The church's mission to make disciple's of all nations is an endevour which has already lasted 2000 years and is not yet complete. With this in mind we should see that the Great Commission is a multigenerational undertaking which will continue until the Lord returns. Therefore, churches need to focus not only on doing missions work and sending missionaries, but also raising and preparing the next generation for that missionary work of taking the gospel to the unreached.

So how local churches prepare the next generation for missions. So, so far, we've noticed how God has promised, Christ has promised to build his church. So we ought to be greatly, greatly encouraged by that reality. And based upon that, we ought to embrace the privilege and responsibility to see our church as the factory of the Great Commission. So this morning, we want to continue thinking of how we as a local church or how we as local churches, how we can prepare the next generation for missions, for fulfilling the Great Commission.

So my emphasis has been on long-term missions, even cross-cultural missions. And again, there's a lot to missions that I'm not discussing. That's kind of where I'm focusing. But how can we prepare ourselves for that type of mission ministry. Again, we ought to be encouraged.

Robert Morrison was a missionary to China. And once Someone said, "'And so, Mr. Morrison, you really expect to make an impression on the idolatry of the great China empire?' said the owner of the ship upon which Morrison was to sell. Mr. Morrison replied, "'No, sir.

I expect God will.'" That ought to be our view. We do expect God to do mighty things to fulfill his purposes. So churches are established in order to nurture and establish other churches. Biblical churches reproduce or replicate biblical churches. So again, missiology could be under the subheading of ecclesiology, the study of the church.

And I believe it's within the local church also that we prepare the next generation for mission. So I just wanted to go through and give you some thoughts on how we might better attain that. And first of all, we need to teach the next generation what a biblical church is. If biblical churches are the means that God uses to establish biblical churches, it is vital, it is necessary that we teach and model for the next generation what a biblical church looks like. I know a lot of people get caught up in contextualization.

Well, if we're going to reach this culture, we've got to do so in this context. And oftentimes, there is this contextual sensitivity that counters a biblical sensitivity. You know, what I've seen last night and today in this church could be replicated, I believe, in any part of the world. I don't mean the building, not necessarily having speakers sitting on a chair that has cushion, but I'm speaking of simply singing, reading, and preaching the Word of God. So sometimes we really get way too caught up and misguided with this thought of contextualization.

I think it was Steve Lawson that said all a missionary needs is a Bible to be parachuted out in the middle of this place and he can, you know, he's got what's sufficiently necessary to reach those people. If he understands their language, he's got the Bible. So we need to mature our local church so that our missionaries, when they go out, they understand what a local church is. What do they want to establish? What do they want to build?

Well, they ought to want to establish and replicate what they're a part of here. Sometimes you hear of young guys, they say, well, you know, we're going to go out and we're going to try to reach this context or this people and we need to So our church that we're going to plant is going to be different from the one that we're leaving. Well, the one you're leaving either needs to change or your idea needs to change. You know, a biblical church is going to replicate biblical churches. So, we need to have, in our church, we need to have sound theology.

We need to have a Christocentric worship and Christocentric lives. Biblical leadership, qualifications are met. Administer ordinances, practice church discipline, have meaningful membership where the saints are building up one another. That's one of the greatest things that you'll do for the next generation is have a healthy church here. Encourage them to be a part of a biblical church.

So that's the best way to ensure a biblical, mature missionary force goes forth is by nurturing biblical and mature churches at home. So continue what you're doing here. Seek to mature this local body so that the young people here will understand what a biblical church is, how it functions. So Jessica and I, we had a desire from time to time in our life to move overseas and serve as missionaries. And it seemed like every time we would get fired up and ready to go, something would happen and God would close that door.

And we're thankful that he did. Once we were planning on moving to Malaysia, But we found out that I was going to have to work, be bivocational, and we found out the school that I was going to teach at, it was a requirement that at this international school that the teacher could only have two children. So that disqualified me. But it was God's way of closing the door. Then a couple of times we were going to move to Asia once we had a house that burned down And then we had a child that was diagnosed with cancer, so both times God closed the door.

But looking back, I'm thankful that he did because I had been raised up and had ministered in a church that on paper had good ecclesiology, but in practice it wasn't a very healthy church. So I wasn't ready. I didn't understand what a biblical church was, not as it was fleshed out in the life of the congregate, in the life of the people of God. So being a part of a biblical church is great training ground for missionaries, for people that will reach the world with the gospel, the next generation reaching the world. And then secondly, we need to understand the purpose of the mission, the purpose of the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, where the Great Commission is given according to the Gospel of Matthew.

You're familiar with it. Jesus tells the disciples all authority has been given to him in verse 18. Based upon that, he says, go therefore and make disciples or teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. So the purpose of the Great Commission is to make disciples. What is a disciple?

A disciple of Christ is someone who, having entered into a saving relationship with Jesus through faith, is now actively seeking to become like Jesus through the study and assimilation of his teaching and the imitation of his person. And that is accomplished by going, baptizing, and teaching, continuing to nurture. So the goal of missions is not to show up somewhere and get people to accept Jesus and then the missionary goes on his merry way. The goal of missions is disciple making. Disciple making.

Now again, where are disciples made? In the local church. So the goal we need for the next generation to understand that the goal is to make disciples. And making disciples is more than just sharing the gospel. Making disciples means you're pouring your life into other people.

You're helping them understand more and more about Jesus and their life is becoming more and more like the life of Jesus. So there's more than just sharing the gospel. That's important. That's where it begins. Proclaiming the gospel, someone becoming a believer in Christ, but then assembling those new converts together in order to be mature so they can grow in their faith, churches being established.

So understanding the purpose of missions, it's making disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching everything that Jesus commanded. And then third, the necessity of faith in Christ. I see this oftentimes, even with professing Christians, especially among, forgive me for picking on millennials, But millennials that I talk to or kids that I talk to on campus, even those that I believe are born of the Spirit, they have bought into this doctrine of inclusivism That teaches, yes, the death of Jesus was necessary for redemption, but I don't have to have faith in Jesus in order to be saved. You know, a person can't embrace whatever religion they're in, and that's sufficient. Friends, that's contrary to the teaching of the Word of God.

We must help the generation that is coming up to understand that there is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ. The brother mentioned the London Confession of Faith. He will say there, well, I'm not going to quote the confession, I'm going to quote the Bible. How about that? So, it's under effectual calling, the fourth paragraph, you can read it.

But John 3, here's what Jesus, he taught. John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Listen to verse 36, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him, obeys or believes in Christ, has the wrath of God abiding on him.

There is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ. So if you begin to think, well, this person, they live a good life, they're sincere in their faith, and certainly God will accept that sincerity, won't he? My friends, listen, idolatry, I don't care how sincere it is, is not a man seeking for God, it is man in rebellion against God. It is man-made religion. It's his way to try escaping being accountable to the true God so he shapes and he forms and he invents his own religion.

So we do not at all, we're not meaning to be harsh with that. In fact, we're being loving. We're being loving. Those that are involved in other world religions, they are not saved. They cannot be saved apart from faith in Christ.

We need to understand the gospel and the necessity of faith. We are saved by grace through faith. That's not ourselves, it is the gift of God. Some people read that, well by grace are you saved and not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. No, it's by grace are you saved through faith.

Faith in Christ. So the necessity of faith in Christ must be emphasized. God will not save those in other religions or the heathen based upon their sincerity. All religions do not lead to the same place unless you're talking about all religions apart from Christ. They lead to damnation.

But Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. It's the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Necessity of faith. That's true of someone in another religion. It's true of nominal Christians today.

Can I just say this to you young people, because I love you? I had a conversation with one of my sons a couple of years ago. I was going on a mission trip And I knew he was lost. I knew he thought he was saved, but I knew he wasn't. And he and I, we just, we went to five guys, we grabbed a burger, and then we just sat in the parking lot.

And I said, son, if something happens to me on this trip and I don't come back, I cannot leave knowing that you have not heard the gospel and I have not as a father impressed upon you the fact that my faith cannot save you. My faith cannot save you. So young people, thank God that you are in an environment where the gospel is proclaimed, an environment where other Christians are, but recognize you personally must have faith in Christ to be saved. Your parents' faith will not save you. Your moral life will not save you.

Your homeschooling will not save you. Only faith in Jesus Christ. So today, trust in Jesus, believe in Jesus, cast yourself upon Jesus. Don't allow your badness to prevent you from coming to Christ and don't allow your goodness to keep you away either. We need Christ.

Faith in Christ is the only way that we can be safe. Faith in the finished work of Jesus. Repent and believe the gospel. Then fourth, Pastor Scott's already referenced this last night, but love. The great commandment that's given in Matthew chapter 22.

What an incentive to fulfill the great commission. Matthew 22, a lawyer asked Jesus, verse 36, teacher what is the great commandment in the law? And he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Love. Love. To many Christians, Even those with good theology, too often, love is absence.

Love is absent. Love is absent. We must love God with all of our being. And when we love God with all of our being, we will be burdened that his name is not highly esteemed among the nations. Loving God means that we are burdened and we are filled with heartache when we see God not receiving the glory that he alone deserves.

So we as a church need to cultivate through prayer and the study of God's word and the interaction with God's people, we need to cultivate a greater love for God. We need to focus upon the gospel, the love of God that he has for us, that our love for him might be enhanced. We love God, why? Because he first loved us. So the more we can delve into the eternal, unbreakable love of God, the more it'll stir our affections for the Lord.

It is the love of God that constrains us. How did God demonstrate his love? By dying for sinners, Romans chapter five. Let me just turn there. I believe that Paul is speaking of God's love for us in the context when he said that the Holy Spirit has poured the love of God in our hearts, Romans five, verse five, and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Now, the Holy Spirit gives us the capacity to love God, but the Holy Spirit also convinces us of God's love for us. How? By pointing us to the cross, by helping us to see that God sent his son to die, not for the good, not those that would merit his favor, not for those that are working their way toward God, he sent his son to die for the ungodly. Does that not move your heart today When you recognize that God sent the very best of heaven, he sent his own son.

He sent his son to die in the place of those that only deserve his wrath, the ungodly and free and that's you and me apart from Christ. We are ungodly At the very heart of who we are, we are twisted, and yet God would crush his own Son for us. I recognize our hearts become lukewarm, and when they do, let us repent, be zealous, repent. Look at what God has done for us in Jesus. And when we love Him, we will be jealous for His glory, His glory.

Missions is about the glory of God. It's about our love for God. It's not about our own glory, is it? It's about God's glory. Our love for God inspires, it encourages our affections.

And then love for neighbor. As our hearts grow in love for God, they grow in love for our neighbor. If we love our neighbor, we're not going to rest knowing that our neighbor is outside of the salvation that's in Christ. Loving our neighbor will encourage us to seek our neighbor's salvation. Oh, how we need to grow in our love.

Which brings us to the fifth point. In order to fulfill the Great Commission long-term cross-cultural overseas or different people group type mission work, we need to practice local evangelism. It's already been touched on during this conference. Practice local evangelism. We need to seek to evangelize not only the nations, but our neighbors.

Our neighbors. Jesus said something that's very striking in Luke chapter 14. The parable of the guest. Let's jump in into verse 12. And he also went on to say to the one who had invited him when he had given a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return, that will be your repayment.

But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed since they do not have the means to repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." One of those who were reclining at the table with him heard this. He said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. I love the gospel of Luke because it's the gospel for sinners. It's a gospel that really emphasizes the love of God toward the outcasts, toward those that are marginalized, sinners, who's invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. If we think of that even spiritually, it's those whose lives are broken by sin.

So then he goes on with the parable of the dinner, verse 16, but he said to him, a man was giving a big dinner and he invited many. And at the dinner hour, he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is ready now. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, "'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. Please consider me excused.' And another one said, "'I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to try them out, please consider me excused." Another one said, I have married a wife and for that reason I cannot come.

And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame. And the slave said, Master, what you commanded has been done and there is still room. And the master said to the slave, Go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner." I'm not participating in local evangelism.

And I'm not speaking only or primarily of trying to tweak another Christian's belief so that they will see everything just like you, which is good to edify and strengthen other believers. I'm talking about sinners, sinners. Now, I'm one of you, so I hope I can, you know, speak freely here. But, you know, we've got a big homeschool family and we've got a lot of homeschool family friends and some of our friends you know they think that God's placed us on here, we kind of insulate ourselves from society. Obviously, we don't want to be like the world, do we?

John 17 makes that very clear. But I meet some families in the church and they feel like we need to insulate ourselves from society because we don't want to be infected by society. And by doing that, they never rub shoulders with sinners. They never compel sinners to come in. Now I realize as a parent that makes me really nervous.

So one of the best places to practice evangelism, especially initially, is right there in your home. Invite unbelievers to your home and let your children see you sharing the gospel with unbelievers. That is an environment that's protected that you can oversee and care for. But hopefully, through God's grace, our children will come to the place as they grow older and mature and can face situations outside of our direct supervision, they will begin to reach out and evangelize neighbors, friends, fellow students. Now I remember several years ago if you knew my second child she's always been the explorer, she's always been the one that you know you had to keep an eye on or she's gonna be way up in a birch tree screaming, the neighbors have a pond and the trees sway and she's at the top.

So Abby just calls me a lot of sleepless nights praying for her, but she really loves Jesus. And I remember several years ago I got a call from her right before lunch and she says, hey dad, do you have an extra Bible I can have? I said, sure, you can have an extra Bible? I said, but have you lost your Bible? And she says, no, I'm meeting up with a girl I met at school and I want to give her a Bible and talk with her about the gospel." I said, wow, you know, tell me about her.

She said, well, she's an atheist. I was like, whoa. You know, I mean, Abby's 19 at this point. I'm like, you can't meet with an atheist alone for dinner. You might become an atheist.

You know, that's what I'm thinking in my head. And she's like, but dad, isn't that what you taught us to do? Okay, I'll give you the Bible and I'll be praying for you. So I know what it's like. We want to protect, and that's right, and that's good.

That's our responsibility as parents, but we can get to the point that we've so protected and so insulated that they never understand what it means to be light and salt. I was raised in southern Georgia and there's still in some circles a lot of prejudices. And I remember there was this local pastor and he would go and teach pastors in Africa. But in our little community, all we had was a blinking light, real small. There was a convenience store that was owned and operated by some Indians that had moved to America.

And he wouldn't stop and share the gospel with them or be their friends because they moved here from America and weren't like him. But he would go to Africa and preach the gospel. Do you see how mixed up and messed up that is? It's messed up. So listen, I'm not a paragon of what it means to practice evangelism locally.

A lot of times I'm timid and I'm scared and I'm selfish, so I'm not trying to put myself up here as an example. I'm just giving you a few examples of when God gave me some grace. So we made friends with the store owners and they invited us over to their house for chapati. Dhol? I can't remember.

But it was good Indian food. So for Thanksgiving we had them into our home and we said this is kind of the traditional Thanksgiving meal and because they were vegetarians Jessica had researched and found a way that she could serve them food that wasn't something that would bother their conscience. But afterwards we said, and here are some reasons that we are thankful and just begin to communicate the gospel. So what I'm trying to tell you is don't so insulate yourself that you're not light and salt. That's what Jesus is saying when he says, you know, don't put your light under a bushel.

You know, what happens is Why would you put a light under a bushel? Because you're afraid that it's going to get blown out or extinguished. But the problem is when it's under the bushel it doesn't give off light, it doesn't fulfill its purpose. So I'm right with you, I have the same concerns And fear sometimes when we begin to talk about as a family reaching out to unbelievers and people that aren't like us. We've had some strange cats in our home participating in family devotion that the kids begin to bring to family devotion.

Some strange cats. I'm serious. I won't even describe some of them to you, but I'm thankful. So we don't want to be so insulated because we're fearful that the world's going to contaminate that we fail to be light and salt. Friends, the only way we can be light and salt with unbelievers is by rubbing shoulders with them.

And why is God going to send us to the other side of the world if we will not share the gospel with our neighbor and with our coworker, if we won't befriend them and have them in our home and meet with them for coffee or tea. You know, there's a real opportunity, I believe, with international students if you're located near a college. Really pray God to give you opportunities. International students, We found out that they're very accepting, so we're always having international students in our home, and we love that. We love that.

And talk to them about their culture and about their food, and they just light up and gives you an opportunity to build a bridge into their life. We've got a brother in our church, he's working on his doctorate, he's from China and he's such a valuable instrument at our church because What he does is he ministers, talks to, communicates, you know, to the Chinese students, most of which are unbelievers. And he's got us to agree, we'll cook the dinner, you bring the students, we'll feed them, and then We're going to hand it off to you and you in Mandarin share the gospel to them. Look for ways to practice evangelism. I'm not talking about proselytizing Christians.

I'm talking about looking for opportunities to share the gospel with lost, broken people. Trust in God. Trust in God. God will...He will bless us and protect us when we're wise And we're approaching this in a way that is helpful and good. So practice local evangelism.

That's one way we can prepare the next generation. Number six, make connections with missionaries and missions. Or do what you're doing this weekend. As your elders and the men that come back from the short mission-turned-trips, listen to them intently. Listen and learn.

Find out about the people that they're teaching. Begin to build relationships with men that have taught overseas. Have conferences like this. Invite missionaries that you know to come and share with you what God is doing. Talk to real missionaries.

That's a great way to kind of have our hearts stirred. Some of the missionary autobiographies and biographies stirred my heart when I began to be interested in missions or helped stir my heart to be interested in missions. But what better than having a real live missionary, you know, talk to you, share his life, share their life with you. So take those opportunities, make connections with missionaries and missions. And then seventh, pray for the nations.

Let's turn to Colossians 4. Pray for the nations. Because I think it's true, when it's out of sight, it's out of mind. It's out of mind. It's easy to forget about that, isn't it?

So we need to be praying for the nations and for people groups. And I'm sure your elders do this, but it's a good opportunity in the pastoral prayer from time to time to pray specifically for nations so that the next generation knows that we really have a heart for these people, that we really do long to see them come to faith in Christ. We do long to see healthy churches established. So in Colossians chapter 4, Paul wrote in verse 2, Devote yourselves to prayer, Keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well that God will open to us a door for the Word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been imprisoned, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." We ought to be praying that God would raise up men and send him to the nations, to the thousands of people groups that are without the gospel, to countries where there are tyrannical dictators that make it so difficult to penetrate with the gospel. We need to be praying for those.

And there's ministries where you can find out more about the world, the Joshua Project. You can go online and learn more about people groups, where Christians are, how they're suffering. But prayer, praying that God would open up a door for what? For the Word. For the Word.

That's what's going to save. That's what's going to build up. It's the Word. And God is the one and God only that can open up doors. God can give opportunities.

But understand that God, again, He builds His church, He opens up doors, but He opens up those doors through our prayers. It's mysterious, it's encouraging how a sovereign God has decreed to use the means of prayer in accomplishing what he has purposed. And we can become so unbalanced. We can begin to think, well, you know, if that's going to, you know, if God's sovereign, he will accomplish his will, so therefore, you know, I don't really feel a need to pray. Or at least we...even if we don't articulate that, sometimes we might think that or we might feel that we have to battle against that, to battle against that.

One of the great movements that you and I are still enjoying today was In the late 1800s, 18th century, 1700s, when William Carey, the father of modern missions, his heart began to be stirred to proclaim the gospel. And there were two things I can think of in particular that really moved Carey to move overseas and proclaim the gospel. One was the theology of Andrew Fuller and John Ryland Jr. And Samuel Pierce. At that time, in particular Baptist history, there was a lopsided view of God's sovereignty that caused man to think that he really didn't have any responsibility in preaching the gospel.

But Andrew Fuller began to work through this and he saw the need of proclaiming the gospel to all men, preaching faith and repentance rather than just thinking, well, if God has purposed to save him, he'll do it. He doesn't need us. And certainly, he, in a sense, doesn't need us, but he's decreed to use means in the accomplishment of his will. So it was Fuller's theology that began to impact Carey saying, if your theology is correct, and I believe it is from the Bible, then I have no other option but to go and preach the gospel. So sound theology, sound theology, propel the next generation or that generation to proclaim the gospel to the nations.

But also, before Carrie and those men begin to go forth, they had been involved in monthly prayer gatherings, I think it was for six or eight years, monthly fasting and praying. They had read a sermon by Jonathan Edwards that stirred up their hearts to pray and they begin to pray monthly, fasting and praying that God would give them the opportunities to go forth and preach the gospel. And you and I, we still, in spite of all the goofiness and missions, we still feel the reverberations of that movement that God began to stir up. But The impetus, what was leading that was men that had given themselves to fasting and praying. You need to model that before the next generation.

Yes, abstaining from food so that I might concentrate on praying to God for the nations." And God heard those prayers, and God answered, and God moved. So we need to pray for the nations. We need to model before the next generation that we have a heart for the nations and we really believe that God moves and works through our prayers. Then eighth, and this is...I think this is so vital, brothers and sisters, we need to communicate the gospel clearly. We've got to communicate the gospel clearly.

And that means we've got to make the gospel center, we've got to make Jesus Christ center. And I know there's a lot of talk today about Christ-centered preaching, Christ-centered this and that, but I'm talking about biblically, truly making Jesus Christ the epicenter of all that we are, all that we do. There are a lot of good things and sometimes Christians begin to emphasize good things and replace the best thing and that's Jesus. We begin to emphasize on the implications of the gospel and we begin to pursue those things and we neglect the gospel. We neglect Jesus Christ.

So there's a lot of things that we as Christians should be doing at our home and in society, But those things must flow out of the gospel. We've got to help the next generation to understand that their marriage, their parenting, their employment, all of that flows out of their love and their understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus has called us to be. Has God called you men to be godly husbands? Of course. And the example that we have before us is that we're to love our wives how?

It's Christ loved the church. So you just can't get away from the gospel. So it's, you know, and you could go on and on, just example after example, to show how those are implications of the gospel. So we can't get so caught up in, okay, Christianity is only... I mean, this is what's front and center.

It's about being a godly husband. Christianity, I mean, the major emphasis of Christianity is godly parenting. Now, those are implications that are vital, but if we misplace Christ and put good things in that place, then that will be what the next generation begins to think. This is front and center. This is foundational.

This is where it begins. This is where all our energies must be placed. We must clearly communicate the gospel. I remember recently I preached a sermon and, well, it's being recorded I guess. I'll talk to the brother if he listens to it.

I think I have anyway. So anyway, There was this guy, he's really involved in campus ministry, invites a lot of campus kids to church and he was like, man, you use propitiation in your sermon. I don't think, you know, these guys understand what you're saying. Well, I said more than just propitiation, you know, defined what propitiation was. It's, you know, the appeasement of God's wrath.

But it's like, okay, you know, the gospel is, you know, we've got such a misunderstanding of the beauty and the depth of the gospel. Certainly we need to communicate it clearly on a level so that both the young and the old, the immature and the mature can understand, but we don't want to so water it down because we want to just kind of reach the visitors that are coming or the unbelievers so that we don't clearly show the depth and the wonder of the gospel, Especially when we're preaching from God's Word. We need to grow in our understanding of the Gospel. Or of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done. And by the way, the church needs the Gospel.

You know, when Paul is traveling to the church at Rome, he says, I want to be with you, I want to meet you, and I want to come there and preach the gospel to you also." Yes, the gospel is the power of God and the salvation to the unbeliever. It reveals the righteousness of God. But sometimes Christians are like, All right, once the Christian understands the God, once a person becomes a Christian, then we kind of leave the gospel there and we go on to other things. Certainly we go on to other things, but not at the expense of the gospel. The gospel is what fuels us, friends.

The church needs the gospel. I need the gospel, you need the gospel. Because as I behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, what happens? I become more and more like Jesus. I am transformed from glory to glory.

So God fuels the work of sanctification by the power of the gospel in the life of the saint. It's the power of God to save the unconverted, but it's the power of God to help sanctify and encourage our pursuit of Christ's likeness. If we're going to proclaim the gospel in missions, then our children and the next generation, they have to understand what the gospel is. That means we have to communicate the gospel clearly. Again, to quote Carey, make Christ crucified the great subject of your preaching.

Oh my friends, the gospel, it is worthy of all expectation. Furthermore, it is worthy of all proclamation." It is. It's a wonderful, wonderful message of salvation. Let us speak with clarity and with authority about the gospel. And then last, teach the next generation how a culture is penetrated.

How is a culture penetrated? How does this culture penetrated? Friends it's not by being clever. It's not by using, you know, pragmatic ideas, trendy plans. Let's notice how Paul, a Jew, how did he reach Corinth?

It's a horrible, detestable city full of sin. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul gives us insight into church planting, contextualization. How are you going to do it, Paul? Are you going to spend years studying and understanding Corinthian history? Again, friends, I'm not saying that there's not a place for contextualization and understanding the culture, But my goodness, we're OD'd on that when it comes to missions.

Here's Paul's idea of how this culture is going to be penetrated. 1 Corinthians 2, 1. And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.

And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." That was how he was going to reach his culture. That's how you're going to reach your culture. It's preaching the gospel, making the gospel clear, communicating the word of God, and then we trust in the power of God to make application. Trust in God to make application. Now where there are areas of liberty or areas that are unbiblical, so certainly we don't want to try and force certain cultural ideas that we have that aren't scriptural on other cultures.

You know, I visit churches all the time and, You know, they sit in a circle on the floor. They don't have a hymn book. Sometimes I wish they didn't have a keyboard or speakers, but sometimes they don't. But they sing hymns and spiritual songs and psalms to the Lord. And they read the Bible and they preach the gospel.

They don't have a building, they don't have padded pews, they sit on the floor. But what's essential, what is essential from the scripture will be blessed by God in any culture because objective truth is truth to all people at all times in all places. And we just trust in the Spirit of God. You know, I'm thankful that the power of the gospel doesn't rest in charisma and I'm not trying to be humble. I don't have a lot of charisma.

I'm not one of those people that can come into a room and people are just naturally drawn to. I'm a country boy from South Georgia. I was raised on a peanut cotton watermelon farm. Don't have seminary training, But the elders of my church and the church I was ordained in thought, believed, were convinced that I was called of God and they ordained me and sent me aside. It's who I am.

God called me. So I'm thankful though that it doesn't take, I'm thankful that there are men with great gifting, great intellect, great minds. I'm not one of them. I'm not trying to be humble again. I'm just, I'm about as ordinary as they come.

Hopefully it enables me to cast myself on the mercy of God. I trust in God. God, if you're going to bless these people, you've got to send forth your spirit." Paul had a great mind, actually, but when he came, he said, I'm not going to try and reach this culture based upon what the culture is clamoring for. You know, in 1 Corinthians 1, he says, you know, the Jews seek after a sign. The Jews seek after a sign, the Gentiles wisdom.

They said, I'm just going to preach Jesus and him crucified because that's the power of God and that's the wisdom of God. Try to build bridges, it's a place for understanding the people you're speaking to. Don't hinder the gospel with cultural tendencies that aren't necessary. But by the way, don't think, don't think just because you're not from a certain culture that you can't reach that culture. Just because you're a certain ethnicity doesn't mean that you're limited to that ethnicity.

Just from the Scripture. Can you? Certainly. God can use that in a powerful way, but we've come to the point that we've completely disregarded scripture. God sent the Jew Peter, you know, this uneducated fisherman, somewhat uneducated, this fisherman.

God uses him in the context that God has designed, preached Cornelius. But primarily, You know, we see Paul. Paul was called to preach to the Gentiles. Here was a man that was raised up in the rabbinical skulls of his day. God sends him to the Gentile world.

Paul had great intellect. I'm sure, however, he could have. I mean, he quotes from time to time from the poets of his day, Gentile writers, to grab attention. He could have done that more, But he was determined that he was going to preach the cross, even though it was, Paul, it's foolishness. It's foolishness to the people you're preaching to.

It's foolishness to the Jew. It's foolishness to the Gentile. So Paul, how about changing your approach If you're going to penetrate this culture, Paul says, I'm going to preach the gospel because it's the wisdom and the power of God. So, church, you've got the means God has provided with you with everything you need in his word and with the gifts that he has given you in this local body to penetrate your culture, to penetrate your community. And I believe as we pray and look to God, he gives us the gifting and the means and the opportunities to penetrate other cultures that are far different from ours.

So don't buy into this idea that, you know, I can't reach the culture. You young people, Or maybe old people sometimes are guilty of this, you know. If we're going to reach the young generation, we've got to get this guy up here that wears skinny jeans and, you know, speaks their language. Just get a man of God. Just get a man of God that'll preach the Word.

The Holy Spirit, He'll make application. He'll make application. Let's pray. Father, we Thank you for your grace. God, we thank you again for this privilege that you've given us, of being your children adopted into your family, allowing us even now to call you our father.

God, We ask that you would forgive us of our sins. Please forgive us when we've been indifferent. God please forgive us when we have not loved you, with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and when we haven't loved our neighbor. Forgive us of our timidity when we were ashamed to share the gospel. Forgive us of our selfishness when we thought this will just take too much time.

God, we pray not only for forgiveness, we pray that you would grow us and mature us. God, it's light. It's the time that we have opportunity to work. The night is coming. So Lord, please, we pray that you would form and fashion us and the people that you will use to fulfill this great purpose of making your name famous in the world.

We ask these things in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen.