We're going to find our text again tonight in Acts chapter 8. And they're going to be bringing some verses up. The world is living in darkness and without hope in this world. There's no hope. There's no place to turn. There's no place to go. There's nothing to do. There's no way we can change. There's no way we can save ourselves. But God commended His love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God the Father loved us enough to send Jesus. Jesus loved us enough to live among us. And then sent the Holy Spirit when He left. The Holy Spirit loves us enough to indwell our dirty homes. to try to work on us from the inside and build us into the likeness of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has established believers come together in the habitation of God called the local church. And through the local church we can accomplish more together than we can by ourselves. God is working through us. But if we don't have hope, if we have no expectation, If we can even convince the person in the mirror that God can do it even with us, that the same God that did all that work, these that have turned the world upside down have come hither also. When they see you come to South Africa, they're going to say, He's going to try to turn our world upside down. And they don't want it. You go to San Francisco, they've got Lutheran, Catholic, And they're going to say, who do you think you are? Our world is just fine. We're living upside down. Been there, done that. The reason we're going is because Jesus Christ, when He saved us, did not kill us immediately and bury us and take us to heaven where we can enjoy the bliss of heaven. He left us here as believers to continue doing the very same work that Jesus Christ came to do. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. God gave us the gift of prayer and the ability to pray, but it was not to build our little kingdoms. It was to build the kingdom of Christ. It was to be used as God's means of supplying God's power, God's provision to God's workers in this world in order to advance the Kingdom of Christ. We do what we do because we're commanded to do it. Sometimes you've just got to do your duty. Children, sometimes we just have to obey our parents. Sometimes we, as Christians, we just have to say, wait a minute. I'm not God. He's God. And I've got to do what I'm going to do. Well, it wouldn't be nice if God's not going to reward us for doing our duty. Oh, yes, he will. Be thou faithful unto death, and I'll give thee a crown of righteousness. Just be faithful. Moreover, brethren, it's required of stewards that a man just be found faithful. Just do what God says. The way He says it, how He says it, when He says it, where He says it, and God said, I'll give you a full reward. But there's only one way we'll obey Him, is because we love Him. And we love Him because He first loved us. Let's go back to that first slide, please. Number one, missions, hope. That's it. Next one, there you go. Luke 24, 47. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, ethnic groups, nations, beginning in Jerusalem. So, I'm not assuming the Gospel of Christ, but it's the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. And so Paul in his whole ministry, even all the way through the book of Acts, down to Acts chapter 28, he was still preaching the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God wasn't the Kingdom of Heaven where Jesus was reigning on the earth. It was the Kingdom of God in you. They wanted an outward Kingdom, and they rejected Christ because He didn't come with swords But Jesus said, no, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. God wants to come into us to give us the character so that we can be in the kingdom of God. But you've got to get the kingdom in you before you're qualified to get in the kingdom, those characteristics. But we begin at Jerusalem. And the church began there. I know there's a lot of people there. So now it began at Antioch. Well, Antioch was the first Gentile church. It has been done. It was obeyed. In the first 100 years, the gospel went to the whole world. In the next 100 years, the gospel went to the whole world again. These that have turned the world upside down need to go back and do it again. And they did it, Acts chapter 8 verse 1. And Saul was consenting unto his death, Stephen's death, and at that time there was great persecution against the Church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. For Saul, he made havoc of the Church, entering into every house, and hailing men and women, committed them to prison. " The reason I know the Church was already in Jerusalem is because he's already making havoc of the Church. It's hard, never mind. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. It wasn't just the preachers, it was everybody. that was saved, just made it, instead of organized visitation, it was unorganized chaos, and they just went and talked about Jesus. They gossiped the gospel. They just talked to people about, this is what Jesus did for me. I'm for organized visitation, I'm for organized missions, I'm for organized anything. Let everything be done decently and in order. But if we'd all just talk about Jesus, tell people who He is, explain scriptures to people. The ministry is to help, yes, help get people saved, but it's mainly for discipleship. It's mainly to help edify the church so the church can go out and build itself up on its most holy faith. So it has been done, in Acts 8, verse 4, they were scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the word. Romans 8, 1, verse 8, but first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Now, this is not exaggeration. If God says something, it's true, and if any man believe in the Lord, Paul the Apostle said, let them admit that the things that I speak unto you ARE the words of God. Paul KNEW he was just passing on the very words that God had put in his heart. In Colossians 1 verse 5, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of truth of the gospel, which is come unto you as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth. It's come all over the world. In fact, when we go to India, they tell us, well, this is where Thomas was, and this is where even Isaiah the prophet. See, those Old Testament prophets took the Word of God to the nations. Jeremiah took it to six nations around Judea, and Isaiah took it to seven, and they got the Gospel out. They got the Word of God out. But Israel was punished because they started keeping it to themselves, closing it in. The people of Jerusalem were getting saved, and they just weren't obeying the Lord, so He blew the thing up. He blew the Church of Jerusalem up, and they went everywhere to get the Word of God out. Next slide, please. It is commanded to be done. He said, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. See, these words, hope, expectation. If we can't convince the person we're looking at in the mirror that God will do it, are we going to go to a foreign field and make them believe it? And if we can't even convince ourselves with assurance that we are saved, how are you going to take assurance to people that you give the gospel to. And this continued for, excuse me, preaching every creature which is under heaven. Did Paul exaggerate again? No. It went everywhere. Remember, almost 2 million people were killed by the Romans in the first 50 years. They were impaled on spears and tarred and set on fire as torches between Jerusalem and Rome. Christianity has always been persecuted. As I said yesterday, Baptists haven't persecuted anybody, but we've been persecuted by every denomination there is. Acts 19.10, And this continued a space of two years, so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks. Now Asia was a large province. We get Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, we'd have Bohemia and Armenia, all of the countries, but that's all in that one area called Asia at the time. All that dwelt in Asia heard the word. I think a lot of folks just, as we said yesterday, They think it's somebody else's responsibility to get the gospel. It's a missionary's responsibility to take the gospel. It's the preacher's responsibility. It's the evangelist's. No, it's just every one of us. Every one of us. It's just supposed to tell people what happened to us, what the Bible says, and just be witnesses, and that's all you can do. People ask me all the time, I've been so many times to foreign countries, they say, well, how many people have you won to the Lord? I say, well, I don't know. I don't know anybody's heart. I have all I can handle trying to figure out my own heart. On any given day, I don't feel like I'm saved. But look at the Bible, it hasn't changed, so I am. I'm saved because Jesus said so, not how I feel. Because this old flesh, it doesn't want to be what it needs to be. In fact, Phariseeism, all it does is redecorate the old man. But the old man is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So we want a heart change. We need a new person born on the inside. Romans 10 verse 8, But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily. Their sound went into all the earth of their words until the ends of the world." China. My friend Robert Patton, I was a missionary to China for many years. He said there's places all over China where the apostles had sent personal messages and China had the gospel in the first 50 years. They just believed God. They just believed Jesus. Go! Did you know the Bible says, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, Lord, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Yeah. And that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name among all people, beginning at Jerusalem. Yeah. And to Him give all the prophets witness that through His name whosoever believeth in Him should receive remission of sin. Yeah. What are you taking to people? What am I taking? We're going to send missionaries and they won't even witness to their neighbor? They won't even go across the street? I'm telling you, it's a rough thing. Their word went to the ends of the world. And even when Paul got into Greece, They'd already heard the gospel before. When Paul got to Rome, there was already Christians in Rome. There was already a church established. And so, it's commanded to be done. That's the number one reason that we do what we do. Number two, it must be done. Somewhere along the line, we've got to get that burden, it's just got to be done. I must needs go through Samaria, Jesus said. I must be about my father's business. I must go to other villages. They must hear the Word of God. It must be done. Why? Because God so loved the whole world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world. The world's already condemned. Everyone in this world is going to go to hell. If Jesus hadn't died, if He hadn't come, if He hadn't died, if He hadn't died a bloody death, if He hadn't been nailed to that tree, if He hadn't conquered death, held in the grave, risen up from the grave by the omnipotence of His own power, if He had not ascended back to the right hand of the majesty on high to ever live to intercede for us, if He hadn't come, there would be no hope for anyone. And we say we believe the gospel. and we believe in Jesus Christ, then how can we? How can we not know that it's got to be done? It's got to be done. That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We don't even do it. And we're saved. You know, it's hard to get people to even come to an altar where somebody might see them kneel and pray. It's hard to get them to have a place of private prayer. It's hard to find people that actually read their Bible. But boy, they'll go to their death saying they're Christians when there's nothing about their life that even resembles Christ. And on any given day, that could be any of us. If I'm doing anything right, it's because of the grace of God sustaining it. Next, please. They're going to bow, but if we don't get them to bow now, when they bow at the great white throne judgment, it'll be too late. And I'm just saying every one of us need to hear the Master's call. If you're a disciple, If you're a disciple, He said, follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men. That's to disciples. It's believer, then disciple, then Christian. But if you're not even a disciple, He's not going to choose. Out of the disciples, He chose 12 that they would be with Him that He might send them forth to preach. But you've got to at least be a believer and a disciple before He'll choose you to go into the ministry. How shall they hear? How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Is the video we just saw. And how shall they hear without a preacher? A caruso, for the Word of God, a evangelion, an evangelistic type meaning, try to get them saved, get the gospel to them. Somebody's got to give them the truth. And they're not going to get it from all... You've got to filter a thousand podcasts to find one that's telling the truth. You've got to switch the channels on the television set at least 30 times to find a God-called Bible-practicing, Bible-preaching preacher. You know, somebody said, it's a miracle. that so many people are getting saved. Yeah, that's exactly right. With all the confusion out there, it is an absolute miracle that anybody gets saved. I mean, I've studied this book for 50 years. I've studied it under the greatest teachers there are. I mean, I've studied it in the languages. And I said, man, it's confusing. with all the junk that you hear. But hallelujah, He's given us the Father filter. Filter everything you see and hear. Filter it through the Bible and that stuff won't hurt you. And the Holy Spirit living in you that wrote the Bible will wave flags when things aren't exactly right. And how shall they preach, except they be sin? As is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. The only thing that the gospel requires is obedience by repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the obedient, willing, obedient person. Says, I repent. toward God. It's not quitting anything. That's repenting toward God. Repentance is a change of mind because of grief at heart over sin against God. It's not just a change of mind. That's never, that word metano is never translated change your mind in the Bible. It's always translated repent or penitent or impenitent depending on the prefix. Metabalo is the Greek word that's translated change your mind. You can see an example of that when Paul was shipwrecked on the island Miletus and he was picking up sticks and the natives looking around said man this guy, he must really be a terrible guy because I mean he's a prisoner then he's shipwrecked and now he's Survived that and then he sticks his hand in the fire and a snake bites him. He said this guy's really a bad guy and When he saw that he had not swollen or fallen down dead. They said well, I've changed my mind He must be a god See, that's the kind of, it's metabolic as well, these ideas and this ideas, and I think that, and I'm comparing reasoning and things, that's not repentance. Repentance is a heart change, where you change your mind because of grief at heart, because of sin against God. That's the only reason God repents. God repents about 75 times in the Bible. But never over His own sin because He doesn't sin. He never made a mistake. He changes His mind about what He's going to do for people because they grieve His heart. The law first mentioned in the Bible. It repented Him that He had even made man. Why? Because it grieved Him at His heart what they were doing. And therefore He changed His mind because of sin against Himself. That's where repentance comes from. Now, he said in Romans 10-16, Well, everybody's got faith. Not so. Not Bible faith. Bible faith comes from this book. That's another reason I'm not a Calvinist. Paul the Apostle rebuked the church at Thessalonica. He says, all men have not faith. I speak this to your shame. Why? They didn't have the Bible. They didn't have somebody preaching to them. They didn't have the scriptures. They didn't know the truth. Now in the church, God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. And some people have more faith in certain areas than I do. They have more faith gifts, more faith. But that's in the church, in the local church, in the context. But outside of the church and the believers and disciples and Christians, they don't have any faith. They don't even, you know. Even though the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork, they know there's a God, they just don't know Him personally. They can't without the scriptures. Next, please. They had already. It's commanded to be done. It has been done. It can be done again. Can you know we got more tools? We got so many tools. It's like we got metric. We got standard. We got a pair of pliers. We got vice grips. We got all kinds of ways to do this. In Psalm 121, it can be done. You know why it can be done? Because the same God that commanded us to do it said, we could lift up our eyes into the hills from whence cometh our help. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. That's who's told us to do it. That's who's told us we can do it. We can do it because who sent us. We're not doing this on our own. I wouldn't go Man, I just give me my four, no more, and I'll feed myself and take care of it until I die. Because Jesus loves those folks out there. The love of God is shed and brought in my heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto me. And though He sent forth the Spirit of His Son into my heart crying, Abba, Father, then I have the same heart that God has toward the world. I care for them just like Jesus cared for them. Not the old man, not Michael the Jerk Thurmond, but Michael Jesus Thurmond. And that jerk is still there. So sometimes I push my own button and the jerk comes out. So I try not to touch that button. Hebrews 13, 6, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. Why can you go to the San Francisco I need a roll aid. Because Jesus commanded it. Jesus was with the first two generations. And Jesus is still Jesus. He said, I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. And he said, I love them. Go tell them. Go show them. And I'm going to help you. Now, when we don't go, when we don't witness, when we don't pray for people, we're saying, You lied. God? No. He loves them. He loves them. He loved them enough to go to Calvary and even the death of a cross. Having therefore obtained the help of God? That's how Paul did it. How did he survive all the shipwrecks, the beatings, and the days and the nights in the deep, and all the heartache and the tragedy, and the betrayals. He said, having therefore obtained the help of God, I continue to this day, witnessing both small and great, saying none other things than that which the prophets and Moses did say should come. Paul the Apostle proved all the New Testament and even all the mystery age of the church age and the age of grace. He proved those things by quote, Old Testament scripture. People say, well, I'm a New Testament Christian. I'm not an Old Testament Christian. Take away 75% of the New Testament, which is simply the Old Testament repeated, and you only have 25% of it left. But the New Testament is written on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. And who did those prophets say they got their information from? The Old Testament. To Him, to Jesus, give all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. We've got the tools, the time, the travel, the technology, the teamwork. I don't know about that tenacity thing. I've been preaching for 50 years. I've had good times and bad times. I've had successes and failures. But Jesus never fails. He commanded it. People did it twice in the first couple hundred years, and He said, ìItís got to be done again.î Itís got to be done every 50 years. Weíve got whole generations in the United States of America that have no clue who Jesus is, no desire to know what the Bible says. Theyíre just willing to sit there and die and go to hell. Well, we've got to tell them about the love of God in Christ Jesus. Next, please. Why are we doing it? Well, He commanded us to. Second reason, we want to glorify God. You know what glorifies God? It's when we change. Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Whether therefore you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with all thy might. Why? For the glory of God. I've watched the pastor. He just did what he could, but he's glorified God. And there's going to be years we're going to be looking back on our missionaries here tonight, and they're not going to be able to believe what's happened if they do it for the glory of God. He shares His glory with no man. Third reason, we just want to rescue the perishing. Care for the dying. Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. And I think you know somebody that can write that song. 1 Thessalonians 2, 19, For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is coming? One of the greatest benefits of being saved is I got to see my own son saved. But I don't get anybody else saved. One day I hope to see both my granddaughters saved. But you got to have tenacity. Not just the technique, not being able technicians. We want to see the body of Christ edified, built up in their most holy faith. I want to see, the greatest reward for a preacher is to see his people growing spiritually. That's right. My goal isn't to grow numbers, my goal is to grow spiritual Christians. That's right, amen. And we're running out of time. If I haven't heard it once, we've been singing it. Rapture can happen any second. And then it's seven years of God, one by one, taking the lost people out of this planet, casting them into hell. Until by the end of the tribulation, there are no lost people at all on this planet when Jesus sets up his kingdom. Because the remnant is destroyed in Revelation chapter 19 when he comes back with his bride, his wife. And he destroys the remnant with the sword of his mouth. And we're on the cleanup committee. We don't ride back on white horses. We got brooms. No, okay. We want to edify the body. Praise to God for having favor with all the people. We've got to be obviously Christian, not obnoxiously Christian. Having favor with all the people. We're not out to offend them. If I offend somebody, I'll get down a monument circle downtown Indianapolis on my knees and beg them to forgive me. But if this word offends them, I'll just say, you've got to deal with it. Make sure we don't offend people. especially the children. Jesus said it would be better that a millstone were hung about your neck and you were cast into the depths of the sea than if you scandalize, offend one little one. If your testimony outside of this building would make children doubt what you're saying in your gospel message, and they die and go to hell, it's because of you and their blood will be on your hands. The time is fleeting. I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is to happen to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." The fullness of the Gentiles. Just like before the flood, the fullness of iniquity was in this planet, and God said that's it. There are deadlines. And to whom much is given, much is required, and America is the only nation on the world that if our total economy fails, all the economies fail. How's Israel made it this far? We're the only nation that voted for them in 1948. We're the only ones. They're still here because of us. The only reason the gospel is still getting out is because America is still strong enough to back us up when we go out on the mission field. They'll get us home. Maybe our president will be able to do something about all the Christians dying in Nigeria. We don't know. Because he's got to have a Congress. St. Peter 3.12, looking for and hastening unto the coming day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. If a rapture happens today, this world's only got seven years. Just think what's happened in your life in the last seven years. My dad's right at 100. Fought in World War II. This is not the same world he was living in. I got news for you. I'm 73 because I'm letting you know because a lot of think I'm 83. I'm just 73. And it's not the America I grew up in. It has radically changed. I mean, we still had people reading the Bible and preaching to us. Once a month we had convocations at Avon High School, public school, and the preachers came in and preached the devil out of us in the public school. My teachers would read the Bible and pray for us in public school. That day is coming. And when he has come and has seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. So until that day comes, our ministry as ministers and missionaries is go and see the grace of God. I can't wait to hear reports when you see the grace of God. in the hills of San Francisco. It's hard to believe it until you see it, but God works with his word. God answers prayer and Jesus never fails. Missionaries, pastors, preachers, you may think your case is special, And He might fail you, but you're not that special that He's going to start failing with you. Acts 13.43, Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking of them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Well, what does this mean? It means that we've got help. We've got help. I'm skipping over some things here. How are we going to do it? We're going to do it by grace. We're going to labor by grace. We're going to pray with grace. We're going to preach. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, not salt with a little sugar in it. You've got to be palatable. You dirty, low-down, no-good, going-to-hell sinners! I tried that on the streets, and I didn't try, but some people were doing that on the streets of Philadelphia, Mississippi. And buddy had all kinds of issues, but I think you were with me, weren't you? Maybe you weren't with me, but my wife was with me, and some other, we were standing in our corner, and we were preaching a positive gospel, and Jesus loves you, and the police came to protect us. I mean, we had some, I call them old Baptist biddies, that owned some stores and they thought we were keeping people from coming in. No, the people were going around and around and walking over and listening to us sing. Lance Thomas was with us, his wife and children were playing the guitar, we were singing, giving the gospel out, passing out trash. Truckers would go around and bop, bop, bop, and roll the windows down and listen to us sing and preach. The others over there said, oh, go to hell. I said, I guarantee you. I remember my first was in Pensacola, Florida. I hadn't been saved very long. I made a trip. We took a trip down there. And we went to the mall. And there was a guy in ragged britches. half of a shirt on, standing on top of his old 61 Chevrolet, just castigating everybody. Looked right at me and said, you are going to hell! I said, you don't even know me. I'm saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. I've got eternal life in me. May I repeat, be obviously Christians, not obnoxiously Christians. Next plus, 1510, Acts 1510. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." Go with grace. Stay with grace. It's grace that saves. It's grace that sanctifies. It's grace that serves. It's grace that empowers. It's grace. You didn't deserve any of this. It's just the grace of God. If I got what I deserve today, For the life I've lived since I got saved, I'd go to hell. People say, oh, God's just not fair. He's just not fair. I said, I don't want Him to start now. Don't start being fair now. I don't want what I deserve on any day. in any way. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and in godless sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you, Lord." If the world can't see a difference between us and them, there is no difference. If there's no essential difference between being saved and being lost, there is no difference. We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia. I tell you, There's places in this world, and there's churches, and probably these churches that the missionaries all came out of, churches that your background, churches that you were in when you were learning about the Lord, churches that I was in, churches, missionaries that came into my life. I saw the grace of God. Even when I was lost, I knew I had met some real Christians in my life. They were not all hypocrites. They were not all fake. They were not all phony. Let us be pictures of grace. And then we'll reap what we sow. If we sow grace, even if it's not very gracefully, but at least spread grace graciously. Breathe upon it. We're standing in it. Grace. Father, we love You. We ask Your blessings upon the message tonight. Thank You for it. Thank You for these dear missionary families. I pray to God You'd fill them up.