do a lot better than that. Dr. Bottori drove this car. Right, doctor? Tell him. Tell him. Does it have any go? Paula doesn't let him drive those very often. No, I'm just kidding. He has driven it, seriously. He and Pastor Harsh are really good friends. But it has a really big motor in it, and it really, really goes. When we were there, we were staying in the mission house, and Jan was doing the laundry in the garage. And this is an old Pontiac GTO. And she said, you know, Mel, the hood is missing. And so I went out in the garage and looked, and sure enough, the hood was missing. And I said, well, you know what? That's not its biggest problem. The biggest problem is it doesn't have an engine. You know what? A lot of times in churches, we're saying, you know, the windows need to be replaced. The convertible top really isn't in good shape. The hood's missing. And we fail to see what the real problem is. You know what the real problem is? It doesn't have an engine. And when a car doesn't have an engine, if you put a new battery in it, will that help it? Now, if you fix a mirror on the side, will that help it? No, that's not gonna help it. You know what it needs? It needs an engine. Isn't that brilliant? But watch thou in all things and endure afflictions and do the work of the evangelist. You know what the engine is for the church? is for everybody who attends that church to do the work of an evangelist. Because if we don't do that, the car has no engine. I travel all over the United States of America in churches like our church, and we're gray. A few of them are not, but most of them are because We don't have an engine called evangelism. I knew an old Methodist evangelist. His name was Dr. Bob Senior. He came to our preacher boys class at least once a week when I was at BJ. And he said this, it takes evangelistic unction to make orthodoxy function that means if there is no evangelism in a church, it's going to die. And that's why a lot of our churches have died. There was a fellow by the name of Jack Hiles who pushed evangelism very strong. and his son, and we don't want to talk about their moral standard at all because that's one of the things that hurt us. As Nathan said to David, thou has caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. And they blasphemed evangelism like it was a bad thing because of somebody who was morally train wrecked. And we've pitched it out. It's like taking an engine out of a car and wondering why it won't start. It won't run. Oh, maybe we need to put the hood back on. You know, maybe we need to wind up the windows. Maybe it needs a new battery. No, it needs a new engine. It needs the engine of evangelism. And when you put the engine of evangelism in it, it'll run like the big bird. I mean, take off and just about fly. It takes evangelistic unction to make orthodoxy function Dr. Bob Jones Sr. When God says go, and he says that in the Bible, you have been sent by God to go. So what you need to do is reload the engine of evangelism and start with your friends and your neighbors and the people up and down your street, and if he calls you to the other most parts of the world, go there, but just get going.