Romans chapter 10, beginning at the eleventh verse. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring the tidings of good things." In this passage God explains evangelism. God saves people who are moved to call on Him. Now the third chapter of the Confession goes into some very deep statements, and John Calvin, the great French theologian, almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? But really, the great French theologian who has become the foremost theologian of all the European churches, the partner of Martin Luther in establishing real connection. Calvin said, no young man can ever understand the doctrine of predestination. You gotta be an old guy looking back on your life and seeing that God was in charge of taking care of everything. I don't expect you to understand all that God has in mind in the way that he works with people. Just keep in mind he's in charge and he's the one to decide. Your little sinful self belong to him and once he started it, it's up to him to finish it. Now it pleases our God to work through people, to work in the lives of people, and to use people. And he lays it in our hearts to believe that there is a way out of the pit of our self-centeredness. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And we want people to hear that, and we know we are called to be instruments of that. when thinking about evangelism, think about the little boy with, was it five loaves and two fishes, or five fishes and two loaves? Anybody in the elementary Bible classes? Oh, he was right. Someone in the class remembered. And he isn't even in one of the elementary classes. He's a teacher of one of the doctrine classes. But, you know, the little boy's just going out to watch what the crowd was up to, and kind of like me, He thought I could get hungry, let's make sure that we're covered. I sometimes put one of those power bars in my coat if I'm afraid I'm going to be going too far. Fishes and little loaves are kind of like an early version of Powerboar, I figure. I don't think he planned to feed thousands of people. Who knows what will happen? My parents knew we were going overseas for missions. I remember my father saying, well I wound up in the medicine field. some very strange people, but it was in Virginia. We're on the mission field. That's one reason why I refer to Gideons as a mission agency. God explains the problem, people must be told the gospel. Christianity does not practice magic mission. You may make magic monkeys in salt water, but you're not going to make magic converts. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? Our missionary is expecting to fix helicopters and planes so that Bible translators can take the gospel out into the places where Cameroonians like our friend Martin Fomini will build up the churches. Our church has the privilege of having someone who's built a church over there. in our fellowship, and soon as we get this initial work done, there'll be Gideon Bibles to pass out all over that territory. You may spend the rest of your life working up Gideon Bibles for Cameron. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? Who knows how this will all work out. But they're not going to hear unless someone goes over there to preach to them, and they aren't going to understand unless it's done in their language, and it won't get very far until it's done in their language from the whole Bible. We are full Bible believers. Translating the Gospel of John is good, but there are 65 other books to translate. Keep this one in mind. Personal evangelism and international missions point to sending people to tell the Gospel message. Now we're a tiny movement. Just a handful of churches. Less than 30 churches in our presbytery. And yet we plan to bring Cameroon to Christ, and when we're finished there, Chad. And our little presbytery has sent missionaries to Myanmar. Why? Because we figure when taking the south end of China from there, you can get to seven countries from that part of Myanmar. And their borders are worse than ours on the south side of Texas. So we should be able to go over the border. Yay wetbacks. That's what we're thinking of, you know. We're going to cross those borders with the gospel. How should they preach? Accept they be sent. Somebody's got to do the sending. We are a sending church. Well, Francis and I have prayed for this church before it began. He's invested his life in it. The last 30 years I've been working with him on the project. We watched the church grow from a handful of people who were mad. to a church of converts, enthusiasts for the gospel. There are stages you go. I remember the excitement when we began to talk about not just having a pastor and a couple of church wardens, which is what we really had, to having deacons and then elders and multiple Bible classes and building up a Presbytery. Now we're at the next stage. Reformed Presbyterians, our full Bible now. we send the missionaries. Some of them overseas, and some of them down to the post office. But we're a sending church, and that's what God likes. And we don't have the resources for it. So, my father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and if he feels like it, he'll cover this. He's felt like blessing us, everyone You all have blessings. He's blessed this church as we sought to become more and more his. We and two of our people joined us. We picked up a mission in Texas. Well, South Texas. They call it Mexico. We're getting in the mood here. Great things are going to happen. And you need to stay excited about that. The office is going to meet over here after the service to talk with one of the members of the church, Richard, that's you, about sending Richard on an experimental short-term mission this summer. See if he's really got it down. I'm convinced. I think he's convinced. Mission board of the Senate is willing to work on this. Now we've got to say we're buying into it. Or not. I don't tell the elders how to vote. I hope you will always remember tonight as the night when we passed one of those big milestones in the life of the Church. As people hear God, they change and begin to trust Him. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. That's why our Gideon ministry is so critical. That's why our full Bible teaching is so critical. And that's why He's got us up to the point where we're becoming ascending Church. Now churches must send missionaries. It is not an option. Jesus gave the order. The Great Commission is a mission statement and action plan for Christians. Those are all words you're used to from business. But guess what? Businesses succeed when they follow the patterns of God. So do armies and marine corps. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. We have several states in the United States where there are no churches like us. We have to correct that problem. There are several cities of a million members or more which do not have a full Bible Presbyterian church. We have to correct that. But you see we have to do that in every big town and every little crossroad. Some of our Korean Presbyterian brothers bought property and all the crossroads in Brazil, as they built the roads into Brasilia, the Brazilian government put their capital in the middle of nowhere. Even the big lizards wouldn't go there, so they built their capital there, and they ran roads in, and these Koreans sacrificed what they had in order to buy a piece of land at every crossroad, because they were determined to finish the mission started by the southern Presbyterians in the 1870s. We had nothing when we went there, they had nothing when they went there, but there's going to be a Presbyterian church on every crossroad on the way to the capital. You're not going to get the capital of Brazil without passing a Presbyterian church. One of these days it'll be like that up in the north end of Cameroon, and then we're going to slip over the river. Our business is to fill it up so they just naturally go over the river, and it's our business to fill up Myanmar until they naturally go over the river. You've got to teach them all. Genuine missions are focused on Scripture, its obligations and its opportunities. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commended you and will hang with you all the way, even to the end of the world. We are the Bible teaching mission. Now some people are going to come to the compound where the helicopters are. And I can see right now that Amber Hillman's going to take them in. You notice these paired missionaries in the New Testament, give them some tea, help them get over the trowel. You've got to pray for her too. It's not just about fixing airplanes and helicopters. It's about fiction and being mother to all those missionaries who really didn't have this in mind when they started. Boys, you're going to have to help her. It's nice to think of the seminaries and the big important things, but it's the little things which make the difference. And today is the time to send. The church in Cameroon needs help doing its work. The mission has sent for more missionaries. Remember, Paul was minding his business, arguing theology and being difficult for the church and the synagogue down in Jerusalem. And he had a vision. A man in Macedonia said, come on over. That Macedonian missionary was representing all of us. Because that's when it registered, we have to leave Dodge. Now, if you don't go, he'll kick you. This is it, you know. You run with the ball, you get kicked over the goal post. Just like football. We are trying to get ahead of the kick. Come on over to Cameroon." I know it says Macedonian in the text, but it's the same story. And help us. So we set out to go. Opportunities appear for people who are busy about the Lord's business. I remember Philip had all kinds of things to do, but he went out probably to think. He was on the road. He saw the Ethiopian eunuch, man's mumbling over the scriptures. How often do you see a guy with a Torah rolled in a chariot? He was for war, not for peace. And he ran on up and talked to them and led them to the Lord, and they stopped and went up into the river, which is what the Greek says, and came down out of it. You've got to study Greek, you know. And this government official went down to Ethiopia, and it's one of the oldest and most interesting of all the churches in Christian history. They were worshipping in big cathedrals when we still hadn't figured out what to do with missionaries in England. Boy, long before we figured out what to do with them in Scotland. And in France, they're just passing through. The motto of the missionaries is, whatever it may require, whatever it takes, going to going to the post office, going to Mexico, whatever it is, whatever it takes, we're going to get the gospel all around the world. We've got it into most of the languages, we're closing up that one. He said we had to do that before he agreed to come. We've got people in our town, we've got to reach, we've got a lot of work, but it starts here, it starts now. Mission belongs to God and it serves his pleasure. God is under no obligation to build his church according to human plans. In the book of Acts, we're told in chapter 19, the missionaries went out, they were going to do a little visit, and they were stuck there for two years. Taking Cameroon and Chad may take longer than we have estimated. Whatever it takes, though, God will get it done in his own way. The mission plan depends on God. Never forget the fourth chapter of James. If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. If he has a different plan, we're with it. We measure by our confidence in God, not in the success of little sinners like you and me. And God never fails. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the rain cometh down in the snow from heaven, and returneth not it thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth out forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it." Holy Father, as we commission our missionaries and begin what we hope to be, a great mission-sending church spreading across America as we rededicated ourselves to the Word and the ancient doctrine of our people. Let us now do great things and bless our missionaries and bless those who send them. For we do it out of obedience to Thee, and love for the Lord, and in His name. Amen.