Let's pray. Gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your goodness toward us. Father, we thank you, Lord, for the blood of Jesus Christ, your son, Lord, which cleanses us from sin. We praise you, God, for the redemption we have found in him. We thank you, God, that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away, but all things have become new. I pray, Father, that this morning, Father, as I preach this message on missions, Father, Lord, that you would fill me with your spirit, Lord, to speak those things that are accurate and that are in agreement with your word, Father. And I pray, Father, that you will give us a vision, Father, for biblical promotion of the gospel message in our own spheres of influence and around the world. Father, we pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen. Good morning again. My name's Nathan, Nathan Marr. I'm an elder at Heritage Baptist Church and we're thrilled to be here together again to look into the word of God. I've just been tremendously blessed by all of the conference sessions at this year's conference. As we get these truths on our hearts and as these truths from the word of God change our way of living, change our families, and change our churches, it's natural for us to look at all the blessings that we have received through the gospel transformation in our lives and say, How can I give this message to the world that surrounds me? We're interested in missions so frequently because missions has to do with people, doesn't it? It has to do with people. We're interested in things that relate to people. But another major, and the fact that it relates to people is significant and is significantly important. But even an even greater motivation for missions is a desire to see true and genuine worship of God. all across our globe, to see true and genuine worship of God all across our globe. So today, as I talk about missions, I'm going to talk about missions proper, about the planting of churches, the church doing its work of sending out missionaries to plant churches. And I'm also gonna talk about how the family works together with the church to accomplish the church's mission. How can the family cooperate with the church to accomplish the church's mission. So we're gonna talk about, we're gonna talk some about evangelism and discipleship. These are things that play into the mission of the church, of seeing peoples of all nations discipled and evangelized. Open, if you will, please, to Psalm 96 as my Starting point today, Psalm 96. And we see the psalmist communicating to us a vision for worldwide worship of the one true God. Worldwide worship of the one true God. As we proclaim the gospel message, as we seek to make disciples of all nations, this must be our primary, primary goal. Psalm 96 begins like this. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name. Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all people. So here are several imperatives, aren't there? Sing to the Lord, it's a command. We as worshipers of God have been given the command to sing to the Lord. And he expands that to say all the world sing to the Lord. Bless his name, speak well of his name. Proclaim the good news of His salvation. When we say the good news of His salvation, that reminds us of the gospel, doesn't it? Declare His glory among the nations. Worldwide appreciation of the glory of God. Worldwide glorification of God. His wonders among all peoples. God desires that there be worshipers of Him from all nations, and then he's gonna give us the reason for this response. He starts out by giving us a response, and then following that with the reason for the response. Verse four, for the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols. But the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. He gives us the motivation here for the command to sing. He gives us the motivation for the command to worship. He gives us the motivation for the command to declare His good news in all the world. And that motivation is that God is worthy. God is worthy, God is great. Men naturally seem to ascribe to themselves glory, don't they? They ascribe glory to that which they admire. This weekend is the Super Bowl, and it's gonna be a great ascribing of glory to the capabilities of a few great athletes, isn't it? We naturally ascribe glory to that which is, compared to God, weak, vain, and worthless, don't we? The gods of the nations are idols. What's that word mean, idols? When a car is just idling, it's not producing anything, is it? It's just sitting there. People naturally worship that which they admire, but they naturally admire that which doesn't really produce, that which is powerless, that which is impotent, idols. Men naturally worship things which are weak, vain, and good for nothing. It's not just a bad idea. Idle worship is treason against God, isn't it? Idle worship is not just a bad idea, it's treason against God. And when we exalt anything in our thinking over and above God, we need to view that as absolute treason against Him. This is the reason for missions. Men are involved in treason against God. And the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of the lordship of Jesus Christ must be proclaimed because he is worthy. Honor and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. This from Paris Readhead. Just a brief example of men getting a grasp of missions for the glory of God. Growing up, I would hear a lot of sermons on missions. And the sermons on missions I heard were all like this, people Need the gospel. People need the good news. And that's true. That is absolutely true. The people need the gospel. People need the good news. It's up to you to get it to them. People need the gospel. It's up to you to get the gospel to people. And that's true. There's tremendous truth there. But God has given us a far greater reason, hasn't he? Love for him. Love for man is important, isn't it? But it's the second commandment, isn't it? Love for God is primary. We cannot. We cannot. Say that we could potentially say that we have a love for man without having a love for God, can't we? But we cannot. love God without having a love for man. Those things run together, don't they? They run together, but the first commandment, the love for God, is primary, and out of that flows love for man. We need to view the first commandment as the most important, as our motivation for missions. We love God, we want men to worship Him. He commands men to worship Him. Two Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2,000 or 3,000 slaves, and the owner had said, no preacher, no clergyman will ever stay on this island. If he's shipwrecked, we'll keep him in a separate house until he has leave, but he's never going to talk to any of us about God. I'm through with all that nonsense. 3,000 slaves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the Atlantic, there to live and die without hearing of Christ. Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money they received from their sale, for he paid no more than he would for any slave, to pay their passage out to his island. for he wouldn't even transport them. As the ship left its pier in the river at Hamburg and was going out into the North Sea, carried with the tide, the Moravians had come from Heron Hut to see these two lads off in their early 20s, never to return again. For this wasn't a four-year term. They sold themselves into lifetime slavery. Simply, that as slaves, they could be as Christians where these others were. The families were there weeping, for they knew they would never see them again. And they wondered why they were going and questioned the wisdom of it. As the gap widened and the housings had been cast off and were being curled up there on the pier, the young boys saw the widening gap. One lad laid with his arm linked through the arm of his fellow, raised his hand and shouted across the gap. The last words that were heard from them were these, may the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering. This became the call of Moravian missions, and this is the only reason for being, that the lamb that was slain receive the reward for his sufferings. These young men grasped mission for the glory of God, didn't they? They grasped an understanding of God. of God's worthiness to be worshipped. God's worthiness to be worshipped. This is the primary reason that all of us, that any of us, should preach the gospel. Because God is worthy to be worshipped. Frequently, I find that we need to remind ourselves of the commission that God has given to us. And at this point, I'm talking mostly about our personal witness, about our personal witness. We're gonna get into the more formal missions in a moment. But our personal witness, which is absolutely vital to the mission of the church being achieved. We frequently need to be reminded of the commission which our God has laid on us, don't we? We need to be reminded of our mission. I think that God has desired that we hear this great commission proclaimed multiple times this weekend. After I preach through Matthew 28 here, the last few verses, I'll be the third of us, of the preachers up here, to go through these verses. And we didn't come to any sort of agreement to all preach on this text. I believe that God has a message to give to us. He's calling our attention to this text. He's calling our attention to his command. He's reminding us of the commission that he's given to us. Matthew. 28, and I'd like to begin with verse 16. Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw them, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Let's stop right there. Jesus had told his disciples to go to a certain mountain. These disciples obeyed, didn't they? Jesus is giving his commission to his obedient disciples. Jesus is giving his commission to his obedient disciples. Now, some doubted, it says. But even though they doubted, they obeyed. And I think that's very significant. Even though they doubted, they obeyed. You see, this mission of worldwide evangelism wasn't going to depend on the strength and power of these men, was it? These men were not the strength of the church. These men were not the strength of worldwide discipleship. These men had weakness, just like every one of us here in this room. These men had certain weaknesses, didn't they? Some doubted. But even though they doubted, they all obeyed. They all went to the mountain which Jesus Christ had pointed out to them. When they saw him, they worshiped him. So he gives his commission. To obedient worshippers, to obedient worshippers. Notice the position that worship has in this text. It takes a prominent position. They worshipped him, but some doubted. What did they doubt? I don't know what all they doubted. I mean, there was probably a lot of things they could have doubted. I mean, this was an incredible miracle to see the risen Lord, and they'd seen him several times over the course of the last 40 days. We know that. What did they doubt? I don't know. Jesus had pretty clearly displayed his risen body to them by even eating in their presence. But some doubted, they still struggled with this. This was still too incredible, too much to believe. It was hard for them to believe. And Jesus Christ says to them in the midst of their weakness, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me. So Jesus Christ is establishing here the the right, if you will, to commission his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. He's giving them the basis for it. I am the authority. All authority is given to me. There is no authority that exists outside of Jesus' authority. There's no authority that's over him. Jesus Christ is the supreme authority and Romans chapter 13 says that all other authorities on this earth are derived from the authority of Jesus Christ. He gives them their authority doesn't he? All authority belongs to him. If you were commissioned to go out and and do anything by the President of the United States, you would feel very validated, wouldn't you? If he said, you know what, Joe, I want you to go and do this, that, and the other, you would feel that you had the authority to do it, wouldn't you? Well, how much more having received the command and the commission from the king of the universe should we feel that we have the authority and the power to do that which he's commanding us to do. And so he's gonna go on into now the content of his commission. It says, all authorities were given to me in heaven and earth. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. I believe that in this text now, there are great implications for the personal witness of every single one of us here in this room. There are great implications for our witness as disciples of Jesus Christ. And he's taking it beyond that to the role of the church. Now, this is a commission given to the church to take the gospel of Jesus Christ and to send out missionaries to go and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in all nations, to all people groups. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations. baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Make disciples. What's that mean to make disciples? I believe it's been referenced here a number of times. Disciple, of course, is the word mathetes, from the Greek, from which we derive our English word mathematics. It's a student, a student. We're to make students. You have, if you're in Christ, you have the responsibility of a teacher, don't you? in some way, shape, or form, to disciple, to teach others those things that Christ has taught us. We're all at different points in our walk with Christ. But even if you're only seven or eight years old and you have faith and you have a little brother or sister, you have a discipleship responsibility before God. Discipleship is really described In Philippians chapter three, I love this description from the Apostle Paul of discipleship. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he says, follow me as I follow Christ. You follow me as I follow Christ. That's discipleship. You follow me as I follow, that's a call of discipleship. Follow me as I follow Christ. Here in the book of Philippians chapter three, beginning with verse 12, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me. So here the Apostle Paul is saying I am not perfect, I am not, I haven't reached it yet, but I'm moving that direction, I'm growing, I'm moving towards God. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Unless we are pressing towards the goal of the call of God in Christ Jesus, unless we're pressing towards knowing Him more, understanding Him more, well, we won't be disciple-makers, will we? I press on towards the, okay. Verse 15, therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this also. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, now let us walk in the same rule, let us be of the same mind. And then verse 17, brethren, join in following my example. There's the call of discipleship. I'm moving this way, come on, let's go together following our Savior. Brethren, join in my example and note those who so walk as you have from us a pattern. That's discipleship. That's making disciples. That was Paul's attitude and we see constantly throughout the whole ministry of Paul. We see him bringing people alongside to work with him. The last portions of a majority of his epistles are dedicated to what I call the Pauline Long Goodbyes, in which he's giving his howdy to all those people that were his co-laborers, people working with him. That was his attitude of discipleship, to bring people alongside of him. Let's serve God together. Let's pursue God together. Moving on, teach God's commands. Of course, that's the content here in Matthew 28. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We could talk about what that means. Of course, we have the examples in the New Testament of baptism. We have the Ethiopian eunuch. We have those who are added to the church in Acts chapter two, baptized following their conversion, baptized in water. as commanded here, and then he says, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. The content of discipleship, the curriculum of discipleship is the commands of God, isn't it? Let's obey God together. That is the attitude of discipleship. And this has implications in every one of our lives. This has implications in every one of our lives. but it also has implications for the church, and beyond just implications for the church, this is directed specifically to the church. How is this to be applied? How is this applied? Turn with me to Romans chapter 10. We'll see that God has prescribed the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the good news, as the method whereby This great commission will be achieved. The preaching of the good news. And he says this, how then shall they call upon him, verse 14, in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? So God has appointed specific means whereby he achieves this great goal of worldwide discipleship and evangelism of the nations. And how shall they preach unless they are sent? How shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. How shall they preach unless they are sent? Is that a question that you have ever asked yourself? Frequently, that's a question we don't usually think about, is it? We don't frequently think about that. How should they preach unless they're sent? Here is a prescriptive text prescribing that the church send preachers, that the church send preachers to the lost. And in Acts chapter 13, we find a descriptive text describing how that was done. Turn with me to Acts 13. We're gonna move into some of the narrative of the ministry of the apostle Paul. We know Paul was a wretch saved by the grace of God, miraculously driven to his knees by the resurrected Christ. And now he goes to the church in Antioch, following a significant amount of time and numerous events. In Acts chapter 13, now in the church that was in Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been brought up with Herod, the Tetrarch, and Saul. So these are the leaders of the congregation here in the city of Antioch. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, The Holy Spirit said, now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So who does God communicate this message to? He communicates this message of the need to send out these missionaries to the church. He communicates it to the church. The church recognizes this need to send these missionaries out through the working of the Spirit of God. But it's a work to which he had called these particular men. God, God's Spirit communicates to the church that they're to send these men who have been called to go and do this particular work. Here we have an example of a church sending, sending men out. And then it says, then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. And I'm sure that was a hard thing to do, knowing the nature of who the Apostle Paul was. I'm sure it was a hard thing for them to send him out from their congregation. But they were willing to sacrifice in this way, that he would go out and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentile nations. And we stand here today as beneficiaries of their obedience, don't we? Beneficiaries, the vast majority of us here are Gentiles to whom the gospel came. We were those who are far off according to Ephesians chapter three, but now we've been brought near. We praise God for the missionaries that were sent to our people groups. That's a word we didn't really talk about when we went through the Great Commission there in Matthew chapter 28. The word nations, people groups. That word is generally, the word ethnos in Greek, generally translated in the majority of the times it's used in the New Testament, it's translated Gentiles. Gentiles, the nations that surrounded the Jewish people. The nations who were far off. We've all benefited from these churches sending out these missionaries to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to our people groups. Have you ever wondered, how did the gospel come to our people groups? It's a very interesting, interesting study, and I encourage you to look it up in church history. Read through how the gospel came to your people group. It's very, very interesting. Chapter 14 now of the book of Acts as we hurry through. Chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas have been sent out. God has called them. The church has sent them. They've traveled through a variety of different places proclaiming the good news. and now they're traveling back through a number of those towns, finishing up the work that they've started. The ministry of the Apostle Paul always amazes me. It always amazes me how much work God did through that man's life in a very brief period of time. It's absolutely astounding. Verse 21. They're traveling back through these cities that they'd already visited. It says, now when they had preached the gospel in that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. So we find Paul was preaching the gospel. Paul was preaching the gospel. That's the content of the message he was preaching we call the gospel. He declares to us the gospel in In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, doesn't he? Brethren, I declare to you the God, that which I received, the first things he says there in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He says these are the first things, the most important things. I declare it to you that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried, raised the third day according to the scriptures, and then he appeared to such and such and such and such and such person. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news. We remind ourselves of that at our churches every week, remind ourselves of that as we take the communion every week. It's a reminder. I need to be reminded of the gospel on a regular basis. Why do I need to be reminded? Because I so easily, Stray in my thinking. I can become a moralist in my thinking. Thinking in some way, shape, or form, I am justified by my actions. Thinking I am pretty good. No, I need to be reminded of the gospel. I need to be reminded Christ has died for my sins to present me perfectly holy and righteous before God. When I get into a moralistic way of thinking, It's hard to pray in a moralistic way of thinking, isn't it? It's difficult to come before the presence of God because you feel yourself so unworthy, I can't measure up to what God requires, the absolute perfection. We find that absolute perfection in Jesus Christ, don't we? That God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we would become the righteousness of God and because Jesus Christ has imparted that righteousness to me. I'm able to come before the throne, or imputed that righteousness to me rather. I'm able to come before the throne of grace with confidence to find grace to help in time of need. The content of the gospel calls men to repentance, into faith, repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. This is what Paul said was his message, repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. And he went through all these towns proclaiming this message, both to Jew and to Greek. He said to all who would hear the message of reconciliation with God in 2 Corinthians chapter 15. He says that the message of reconciliation was entrusted to him. He wanted to see men reconciled with God. Peace with God. So preach the gospel. Repentance from sin, faith in the finished work of Christ. Make disciples. So the first thing he did was he preached the gospel. Then he went back through Okay, so let's hear verse 21. When he had preached the gospel, made disciples, then he returned to these cities, strengthening the souls of the disciples. So he's already gone through these cities, proclaiming the gospel, making disciples, now he's going back through and he's encouraging them. He's encouraging them. Think of the importance to these people it was to be encouraged in their faith. To be encouraged in their faith. They didn't have the internet, the computer. They could look up a sermon on and they didn't even have e-sort or any of our free Bible software that we can go through and feed ourselves spiritually. They needed this personal connection, and I'm gonna say one thing. All those media sources can be a source of encouragement to us, but they are woefully insufficient, woefully insufficient. They're fine tools, they're great tools, but they're woefully insufficient when it comes to discipleship, when it comes to that hey, let's worship God together, let's obey God together in the power of the gospel. They're woefully insufficient in creating those connections. They're good tools, but they're woefully insufficient. Make disciples, oh yeah, he goes back through and he strengthens them, he encourages them. This is the role of the missionary. Proclaim the gospel, make disciples, strengthen, strengthen those, fan those flames Fertilize those new plants of spiritual life. Exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. They didn't paint the Christian life in any light. Separate from reality, did they? They didn't try and sell people on a your best life now kind of a philosophy, did they? No, they said it's through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And so when they appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And that's the second time that we see the vital importance of fasting and prayer in the mission of the church. The vital importance of fasting, in chapter 13 we saw that right there at the beginning. They sent these guys out with fasting and with prayer. And now these guys are going from one church to another with fasting and prayer, encouraging the disciples, both fasting and with prayer. Why? Because they are not the strength of the church, are they? Jesus Christ is the strength of the church. And they recognized a great need to know Him and to see Him work. And then they appointed elders in every city. They appointed biblically qualified elders in every one of the city. And here we see plurality of elders, singular city. It's a great one of the many texts which point to a plurality of elders in the church. There's other texts that point to plurality of elders, singular church. Commended them to the Lord. The Lord was able to make them stand. They didn't. They didn't stay forever, did they? But the work of the missionary is to plant the church. And eventually, when all these things were in order, to leave the church and move on, to leave and move on. And there's much, many people have studied a lot on that. There's a lot of books to be read on this topic. But that's the big picture, that's the big picture of what we're looking at when we talk about missions proper. This is the role of missions. It's a role given to the church. How does the family work with the church to achieve these goals? For many of us, this is our question. How can my family work with the church? to achieve these goals, and we talked about personal witness, and I believe personal witness is absolutely vital. That each family be a disciple-making family is vitally important. I'm gonna present three points as we value the role of the family in the great commission of the church. First of all, family provides a vital connection point between diverse cultures. As we go out preaching the gospel in every nation of the world, and when I say that, I'm speaking of the whole church, I'm not talking about one individual going out and preaching the gospel in every single nation of the world, but as the church sends out its missionaries, it encounters all kinds of cultural difficulties. Those things which are common sense in our cultures here are not common sense in a lot of the other cultures of this world. Those things which we take for granted, other people do not take for granted. I lived for six years in Mexico, proclaiming the gospel, promoting biblical family life and the gospel of Jesus Christ, working in a church plant. And I tell you, people the whole world over don't all think the same. People have very different and distinct perspectives. And there is a need to connect with people that think very differently from us. Family provides a very interesting connection point for diverse cultures. From his book, A Practical Theology of Missions, Eric Wright says this, family life is a gift of God's grace. Everyone loves children. Children are a heritage of the Lord. Far from feeling that children inhibit missionary work, Christian families should realize that they are one of God's secret weapons. The presence of children opens doors far better than most evangelistic programs. And the presence of a missionary wife naturally attracts the interest of other women. How missionary parents treat their children can also demonstrate parenting skills unknown in the host culture. And this is absolutely true. I mean, when we lived in Mexico, it would not be uncommon for a child to be acting up in the back of the van. and I'm driving the van, driving along the church or wherever, and the mother says to the child acting up in the back of the van, if you don't shut up, the pastor's gonna kick you out of the van, we're gonna leave you on the side of the road, and we're never gonna see you again. And lying to their children to try and manipulate them is horrible, and it makes the preacher feel kind of bad, because I'm being painted as the guy that's gonna dump you on the side of the road. The Christian balance of discipline and love and of teaching children responsibility and respect is revolutionary in many cultures. The home is the natural base from which to demonstrate the Christian lifestyle. The curiosity of people about missionary life creates opportunities to share Christian values and ultimately the gospel. Instead of viewing family responsibilities as something that detract, or to detract from time spent in the work, missionaries should embrace their home life as one of the most basic missionary methods. The relationship between husband and wife is a model of the relationship between Christ and the church. What better way to lay down church principles than through demonstrating it in practical love, forgiveness, respect, and teamwork. Of course, the feminist view on the role of women will not go down well in most cultures. Women must take care of how to avoid appearance of being controlling or independent. Men too must avoid chauvinism, so prevalent in this world. And then he goes on to talk about hospitality. Hospitality, a vital, aspect of Christian missions. Family provides a vital connection point in diverse cultures. And this is something that the missionary movement over the course of the last 75 or 80 years, maybe even a little bit more than that, has been woefully, woefully negligent in. So many families have sent their children to boarding schools so that they can disciple the rest of the world, and that is an absolute tragedy, an absolute tragedy, and the results have been horrendous. If you even just look up on the internet, you can see terrible results that have resulted from parents that were called to go take the gospel to the world neglecting their families. It's horrible. Family provides a vital connection point between diverse cultures. Secondly, and Mr. Wright there alluded to this also, family illustrates God's relationships. As families, we illustrate God's relationships. Our marriage relationships flow directly out of the Trinity. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11, Ephesians 5, Verses 22 and following. The way that we order our families finds its origin, its source in the nature of God himself. Verse 22, husbands. Now, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies, et cetera. This passage of scripture draws a very tight relationship between the nature of God and the nature of the family. The family is to depict that wonderful nature of God. And family is both a training and proving ground of biblical leaders. Family is both a training and proving, and I'm not gonna say family is the only training ground of biblical leaders. That would ignore the church's role in training. But the family is a training ground of biblical leaders. If you look at the qualifications for eldership, you'll see that it is required that a man be found faithful in his home, isn't it? It is required that a man order his family aright. And if a missionary is going to establish the church in a society divorced from his family, essentially. I mean, he's sowing some bad seed at that point, isn't he? He's sowing some bad seed because he is, first of all, he's removing himself from the necessary qualification. Secondly, he is living out a depiction which is really foreign to the scriptures, isn't he? He's living out a depiction foreign to the scriptures, and I believe that could be tremendously undermining to his ministry. If you look at the book of 2 Timothy and the first chapter, you'll see both the family and the church's role in training up leaders. Both the family's and church's role in training up leaders. I thank God, Paul says in verse three, whom I serve with a pure conscience as my fathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you as well. This is one of my favorite texts to preach on Mother's Day because it points to the role of mothers in church leadership. Mothers have a real significant role to play in church leadership. They're trainers, they're trainers. Mothers and grandmothers, the family provides significant discipleship for these kids. And parents, when you're discipling your little two-year-old, you're discipling somebody that someday is gonna be an adult. By God's grace, you're discipling someone who's gonna be a tool in the hand of the Lord who said he's gonna build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You're discipling a little person who's gonna be a big person, and by God's grace, a faithful big person like Timothy. This is a tremendous commendation of motherhood here, isn't it? Paul is really commending These women, for their faithfulness. It was in your mother, your grandmother. I'm persuaded it is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. So the family had a role, and here's the church having a role. The apostle laying his hands on Timothy, appointing him to the position that God was calling him to. It's a training ground and a proving ground. Out here west of town, we have the Caterpillar Proving Grounds, don't we? Have you ever seen the Caterpillar Proving Grounds? It looks like a road that goes right up the side of the White Tank Mountains, but it goes right up the very side of the mountains. They didn't seek Caterpillar, designing their bulldozers. They didn't take their bulldozers to Tahiti, where every prospect pleases, and drive them down paved roads to find out if their bulldozers were sufficiently good or not. To find out if their bulldozers were going to stand the test. the difficult circumstances that men were gonna use their bulldozers in. No, they brought them to the hottest place that they could find and they took them up the side of a mountain to prove them. In a similar way, when biblical leadership is required to properly disciple in their home and properly lead their home, it's a proving ground. It's a proving ground for biblical leadership. So the home is both a training ground and a proving ground. Okay, let's move on to some more specifics of applications. I think there's been a lot of application we've proclaimed already, but of course we believe in giving to missions. Of course we believe that the family has been given the role of taking dominion of this earth, haven't they? Taking all the elements of this natural world and making them to produce. They've been given the economic power, haven't they? Third John says, beloved is this faithful thing, It is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are who testify to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, for they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these that we may be fellow workers for the truth. So we believe in financially supporting men who go out to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Secondly, we believe in praying. We believe in praying, don't we? Praying is, prayer is vitally important. Without prayer, says Andrew Murray, even though there may be increased interest in missions, more work for them, better success in organization, greater finances, and real growth of the spiritual, no, okay, excuse me, greater, better success in organization and greater finances, comma, the real growth of the spiritual life and of the love for Christ in the people may be very small. Without prayer, real spiritual growth will be very small. Paul again and again requests prayer, doesn't he? In Ephesians chapter six, praying at all times in the spirit, and then he says, also pray for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. We need to be praying for those who are taking the gospel, don't we? Pray for them that they will be filled with the spirit of God, to wisely and correctly and accurately proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which also I'm an ambassador in chains. Luke chapter 10 tells us to pray the Lord of the harvest, that he raise up laborers for his harvest field. We spend a lot of time strategizing how to apply the dominion mandate, don't we? We spend a lot of time strategizing how to take the things that God has put into this world and make them work for the kingdom. How much time do we spend strategizing how to fulfill the Great Commission? How much time do you spend? How much time do churches spend strategizing how to fulfill the Great Commission? How much time do you spend time thinking about how to fulfill, how your family can work with the church to fulfill the Great Commission? With that point, let's close in prayer. Gracious Lord, we thank you, Lord, for the Great Commission. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for your command to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. We thank you, Lord, for the many great examples of men and women who have sacrificed so much in this life to take the gospel. They've endured hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ to take the gospel, and they brought the gospel to us. We thank you, God, for that, and we pray, Lord, that our church's father as well would be found faithful to your great commission. And I pray, God, that you will give us, give our families, Lord, wisdom, Lord, to know how to work together with the church in fulfilling its great commission purpose. In Christ Jesus' name I pray, amen.