Mark 16, Mark, the gospel of Mark, chapter number 16. I wanna focus on this verse 15 tonight, and just a phrase, and the Lord permits. Tomorrow night, we'll come back and finish up with this verse. You know, in the conclusion of the Gospel of Matthew, you have the Great Commission. Here in Mark 16, the last chapter, you have the Great Commission condensed, appropriately so, isn't it? Because, I mean, in Matthew, you've got like 28 chapters. In Mark, only 16. Matthew's almost twice as big. So it would be appropriate for Mark's reference of the Great Commission to be smaller, to be shorter. And so it is. Of course, at the end of the book of Luke, you have an element of the Great Commission given a little bit differently. And likewise with John, where the focus was kind of on Peter and John there in the last chapter. And of course, the book of Acts starts out, Acts 1.8, with the strategy that the Lord has given to the church. He gives us a great commission here. And so he gives us our orders. These are our marching orders in Mark 16 or Matthew 28. We're going to read Mark 16. And then when you get to Acts 1a, he says, now you'll receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses. unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and in the uttermost part of the earth." There he gives us the strategy by which we fulfill the Great Commission. So the Lord's not only told us what to do, But in the missions manual, which is the book of Acts, he tells us how to do it. And tells us how we're going to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and how we're to execute that strategy and that plan of reaching the world from those right around us. to those just beyond us, to those on the other side of the world. And so what a strategy. And so we have a complete program from the commission itself to the means by which we fulfill that. Wouldn't it have been something if he'd have told us to do it, but not tell us how to do it. But he not only told us to do it, he said in Mark 16, verse 15, he said to them, go ye. into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And so then wonderfully in Acts, he gives us some details about how to do that. And then through the rest of the New Testament, you have truths that spring up everywhere about emphasis on missions and different forms. But boy, here's the great commission in just this little nutshell of a verse, if you will. So I wanna talk to you about that tonight with an emphasis on this thought, fulfilling the great commission. Fulfilling the great commission. Now it's all about winning people to the Lord. It's all about seeing people saved and God getting the glory for that. It's about seeing people go to heaven. Let me say this about going to heaven. What if I made this statement and I said, I wanna go to heaven? And would be appropriate for us to just put a period right there. I wanna go to heaven. But what if we put a comma there? I wanna go to heaven, but. And you think about that and you say, well, that don't make any sense. I mean, I wanna go to heaven. I wanna go to heaven. And it could ring out all over this sanctuary. I wanna go to heaven. But let me say it this way. I wanna go to heaven, but I don't wanna go exclusively or I don't wanna go alone. How about you? I wanna go to heaven, but I don't wanna go alone. I want my wife to go with me and she's going. I have two children. Kevin and Anna, I want my children to go. And they're going. I have a daughter-in-law and yeah, a son-in-law. And I want them to go. And they're going. And then I've got some grandchildren. I got my phone over here somewhere with about 3,000 pictures. We'll try to get them on video one night. I want my grandchildren to go, I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go alone. I have three grandchildren, Bo is eight, Jack is four, and Vivi is 20 months, going on 20 years old. She's so far ahead of them boys, it ain't even funny. Two words, she is, two words, awesome. That's one thing to be awesome, but when you are awesome. Boys, grandboys are great, but, oh, okay, let me move on. I prayed for my grandchildren before they were ever saved. You probably did pray for yours. We prayed for Bo Bo for years that he would be saved. A couple of years ago, I'd be preaching, I'd come down, and both of them are in our church, my son, my daughter, and their families. And I'd be preaching, I'd look, and Bo would, sometimes with his daddy, come down out of the sound room and they'd go and pray. And sometimes when his dad was working in the sound room upstairs, Bo, I'd look, and I'd be giving invitation, and I'd see something caught in my eye. I'd see Bo walking down the aisle and get in the altar. I'm giving the invitation. And I want to go over and pray with Bobo. And it's like the Holy Spirit said, just leave him alone. Leave him alone. I'm working on him. And so that went on for probably, I don't know how many months. And then we were in a camp meeting in Canton, Texas, uh, July a year ago. And, um, I had preached that Friday night and, uh, give the invitation. It was more about revival really than salvation. I had people coming down the aisles going to some of the pastors and saying, I'm praying for revival. I want revival. I'm pleading with God. I'm going to surrender to plead and pray for revival. And people really lined up down the aisles and there were 600 or 700 people there that night or more. My own son had got up from there and he'd come up on the stage and hugged me and said, Daddy, I want revival. I want to pray for revival. I want to see revival. He went back. Another one of our members had come up to me and so then I looked down and a preacher friend of mine and Bo was in the altar with him. And this preacher friend of mine looked up at me and he said, Brother Ronnie, come here, come here. I said, did Bo get saved? He said, not yet, not yet. And so I got down there with him, and then I motioned to my son, who was sitting in that section. So us three big guys, two of us preachers, and one of them, his dad, kind of had Bo, little eight-year-old Bo, surrounded. I mean, he was getting saturated with preacher. But it didn't keep him from getting saved, hallelujah. And I talked to him and prayed with him, and he asked the Lord to save him, and got saved. When he got through and I took the microphone, I put it in Bo's face, I said, Bo, I said, why did you come down here tonight? And he said, to ask God if he would save me. And I said, really? I said, what did he say? And Bo said, yes. A lady was sitting there in front and she was recording it with her phone. And she sent me a copy of it. I got a copy of that if you'd like to see that. Boy, that done me some good. Thank you for letting me share that with you. I love to tell it. It was the nearest thing to me getting saved myself when my grandson got saved. That was awesome. Now, Jack's four. Vivi, I have no doubts about their salvation. They'll get saved. But anyway, I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go alone. I want my family. But I'm not going to be just so selfish with my family. I've got friends, people in the community, the church members. Well, I want them to go with me. And then people all over the country, Lakota Indians. I want those Lakotas to go with me. People all over the world. People I'll never meet this side of heaven. But you know Paul said, I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor to the Greeks, to the barbarians. I'm a debtor to this lost world. To get the gospel to them. To tell them about Jesus. And I feel that debt. And that's one thing that makes mission, conference, revival a good thing. It'll put this debt on us. I'm not talking about money right now. I'm not talking about money right now. I'm just talking about this debt in our soul, this debt in our spirit that is given to us by the Spirit of God, akin to what I think the Lord Jesus must have been feeling when he came from heaven's glories to this world. The burden so much so that he was called the man of sorrows. When he came to this world with that burden, he told them, they said, what are you doing here? He said, I've come to seek and to save that which was lost. What are you doing here? I've come to seek and to save that which was lost. What are you doing here? I've come to go to the cross. did some teaching and preaching and performed some miracles. But his goal was to go to the cross and accomplish redemption and go back to Heaven. But he didn't want to go back to Heaven alone. He wanted to take a lost world of sinners with him. I want to go to Heaven but I don't want to go alone. I think heaven's big enough for just about all of us. Amen. And so that's why mission revival. Because none of us in our right heart and our right spirit want to go to heaven alone. Want to take some people with me. I may start with my family, but it extends beyond that to friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers. People that I will never meet. We, and our mission, our missionaries, just like Brother Mike and them do, and like Brother Trivett, and show those videos, PowerPoints, whatever, and you see those faces, people that I'll never meet this side of heaven, but then the Spirit of God stirs something in me, and I want them to go to heaven. I remember one of the missionaries that came, and their theme song on their video was people need the Lord. And they just did some panning with the cameras out in the streets of the towns and villages where they were working. And you see faces, faces, in some of the strangest places. And you see those people, you say, I want them to go with me. I want them to go, isn't that a strange thing? But if you know the Lord, the Spirit of God lives in you. that gets those, as I said, those juices flowing. I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go alone. Let me just say it this way. I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go empty-handed. I want to go to heaven, but I can't put a period there. I've got to put a comma, and I say I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go alone, and I don't want to go empty-handed. I want to do something for Jesus. I want to do something for Jesus. There's a song that says something about must I go and empty-handed? No. No, we don't have to go empty-handed. We don't have to go empty-handed. I want to be there and I don't know exactly how it will all work out, but I know Revelation 4 talks about laying their crowns at Jesus' feet. And I wanna have something. In fact, whatever the crowns, the Bible mentions specifically five, there may be more, whatever they are, I want them all. You say you're selfish, oh no. No, it has nothing to do with selfishness. In fact, if you're gonna get those crowns, you're gonna have to be unselfish. Because it's gonna take some real service and some real struggle and some real sacrifice to get those crowns. I don't have time to preach on that tonight. You probably know all about them. But if you get those crowns that Jesus is going to hand out, then it's going to take some service, some struggle, some sacrifice. And then Jesus looks at your service, your struggle, your sacrifice, and he deems that to be worthy of a reward. Can you imagine the king who really is the only one worthy of a crown. But he says, no, I want you to have a crown. And you know what's a strange thing? I got this on my mind one day, what are we going to do with those crowns? I mean, I know we can lay them at his feet, but what's he going to do with them? What's he going to do with them? I don't care anything about wearing a crown. And then I read in Revelation 19 that when the Lord comes back, he'll have many crowns. He may bring our crowns with him. I don't know. But I want something to lay at his feet and just to be able to say, thank you, Lord, for what you've done for me. Just to bow at his feet and lay a crown or lay the crowns at his feet and say, thank you, Jesus. I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go empty handed. After all he's done for me, And me stand there empty handed without any tokens of appreciation, without any symbol or sign that Lord thank you for what you've done for me and I've tried to serve you, I've tried to live for you, I've tried to show people my gratitude to you for what you've done for me. So I want to go to heaven but I don't want to go empty handed. I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go too early. Think about that. You know, there are people that go too early. You say, well, I thank God. I know what you think. I know what I think. But I'm just saying that sometimes when we get completely out of God's will and we can get so disobedient to the point that we cross a deadline or whatever you want to call it, all I know is 1 John chapter 5, I believe it is, chapter 3 says there is a sin unto death. That's for a believer. And for whatever reason the Lord may have to call that child home. I think I've known two or three over the years that did go to heaven too early. because of their disobedience and all of that. I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go too early. You know what? I want to do the will of God as best I can, as long as I can. I want to serve him as faithfully and as fervently as I can for as long as I can down here. And I want him to be able to look up on me and say, just keep on, Ronnie. Just keep on. You're doing well. You're doing well. You're doing what I want you to do. Just keep on. And I wanna stay in that straight and narrow. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes it's down through the valley. Sometimes it's climbing up the side of a mountain. Sometimes it gets hard. But I wanna keep on keeping on. And then when that determined day comes, when the Lord says, okay, good and faithful servant. And we can be like Paul was, even in a prison cell, he's, I'm ready. The time of my departure is at hand, he said. I fought a good fight, he said. I've kept the faith, he said, and I've finished my course. I want to finish my course. Amen. Does that not make sense? I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go too early. I don't want to, I don't want to get disobedient to him to the point where I'm doing his kingdom more harm than I am good. And he has to call me home early. I know that's not a pleasant thought, but it's the truth. I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go, let me say it this way, in joy lessly. I don't wanna go without enjoying the journey. I'm gonna enjoy the journey. I guarantee you. I'm gonna have a good time. I'm gonna tell jokes that nobody may laugh at but me. Cause I'm gonna enjoy the journey. I tell people you laugh, you need to laugh every chance you get. because there are gonna be plenty of times to weep and to cry. I know that to be true. I've been pastoring for almost 45 years and in the church I'm in now, almost 39 years. I've made many a trip to the cemeteries. And in our cemetery, we've got graves out there that long to the full size. We've got them out there in their 90s, And we've got them out there. We put a young lady there last year at 15 years of age who had already surrendered to go to the mission field. And the Lord called her home and nobody knows why. You ever run across things you don't understand? I do too. Now, you just met me about 35 years too late. If you could have met me 35 years ago, I knew all the answers. If I didn't, by George, I'd make something up. I mean, the man of God, the man of God's gotta know. That stuff wore out after a while. Now I got more questions than I do answers. Now thank God I have the ultimate answer. I have the ultimate answer. But there are a lot of things that I can't answer otherwise. But I'm telling you tonight, it's tough. But a merry heart, a little laughter, like a medicine, it's like a balm. has a healing ability. Enjoy the trip. Let sinners know you're enjoying your journey with Jesus. The way the average Baptist church looks on Sunday morning, if I was a sinner and come in and looked at them, I wouldn't want to catch that either. I mean there's stuff going on in Baptist churches that the immigrants didn't bring with them. I mean, a lot of stuff we may blame on them, but we Baptists have had ways and behavior and looks and stuff that make people wonder, why in the world would anybody want what we got? I mean, really? So go ahead and break your face and smile real good. You say, I don't have anything to smile about. If you're a child of God, you do. If you know Jesus, you do. I don't say that lightly either. Cause I know probably right here tonight on the sound of my voice is some people with some heartaches, got some burden, some heaviness going on. So I don't say that lightly, but I do say in reality, no reason for us not to be happy in Jesus. Amen. Oh, wow. I didn't mean to go that long with those little phrases, those little thoughts. But they're true, are they not? I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to go alone. I don't want to go empty-handed. I don't want to go too early. And I don't want to go without enjoying the trip. And I'll tell you, there's a direct correlation to all of that by your involvement in missions, in world missions. Because literally, if you're involved in world missions, you have put money where the mouth is because you're saying, I want to go to heaven, but I'm not going to go alone. We're going to take some people with us. And I'm not going to go empty handed, because if I have to, I'm going to serve, I'm going to sacrifice, and I'm going to struggle if need be. because I'm going to give, and if I need to go, I'm gonna go, and then I'm gonna get on my knees and groan and pray for my missionaries. Now, Brother Mike, Miss Glenda will tell you tonight that as much as they need financial support always, the thing that gets them through first and foremost is to know that the saints and the churches are praying for them. And that'll keep them going. That'll keep them going. In this great text, and I don't have time to develop it now like I want to, but let me just give you a couple of thoughts and we'll get you out of here in just a few minutes. I'm not gonna keep you long, I promise you. And unless you live in Mississippi, you'll get back in time for the 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock news, whatever. No, I'm not going to keep you long, I promise. Would you give me about another 15 minutes? We'll be out of here by 8.30. If you'll just give me about 15 more minutes. And let me say this in Mark 16, verse 15. Break this verse down like this. Number one, fulfilling the great commission. This verse, we see it is a command. There is a command that is given. And that's found clearly in verse 15 where he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So we see obviously this is a command that is given. We call it the Great Commission. And there's another verse we call the Great Commandment where it talks about loving God and loving one another. the great commandment. This is the great commission. Our captain in chief, our general Jesus has given us this commission. You'll notice it is not in the form of a suggestion. It's not even like the old country boy that went to town one day. Policeman pulled him over, walked up to him and said, sir, do you have any ID? He says, an idea about what? I got my uncle. An idea about what? God don't just give out good ideas. He's not making good suggestions. He's not giving the church an option here where maybe if y'all want to get together and do something like this, it'd be good. No, no, no, no. There's nothing that even resembles. A suggestion or a good idea, this is a commission, this is a commandment. He said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But one way you can take that, that's orders from the commander in chief himself. And those orders have not been rescinded. So it is a command that is given. Number one, it is proactive. It is proactive. He said, go. You cannot be missionary minded, missionary hearted as a church and be passive. That's totally contradictory to any missionary movement that has ever take place in the history of missions of the church. The early church was slow about fulfilling the commission and where Jesus said, now Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world, the uttermost part of the earth. They were slow about that last three sections of that strategy. They were pretty good about getting the job done in Jerusalem. In fact, their critics, their enemies, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin said, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. But the Lord had said, not just Jerusalem, but Judea and Samaria and the uttermost. So they've been slow about Judea, Samaria. Those Samaritans, by the way, they weren't so sure they were worthy of the gospel after all. And then the uttermost part of the world, nah, nah. And so what plagues a lot of Baptist churches, plagued the early church. They were somewhat content with just putting the gospel out in their hometown. And the Lord said, not gonna work. He put some pressure on them. One of their deacons was stoned to death. In chapter seven, in chapter eight, the Bible says they scattered. They scattered. But the wonderful thing about them scattering, they took the gospel with them. By the time you get down to chapter number 11, they're up in Antioch and other places and the Bible says, and the hand of the Lord was with them and they were telling people about Jesus and people were getting saved. and a big nest of believers in this little town called Antioch. And word got back to the church in Jerusalem, said, we better check this out. So of all people, they send Barnabas. Barnabas, a man who just loved people. Man, Barnabas, a man who just, boy, he was one of God's choice. And he goes down there and he had good perception, had some good perception. Because the Bible says when he got there, he was glad because he saw the grace of God. Can you see the grace of God? If you got eyeballs, you can. You go to the house of God and you can see the grace of God through the lives of people who've been changed by the grace of God. Every child of God in here tonight some way, somehow has a story behind your conversion. And some of you have stories that you would blush to tell of your behavior before you got saved. But God's grace come in, changed your life. And now, you are a trophy of the grace of God. Barnabas goes down there, he sins for Saul of Tarsus, who later became the great apostle Paul. They spent a year or two with them people. There's some more disciples came in, Acts 13 talks about them, and the Holy Ghost spoke to the church and says, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work that I'm gonna send them to do. Send, go. Go, that's what they did. And so finally the church got about the business of going. It is proactive. The word go here means to pursue the journey on which one has entered. The moment you got saved, you entered into a journey. A journey that ultimately is gonna take you all the way to heaven. Salvation does not start when you get to heaven. Salvation started the moment you got born again. That's where the journey started. And it's a journey not in order to be saved or to get saved. It's a journey because we are saved. Jesus is the author. That's at the beginning line. As well as the finisher of our faith. So it don't matter which way you look in the journey. You look back and you see Jesus. He's saying, I go on. Go on. Then you look at the end of the line and he's down there saying, come on, come on, come on. Go, he said, go, he said. It means to pursue the journey on which one has entered. It means to continue one's journey. To remove, it means to remove. Go means to remove. You can't sit still. You can't be passive. You can't stay stuck in one place. You must traverse. You must travel. That's what the word go means. All of that in that one little two letter word, go. All of that. Some of our churches should have changed their names a long time ago from missionary Baptist to stationary Baptist. They ain't going nowhere and don't want anybody else to go anywhere. It didn't just start in America. That attitude and philosophy prevailed a long time ago, even in England. When the great William Carey, and I visited his home place with Ken Tribbett, we visited there and we saw where William Carey, I walked into his cobbler shop. And there in the little church where he pastored, we saw these places. Just wow. Sacred ground to me, holy ground to me to tread there. William Carey got a burden for people in India and across the world. But some of the preachers told him, said, Carey, If God wants to evangelize the heathen, he can do it without me and you. Well, that guy missed it because God's not gonna do it without me and you. That's God's plan. We didn't make that plan, that's God's plan. God says, I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna do it through my men and women, through my missionaries, and through my churches, and through my preachers, and pastors, and through my laymen, and through my deacons, and my song leaders, and my Sunday school workers, and my young people, and I'm gonna do it all over the world. We'll get the gospel to them. And it's gonna work. It is working. How do you know? I have read the last book. I have read the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. And it says in chapter five that out of every nation and tongue and really just all creeds and colors and kinds of people are going to be up there one day and we're going to shout and celebrate and worship. out of every nation. And that's what he said, do. Are we going to win everybody in every nation? No, we're not going to win everybody in this nation. But we're going to win some of them. We're going to win some of them. If they'll come to Jesus, they can go to heaven. But the only way they're going to come to Jesus is if we fulfill the great commission. Go. Now not all of us can be missionaries. This young man wants to go to Ecuador. Brother Mike and them are in Central America. Ken Tribbett in the Lakota Indians in South Dakota. I can visit, but I can't go there. My calling is the Unity Baptist Church in Ripley, Mississippi, and God's given me a flock of people to pastor. And they'll let me travel and do meetings like this, but that's where I've got to work. But I'll tell you what I can do. I can help get Mike Coop and his dear wife, and get them on the mission field. And we have helped. I introduced him to this man right here, and to some around our area, and he's introduced him to others, and that's the way it works. And if you'll get you an Ole Miss Rebel shirt, I'll introduce you to a bunch of people. He ain't gonna do it. He's gonna wear that Hog shirt. I love you, brother. I love you. God's so big in me, man. I love Hog fans. I don't like the way y'all beat up on us, but I love you anyway. Man. Proactive. Proactive. I got five minutes. It's not only proactive, it's penetrating. It's a command that's given. Proactive means go, and it's penetrating. He said, go ye in two. Go ye in two, all the world. He didn't say go to the window, go to the threshold, or go to the door. He said, go in two. I'm not gonna take the time, but I have a number of scriptures written. You can search it out for yourself. It's not hard to find. Acts 13, 14, 14, one, 16, 10, 12, 17, one, two, 10, 22. All those verses simply use the word in or in two, where Paul would go into a city like Corinth or Thessalonica. And the Bible said they would go in two. they would go into the synagogue. Man, those people hated the gospel. Those are the people, the same caliber people that crucified Christ and that stoned Stephen. Paul would say to Barnabas, come on. Later on he would say to Silas and to Luke and to Timothy, come on. And he would go into And he would go into those pagan temples, like at Ephesus and Corinth, where they had these monuments built to their pagan gods and goddesses. Man, he's armed with the gospel. And he's taking the saving message. He went to Mars Hill in Athens, Greece, and took a place and preached to those people the gospel. told them about the Lord. Man, go into, we must penetrate. We must penetrate. We must pierce the darkness. Somebody described darkness as simply an absence of light. Okay, I get that. But there's another kind of darkness that's more than just an absence of light. It's a darkness of hell, if you will. It's a darkness of the devil. It's a darkness of superstition and pagan cultures and religions that have dominated countries like India, China, places in Latin America, South America, just about any continent, any area you wanna go to in the world. And you'll find the darkness of Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, and other religions that miss the gospel. Brother Ronnie, are you really that prejudiced against them? No, it's not a matter of being prejudiced. It's a matter of being a Jesus follower because Jesus said, I am, let me misquote it. Did Jesus say in John 14, I am a way? No. Did Jesus say I'm a good way? No. Did Jesus even say I'm the best way? No, he didn't. He's pretty narrow, isn't he? He said, I am they way. And when we point men, women, boys, and girls to any other person, even if it's the church, we miss it. The church, as much as we all love it, is not a vehicle by which we go to heaven. Only the Lord Jesus is the means by which men, women, boys, and girls go to heaven. I tell you how narrow I am. You say, well, you offended me a while ago when you said that about Buddhist and Confucianism, Catholicism. Let me go ahead and offend all of us. It's not even about Baptists. Now, the top of my head to the bottom of my shoes, I reckon I am a Baptist. But if that's all you are is Baptist, you've missed it. It's about knowing. And we must go into and pierce and penetrate the darkness and tell these people about Jesus. If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, he would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, he would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, he would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so he sent us a savior. Thank you tonight. You've listened real good. I've had good liberty to tell you what was on my heart. Lord, take your word, plant it in every heart as you see fit, save some lost soul, Stir the hearts of your people. Revive us again. Help us to send the light. Bless these missionaries. Bless this dear pastor for his burden. God, do great things in these days at Borough Baptist Church in this missions conference revival. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Bless you, pastor. Bless you.