This sermon focuses on great missionary stories from the Reformation to the present, highlighting the examples and characteristics of great men and women of faith. These characteristics include the sufficiency of scripture, reliance upon the Holy Spirit, commitment to prayer, sacrificial living, and perseverance. The sermon discusses the French Huguenots during the Reformation period, the work of John Elliott with Native Americans, the Great Awakening and Jonathan Edwards, and the incredible missionary movement of the 19th century. The 19th century saw unprecedented giving and spreading of the gospel, with many missionaries coming from a Reformed background. The sermon concludes with a personal story of Jacques Taven, a missionary in Irian Jaya, and his transformation from a Nazi Youth member to a soldier for Christ.

The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Carl Bob with the following message entitled Great Missionary stories from the Reformation to the present. Indeed I count everything loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I've suffered loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. That by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I've already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus had made has made me his own.

As I was thinking about this talk and looking at the enormity of it, five centuries of Christian history, To think about some of the important keystones of this, I have to share it was one of the most difficult preparation experiences of my life. In the last four weeks, I've tried twice to get out of coming here. When you see what these great men and women of faith have accomplished, what God has accomplished in and through them, It is a humbling experience. And frankly, it's been a breaking experience for me. As the Lord has been showing me how pathetic I am.

Alas, we have Christ. He's our sufficiency. Therefore, these verses to start. People that have given their lives to Christ in the great commission work, no matter what they've done, No matter what their tasks were, no matter what their job was, no matter the country they went to, people that truly accomplished the task for which Christ had called them understood this passage. And I feel like I'm just beginning to learn it We're gonna look at some stories and I'm gonna try to stay on time and go fairly quickly If I speak too fast just by the recording and then listen to it at half speed We're gonna look at the at five different characteristics that I've seen in some of these great men and women of faith.

Number one, the sufficiency of scripture, how they counted on the word of God. The reliance upon the Holy Spirit. Reliance upon the Holy Spirit that was so great that God would truly comfort them because they truly suffered. And so they needed God to comfort them and to empower them and to transform their lives so that Christ would be the one who would speak to the people whom they went to. Thirdly, a sincere and enduring commitment to prayer.

Not just prayer in public, which Many of us have been gifted to be able to speak well and words seem to flow off of our tongues and yet our prayers are mainly public and not in the closet with God. Sacrificial living. A giving of their lives and their goods that resembled that of the apostles in Christ. And fifthly, perseverance. Perseverance.

Now in general terms, you know, we think about the Reformation, that's where we're starting, right? Calvin, Knox, Swingley, Beza, Buescher, Myconius, those are just the famous ones. And then all of the study I've done and the reading, there's so many great saints that come out of the Reformation period. And it was difficult to choose just one group, but one that I felt that touched me personally was the French Huguenots. And maybe you've heard of them.

I know that Dr. Joe was gonna talk about Calvin and maybe he mentioned the Huguenots, incredible group of people. Let me read to you a quote, the Huguenots were French Protestants that were greatly inspired at the start of the teachings of Martin Luther and later to a greater degree by John Calvin. The Huguenots of France grew to as many as 1.5 million believers in about 2, 000 congregations. They established churches, schools, towns, armed fortifications.

As the members of Huguenot churches grew, the conflict with the Roman church increased. And the Huguenots, while accepting the doctrines of the Reformation, opposed the immorality and false teaching of the Roman church and the French monarchy. And this led to persecution of the Huguenots which began in the 1530s. The Huguenot refugees began to leave France and would continue until most had left France or were martyred in France. The lives of the Huguenot brothers and sisters were bathed in the Word of God.

That was their beacon, the Word of God in honoring Christ. And there were so many good books. And if you want one for your children that's just an excellent little read that gives them a picture of ordinary Huguenot life. Huguenot Garden by Douglas Joan III is a nice little book. You will just love it.

Huguenot Garden. Anybody read that book here? Okay, great. Several of you. Beautiful little book, isn't it?

I've read it probably half a dozen times, wonderful little book. The Huguenots of course were sent out in many places in Europe and even as far as Brazil in as early as 1555 by John Calvin. 2000, over 2000 and actually Dr. Joe corrected me yesterday, 2, 200 at least congregations that were built during that little over 125 or 30 year period. Amazing.

And of course we've heard of John Elliott. Mr. Phillips mentioned him the other night. John Elliott had actually gotten trained as a pastor and came to faith in Thomas Hooker's home. It was by living with Thomas Hooker that he truly understood what the gospel of Jesus Christ was all about.

And John Elliott was an amazing man. He fled England as well under persecution, just like the Huguenots were spread by God all over Europe and even to South America. He left England in 1631 and went to a place called Roxbury, Massachusetts. Dr. Joel Beekie, if you haven't heard him speak yet, is a delight.

I mean, he really should be giving this talk, but he can't speak two places at once, so here I am. He wrote a book called Meet the Puritans. I want to read you a quote from, a couple of quotes from this about John Eliot. Shortly after Eliot was ordained, his fiancée, Hannah Mumford, arrived in New England. Theirs was the first wedding in Roxbury.

Hannah soon became known for her holiness and service. Elliot served the Roxbury church as teacher and later as pastor for more than 50 years. The first 15 years he devoted himself wholly to the work of the church and the next 35 to pastoring the congregation and working among the Native Americans. That is perseverance. Since I've been 22 years old, I have not lived in any one place for longer than five years.

Look at the fruit that came from a man who was willing to persevere and stay the course, he put his hand to the plow and he did not give up. He did not stop. And he went to the Native Americans, and many of us can't really, I think, fully grasp or appreciate what he did. It would be like us moving to Riyadh, or to some place in Yemen today. The Native Americans were not friendly in many ways, and yet John Elliott went.

And he had laser beam focus. Cotton Mather, here's another quote from the book, Cotton Mather wrote Elliott's first biography and he portrays Elliott as a man of great piety and single-hearted dedication. He kept to the work. His fluency in Hebrew earned him a position on the translation team of the Bay Psalm book, published in 1640. And three years later, he began studying the Algonquin language, one of the Indian languages, and he began preaching to the natives in their own native language in 1646.

So here he had gotten married, And he had taken the time to learn some of the most difficult languages there are on the face of the earth. He learned an Indian language and was able to preach in it. Now I preach in a foreign language and I know what a task that is. Learning languages requires great discipline and hard work. And he showed his discipline through learning these languages and working with these people.

And he stayed focused. He knew the Hebrew language well enough to translate From the Hebrew into English and into the Indian language and he wrote their Bible and translated the scriptures amazing man of faith How many of you here speak a second language? Okay, I thought there was a few of you. Okay, anybody speak three languages? Okay, so those of you that are trilingual, right, that's three languages.

Bilingual is two languages. People that speak one language are Americans. Okay, that's the way that typically works. We need to be willing, and if you children believe that God may be calling you to a life of serving Christ At the ends of the earth, start learning languages now. It's much easier when your brain is soft and spongy.

Start learning another language. Let me quote again from the book, Meet the Puritans. Elliot began to set up towns of praying Indians. Natick was first in 1651. By 1674, there were approximately 14 praying Indian towns with an estimated population of 3, 600 and approximately 1, 100 people had been converted in each town, the natives made a solemn covenant to give themselves and their children to God to be His people as the basis of their new civil government Wow Isn't that exciting?

I mean we hear that one thousand one hundred people came to faith in Christ, but think about the dates Sixteen thirty one he arrived Sixteen seventy four There was one thousand one hundred who had come to faith in Christ. And he had actually only been working among the Indians for about 13 years at this time. So he had seen about 85 people come to faith every year. How many of you would like to see 85 people come to Christ in your lifetime, period, through your personal evangelization? Wow.

He stayed the course, he trusted God in prayer, and one of the first things he did with the Indians would say, we need to be praying. And he established these towns and he actually called them praying towns. And they began to pray. When we look at this man's life, we cannot underestimate this man's trust in God. It wasn't just his discipline and hard work and ability to stay the course.

It was trust in prayer to God to transform a people. Elliot was an amazing example and even into his 80s at the end of his life listen to this quote there is a cloud a dark cloud among the poor Indians, he said. The Lord revive and prosper that work and grant it may live when I am dead. You have to understand the background of that prayer. He wanted that work to continue to go on.

But what I didn't share with you was King Philip's War. King Philip's War that occurred in the late 1670s wiped out most of the believing Indian population. And at the end of the 19th century, there was not one Native American left who could read the translation that he had made. And yet he still had a vision and a heart and was praying to God even in his 80s for these people. Even when it appeared, humanly speaking, That everything had been lost.

He was not discouraged. He continued in faith What a blessing what a great man Now we think about of course the Great Awakening many of you have heard of that that of course would be one of the greatest movements that we Americans are familiar with and the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, of course was well known and We see in Jonathan Edwards life a desire to preach clearly and to warn men of hell, to warn them of that which awaits the sinner. And so we look at his life and let me give you a quote here from a divine light, the spiritual leadership of Jonathan Edwards. As the Great Awakening gained momentum, Edwards was often called upon to preach at churches outside North Hampton. In July 1741, for instance, Edwards and Eliezer Willock went to Enfield where Edwards gave his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Now, I'm certain that you've heard of the title of this sermon. I just want to read you a small portion from it that shows his boldness and his willingness to preach despite what the people had thought of what he was saying. He was unwilling and unflinching. He told them that their lives hang from a thread. Their lives hang from a thread and that the flames of hell were licking at them, ready to singe that thread that they might go into eternity without Christ.

Such a very different gospel than what we have today. Today, what do we do in our modern churches? Well, of course, we have sports leagues because sports is the way to win people to Christ. Right? We'll be able to show them.

We're Christians. We know how to have fun. Let me ask the children here, how many of you children were taught how to have fun? Were any of you taught How to have fun? Or did you just figure it out on your own?

Yeah, you did. You didn't need mommy and daddy to teach you how to have fun. And yet we're deceived in much of the Western church to think that our calling is to show people that we're just as cool as they are. Look at how I dress. Look at the fun we have.

We can play softball and I'll get angry and then repent and you'll think that's cool. And we have Christian rock bands. We're gonna imitate the world and you're gonna think we're cool and then you're gonna love Jesus. And we got a wanna and we got Sunday school and we got Christian adventure things and we got wild at heart things and which I don't even know what they do with those. That's that's frightening But do we know anything about prayer?

Do we know anything about living crucified lives? Do we know anything about truly sharing the truth of the gospel? Appealing to sinners to reconcile to God because their lives are full of sin. And then we come to the 19th century Kenneth Scott Latour it has written on this topic. He's a Christian historian He says never had any other set of ideas religious or secular been propagated over so wide an area by so many professional agents maintained by the unconstrained donations of so many millions of individuals We've never seen anything like the 19th century with regards to mission, good or bad.

And I admit there's a lot of things that have come out of the 18th century that got transferred to the 19th century that are definitely problematic. But we never have seen anything like the amount of giving and the amount of the spread and the speed of the spread of the gospel as we did in the 19th century. My friend Peter Hammond who lives in South Africa and his story alone is amazing what God has done in him. He's the founder and director of Frontline Fellowship. He's been in and out of war situations.

He's been in jail. He's been shot at. And God's just continued to protect him. He's also the founder and chairman of the Reformation Society in South Africa. He recently sent me a little article that he published called The Eschatology of Victory, The Greatest Century of Missions Advance.

I'd like to read you a quote from Peter's article. At the beginning of the 19th century, Protestant Christianity was concentrated in Europe and North America, primarily. We know there has been, of course, work going out all over the world since the birth of the church, but primarily. So, except for some small Christian enclaves, Asia was almost untouched by the gospel and Africa was still the dark continent. However, by the end of the 9th century, Christianity was a world religion with churches established in almost every country on earth.

The vigorous energy and momentum of the Protestant missionary movement in the 19th century was unparalleled in human history. It reduced hundreds of illiterate languages to writing, produced libraries of books, pioneered tens of thousands of schools, developed movements for the relief and prevention of human suffering, introduced modern medical skills to save millions of lives from tropical and other diseases, introduced advanced methods of agriculture to provide adequate food for millions of previously malnourished people, and brought an end to cannibalism, human sacrifice, infanticide, burning of leprosy patients, widow burning, slavery to a certain extent, and numerous other prevalent evils. I mean we have never seen anything like the 19th century. And when we look at the per capita giving, it was astonishing. And well over 50% of the money that was given in the 19th century came out of England and the United States.

Well, well over 50%. Millions and millions of pounds and dollars were given. And we see, of course, the lives that I could just, I can only have time to mention. Adoniram Judson, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Jonathan Goforth, the list goes on and on and on and on and on and you're probably thinking of names, Carl, what about this one, what about this one? There are so many who went out.

And what they did is they sacrificed their lives. These people were mocked. At the time, you know, it's published in the newspapers. And I've got another quote from what Peter wrote. He says, from the beginning, skeptics laughed at the audacity of these pioneers, discounting any possibility of success.

The British East India Company's attitude was published in these words, quote, The sending out of missionaries into our Eastern possessions is the maddest, most extravagant, most costly, most indefensible project which has ever been suggested by a moonstruck fanatic. Such a scheme is pernicious, imprudent, useless, harmful, dangerous, profitless, fantastic. The Edinburgh Review editorialized, that was a newspaper, We see not the slightest prospect of success We see much danger in making the attempt and yet these men and women of God Took the Word of God seriously They took seriously being a living sacrifice. They saw their lives as dispensable. And again, as we've said before, not everything that's sailed under the banner of the 19th century is necessarily to be as saluted or applauded.

But the sincerity and the willingness and the sacrifice, the dedication, the commitment, the willingness to take the scriptures and believe that they're sufficient and endure in prayer were exemplified by these missionaries. And it's very interesting, a lot of people don't recognize what I'm about to tell you, and that is the reformed background of the majority of missionaries during this time. Quote, pioneer missionary William Carey and his co-workers were belittled as fools, madmen, tinkerers, Calvinists and schismatics. I continue on quoting Hammond, all the founders and missionaries of the original prototype Baptist mission launched by William Carey in 1792 So just at the beginning the end of the 18th century beginning the 19th century were reformed When they came under the criticism for their strict Calvinism and being followers of Jonathan Edwards, Carey's colleague, Andrew Fuller, responded that if their critics preached Christ half as much as Jonathan Edwards had, then their usefulness would be double what it is. So he answered well to his critics.

He added that it was most significant that the mission to the east had originated with men of reformed principles, And if ever fell into the hands of men who rejected these principles, it would become ineffective for God's kingdom. Now I'm not a missiologist, and I'm certainly not wise enough to be able to ascertain all of the things that are going on in the field today among North Americans. But there has been a weakening of the gospel as well there. The London Missionary Society, continuing with Hammond, founded in 1795, was thoroughly interdenominational but was most outspoken that the doctrines of grace, generally known as Calvinism, provided a common platform for the best missionary action. You know, many Armenians will say that, you Calvinist, you have no reason to evangelize because God's gonna save who he's gonna save, doesn't matter what any of us do.

That is a total misunderstanding of Calvinism. Calvinism is the greatest encouragement to those of us that would have complete the Great Commission because we know that we have a God who will complete that which he's begun. And so we can go with great trust, great hope, great faith. The reason that people fall off of the field is because they aren't Calvinists. Because they think that they need to save people.

Whereas we know with great confidence, weak and foolish and stupid as we are, we can put our hand to the plow, We can trust the sufficiency of scripture, we can pray, we can be sacrifices, living sacrifices for Christ, and we know that God is going to complete the mission which he began. What a joy. What great joy to know that our God will complete that which he's begun, that which he's begun in us. Well, hastening along, we're coming to the 20th century. In the 20th century, I'm gonna share a very personal story with you.

A dear old friend of mine, he and his wife, with whom I'm still good friends with his sons today, and I was the mentor of his brother-in-law, was my mentor for over 20 years now. My wife has known their family for 50 years. Beautiful family. Jacques and Ruth Taven, they're Dutch, she used English, were missionaries in Irian Jaya in the 1960s and 70s. They were among some of the first people to enter the Swart Valley in what is now today a province of Indonesia Some of you might have heard Irian Jaya, right?

It's it's actually the province of Papua in southern Indonesia And God saw fit to raise thousands of natives to faith in Christ during the time that they were serving there. A faith in these people that truly transformed their lives from the inside out. The gospel was clearly received, the transformation was clearly done by God and their lives changed and the beautiful thing is of it often they came to the missionary and said we think this from the simple teaching they had they had no Bible at the time The missionaries would teach something and they would apply it. It's wonderful. Well the title of the book which unfortunately is not published in English is called The Secret of Nabalan Kabalan And I'm sure I slaughtered the Danny words there, but anyway, have patience with me.

If anyone speaks Danny in here, I don't mean to insult your language. Chapter one, out of the depths. Here's the history of Jacques and where he came from. Quote, during my childhood in teenage years, the thought never entered my head that one day I would be a soldier on active duty for the Lord Jesus Christ in the central highlands of Irian Jaya. The ambition that dominated my boyhood certainly had to do with battle and warfare, but of quite a different kind.

In May 1940, the Netherlands were overrun by Nazi forces out to conquer the world. These were exciting days for a 12-year-old Dutch boy. After four days of fighting, victorious and jubilant German soldiers entered our town in freely distributed chocolates and cigarettes. Not long after that, a bombing squad of the Royal Air Force missed a railway emplacement in our town and hit a housing estate instead. For days, I helped to clear rubble and was for the first time confronted with death.

The boy was probably just as old as I was. He was all gray. Plaster clung to his blood-covered body. With the political insight characteristic of my age, remember he's 12 here, a decision was not difficult to make. The Germans were good.

The British were bad. And this seemed to vindicate joining the Nazi Youth Movement, as well as the best way to make my life adventurous and worthwhile. Religion was as far removed from me as Iriangaea. For all I knew, God was an all-over shadowing, cranky Killjoy eager to cast unsuspecting humans into the fires of hell How different it was to belong to the Hitler Youth Movement a Disciplined smartly outfitted body of young energetic people emanating power and confident of a glorious future. We would march through my home city of Harlem, drums beating, trumpets sounding, and colors flying, while we sang with conviction, we are the youth and the future of our beloved country.

We want to work and rebuild our great fatherland. Things did not turn out as gloriously as we had been promised and as we had been anticipating. Hard labor under primitive circumstances awaited us. Throughout the winter months, there was so little food that a few stolen potatoes cooked over an open fire were a feast. We refused to believe for one minute that we were losing the war.

But in January 1945, I was neither a gentleman farmer in some pleasant rural district of Poland, nor a revered hero of war. Instead, I was a refugee among thousands of other pitiful refugees. We were on the run from the advancing Russian troops, frozen to the bone and hungry. I tramped through that desperate winter and watched as the world around me fell to pieces. But this was no time to give up.

Great things were at stake. Lying about my age, though at that time no longer necessary, He's about 15 here, excuse me, 17. I finally managed to join the military. That same evening, there was an air attack. Taking cover in the mud, I was jubilant.

At last, I had my own helmet, my own rifle. I was invincible. It was April 5th 1945. Military training did not amount to much. Enemy aircraft were continually overhead both day and night but who cared?

The day for revenge would soon come. Finally, the order came. Tomorrow we march. When morning came, I felt absolutely miserable. My companions urged me to see if the medical officer who was quick to diagnose hepatitis.

At war's end, I found myself in a military hospital. I'd never seen combat. When at last I was confronted with an allied soldier, I was lying in bed. After a stint in a POW camp, I eventually ended up back in Harlem where I learned that my father had perished as a political prisoner. The bitterness of my mother was understandable, but Not much of a help.

A thick, black darkness had descended on my life. God getting a man right where he needs him. At the end of his life, Little children, hear me well. Your life has to be broken. You have to know how desperately wicked you are.

So that you can come to your Savior because you can't know your Savior if you don't know your sin Oh children I Fear that many children Will just act nicely They will say yes, sir And no, sir Yes, ma'am and no ma'am and will be embarrassed to confess their sins. And to confess the temptations of their heart. Brothers and sisters, children, confess your sins to one another. And if you've got no one wicked enough to confess them to, come to Me. Because I'm as wicked as they come.

You'll not be embarrassed to confess your sin before Me because I'm as wicked as they come. Don't be a religious hypocrite. Come to the end of yourself like Jacques did. I continue on. With nobody else to blame for the ugliness of life, I vented my anger on God.

Seeing he never responded, his followers became the object of my scorn. Apart from a strange sense of self-discipline and perseverance, This was another part of my Nazi heritage. I had a seething contempt for Christians. To my mind, as those of my Nazi instructors, believers were weaklings who stood in the way of progress and therefore needed to be wiped out. Seven years after the end of the war, my life seeped in stifling darkness.

I met her. Henny, a Christian colleague. She brought the first ray of light into my life since my childhood, But the peace and happiness that she radiated couldn't be for me. I was convinced of that. Her insistence that this hope of hers was grounded solely in her faith in Jesus Christ made me sick.

I was disgusted by the very name of Jesus as if he could do anything for me. But he could and he did. In February 1952, without me even realizing it at first, Jesus Christ changed my life. One desperate evening, I knelt down in the privacy of my room and mumbled a prayer. Jesus, if you really exist, I'd like to know it.

It was a foolish thing to do. I saw that immediately. Nothing happened, at least I thought nothing happened, when I sank into sleep that night. But the next morning, everything had happened. All the bitterness, hatred, fear, and disillusionment that I had cultivated since the wartime had disappeared overnight.

When I went to the office the next morning, I met Henny in the cloakroom, and she looked at me in surprised wonderment, and simply said, you're different today, Did you pray? I was a new man. I've heard Jock tell this story. When you get to heaven, Look him up. What a great story of the mercy of God.

God being rich, as it tells us in Ephesians 2, in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive. He regenerates a man or a woman or a boy or a girl first so that they may place their faith in a God as they see their sin and see their Savior and they recognize that Christ is the answer. Jacques was regenerated and as he was regenerated his life changed from the inside out. And so he and Ruth went to Bible school, got training, and went to the mission field. Because what else does a sacrifice do but obey their God?

What else does a living sacrifice do but say, Lord, where will you send me? Quote from chapter three. Most people were covered with yaws. Tropical sores that ate away their bodies. We're speaking of the Denny people as they went there.

Every day, we made our way to the clinic, a primitive shed with a grass-covered roof and a dirt floor. Day after day, patients would throng outside, waiting impatiently for their turn to be treated. Miraculously, the treatment did work. And quite soon, yaws began to disappear. Teeth were extracted, babies delivered, arrows and wounds were treated, lives were saved.

Even though not everybody received the much desired Liru treatment, our medical aid made a definite impact upon the people. And so they began. Now keep in mind, they speak about 10 sentences of the language at this time. And they're getting to know the culture and getting to know the people. He goes on, Our limited understanding of the language had caused additional tension.

Quite apart from the fear of death, their fear of death as missionaries, there was the worry gnawing at my insides that I would soon collapse under the pressure of it all. I share this because we need to see that these missionaries are not people that somehow float, like on a different plane, you know? The kind of thing we get with Christian celebrities, right? And these poor brothers and sisters that we put on these pedestals. We put them there.

They know that they're weak. They know that they're pathetic. And yet we look at them and we think, oh, someday if I can be like you. When in fact you are just like them. I continue, if I could not overcome this fear, my missionary days were numbered, I would be a failure, destroyed by fear at the outset of the battle.

The situation became more and more difficult when John and Helen, these are their co-workers, had to leave temporarily. Ruth, Priscilla, their young daughter, just a year old, and I were the only white people remaining in the area. Our nearest colleagues lived in Carumbaga, about 25 kilometers away, so 12 and a half, 13 miles. I Could draw a little comfort from the literal meaning of the name of our station. I can get this is the name of their station Kangayama, which means nothing to you Place of death That was the name of their mission station.

Can you imagine going to bed every night in a small wooden shack? I mean you probably have nicer sheds in your backyard that you keep your lawn tools in. Fearing that wild tribal people that ran around mostly naked, 99% naked, they wear gourds in various places, and they put bones through their nose and they have giant nets with hair that's never been cut and they smear their bodies with pig grease and they have quite the aroma. You're afraid these people are just going to decide at one time it's time to kill them. And so every night you go to bed with this fear.

Jacques and Ruth had a tradition that every Wednesday night they would have prayer and Bible study. Now they did devotions every day as a family, but they would have a special time and they would listen to cassettes that came from the States or from Europe. Quoting Jacques, one particular Wednesday evening, the speaker dropped a comment about the bondage of fear in Romans 8.15. That phrase stuck. There I was, a born-again Christian, fully persuaded that I had been made free in the sun, John 8, 36.

Yet at the same time, plagued by dreadful fear. Now he explains a lot more of it, but he was up every night, just tossing and turning and fearful. Every time even the dog would move he'd wake up. Okay? He's constant fear.

And the Bible referred to this as bondage. For the next few nights I had something to think about as I lay awake and listened for suspicious sounds. Finally, I came around to committing my case to the Lord. I told him I was scared. I asked him to deliver me.

And that is precisely what he did. Right there and then, it was absolutely undramatic and unemotional, but my fear vanished completely. Did I ever sleep that night? God had done a total and wonderful work without which I would never have been able to face the trials ahead. And he gave the glory to God.

God was the one who did it. And again, when he came to the end of himself and he recognized his pathetic and pitiful situation and he confessed his sin, God is faithful and just to cleanse us, is he not? He forgives us and cleanses us from all sin. What a glorious thing. And so God continued to work in this ex-Nazi.

He continues on, we were very much aware that in order to deliver the spiritual message entrusted to us, we needed to do more than simply impress the people with technology and medical aid, but what could we do? We were still struggling for mastery over basic grammar and vocabulary of complicated dani language. So how could we possibly convey such concepts as forgiveness, peace, reconciliation, to mention only a few? Not only did we still have to find correct Donnie words for these concepts, but we were also still searching for a key, any key, to enter into the spiritual understanding of the people. The worldview of pagans did not have words that could sufficiently talk about one man dying for another.

There weren't words. There was not a concept. Their language didn't have the words. And yet God from eternity past had prepared a way, it's so cool, it's so amazing. The Scriptures encouraged us to keep searching and learning.

If the apostle Peter told us to follow in Christ's steps, we could only conclude that he, Christ, had gone on before us. He was there ahead of us to prepare the way for his kingdom and to solve our problems in proclaiming it. That is precisely how things turned out. Missionaries who had entered neighboring valleys prior to our arrival had discovered among the Danni people a deep longing for something they called Nabalan Kabalan. It soon became clear that here was a God-given key for the opening of the hearts of the Danni population.

The missionaries, once they understood, had a simple message to deliver. Jesus Christ has the secret of Nabalan Kabalan. The response in these neighboring valleys where mission work had gone on a little longer than in our Swart Valley had been instantaneous. Who is this Jesus Christ, the people would ask? And what does he want us to do?

Missionaries from these areas soon came to our valley, repeating the message to our people. They brought along some of their native converts who eagerly confirmed the message Jesus Christ has the secret of Nabal on Kabbalah Although the Danny's of the Swart Valley had free previously had little or no contact with these fellow tribes people from surrounding villages They too responded with overwhelming enthusiasm who is this Jesus and what does he want us to do? Jesus had the secret of Nabalan Kabbalah. What was Nabalan kabalan Here is a Donny telling the story now in the book. It's very long.

I just have a short paragraph So we looked for a way of escape, this Donnie is explaining. Escape from what? We were afraid of death. We were tired of it. We did not want to die, but to live forever.

There it is. There it was, Jacque says, the magic words. To live forever. To obtain Nabalan Kabalan, Eternal life. That was the key.

And so they found the key for deliverance from fear of death in their search for eternal life. The Donnies had been introduced to Jesus Christ and Christ had in their tradition, in their culture, planted that key. They were afraid of death. They wanted instead eternal life, nablon kablon, that's what they desired. And isn't that what Hebrews tells us Christ has come to do?

If we look at Hebrews chapter two, and I'm reading in the full context, verses eight to 15. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. But as present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. So that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he, for whom, and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise, and again, I will put my trust in him and again behold I and the children God has given me since therefore the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. They had good news.

The gospel of Jesus Christ. And the people were prepared for that by God. To deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. The Donnies knew what it meant. They knew what it meant to be in bondage to fear of death.

And who is this Jesus Christ who has eternal life? They knew they were desperate. They knew their wickedness. And as the story goes on, and I'm sorry I don't have more time to read from it. But the story goes on to talk about how these warring tribes who their favorite sport was warring, they went out to kill people.

They would snicker and give high fives to each other because they killed another man. It was sport to them. And these evil men, eventually, when they came to faith in Christ, when they were regenerate, they came one day to the missionary and said, We have to burn all of our weapons. We can't kill any longer because Jesus died for us that we might know now, but on kablon, we can't go out and kill our enemies. We're going to burn all of our weapons, and then we're going to be missionaries.

We're going to go over the hill and tell them about Jesus. And the missionary was worried. Jock said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you thinking? They said, no, we trust Jesus. They had a big bonfire, burned all of their spears, their arrows, their weapons, everything, burned it in a big pile and went over the hill.

And normally they'd stand on the other side of the valley and they'd shout insults. Instead they said, we're not coming with weapons today, we're coming to tell you about the secret of Nabalan Kabalan. Oh, it's such a great story, it needs to get published in English. Anyway, Let me read you his final words. Revolutionary changes had swept across the Swart Valley in the course of these 13 years.

We'd come to a heathen tribe, living in a stowed age, Totally ignorant of God and his word. Now the majority of Donnies in the Swart Valley were born again. 73 local churches had been planted. Each with its own indigenous leadership. And they always did them in twos or threes at least.

Since that day, Sam, which was their training school, Bible school, opened its doors. 117 students had graduated. They had graduated in 17 years, 117 pastors. The young churches were vigorous and healthy. Each congregation had at least one indigenous missionary.

They were already sending missionaries from their local churches. Each one of these 73 churches had one couple, at least one couple, going to different parts of their island as missionaries. The story of Jach and Rud is one of the most inspiring stories I know. But there's many more that have never been told. Heaven's going to be so much fun to hear of the glories of God of how He saved every man and woman boy and girl.

What a joy it'll be. What a joy. And yet today, the 20th century, of course, being the bloodiest century for the church, more martyrs in the 20th century than in all the centuries combined. In the 21st century, it continues. And it appears that it's going to get worse.

I'd like to read you one last story, if I have time, about an evangelism student by the name of Lin Zong. One day I was out sharing the gospel in some small Chinese villages. Suddenly the police surrounded us. They grabbed me and threw me in the back of a van. We knew that you had been They said to him we know that you've been trained for Christian evangelism when we're taking you in they told me There was not much I a simple farmer could do I had the evidence The class notes from his training course that he had gone to with me.

So I just leaned back onto the seat and prayed. That's when God gave me an idea. I took the training notes out of my book and stuffed them into the cracks and crevices of the jail van. That's beautiful. When we arrived at the station, they tried processing me, but they couldn't find the evidence.

They kept going through my things, swearing they knew I had the formula for spreading Christianity written down. Yeah, he had it written down right here. I told them truthfully I did not have it on me. Even without proper evidence, they threw me in jail. The officials told me that all I had to do was to get my freedom was to recant my beliefs and I refused.

And so they tried torturing me into submission. They chained me to the pole. For the first few days, they did not give me water or food. Finally, they brought me food, but there was nothing to drink. This went on for another day or so.

I can't remember. All they bring me was food now, but nothing to drink. I seriously thought I would die chained to that pole, so I prayed to God and he gave me another idea. When the guard came with my food that night, I asked if I could clean the kitchen. They were surprised by the offer and granted my wish.

They took me into a room where dirty dishes were piled high. Flies swarmed the overflowing trash bins around the dishes with dried food. The stench was overwhelming. As soon as the officers left and locked the door behind them, I lunged for the sink. I put my face into the dirty dishwasher and took a long drink, dishwater, and took a long drink.

I did not care about the pieces of food floating in the water. I did not care that the water was dirty and gray in color. This is how I survived drinking dirty dishwater. And I was thankful that God provided for my needs. The persecution and torture continued.

I was interrogated day after day. Each time they tried to get me to recant my faith, I refused to denounce Jesus as my Lord. They realized their current methods of persecution would not make me change my mind, and so they changed tactics. They chained me outside the jail to a tree. During the day, the hot sun scorched me.

At night, mosquitoes feasted on me. When I slapped them away, the noise and movement caused the motion sensor spotlights to light up. There was no way to get sleep. I was miserable and my body was weak. Finally they sent two officers to finish me off.

They were big and muscled and they beat my fragile body without even breaking a sweat. One of the officers put his heavy metal-tipped boot on my neck and pulled my arms and shoulders in different directions. It felt as if he were going to snap my neck like a chicken's. This is your last chance, the big officer said. Denounce Jesus and gain your freedom.

And I looked straight into his eyes and replied, your methods will not work with me. I'm sorry. I decided to die for Jesus the day I decided to follow him. I immediately felt the tension around my neck loosen. The guards were shocked at what I said.

They looked at each other and shook their heads in disbelief and The big burly officer took his foot off my neck and pulled me upright. This guy has no fear of death. The officer said to his partner, Let him go. No amount of persecution is going to change him. It is useless.

They unlock the chains and let me go. Brothers and sisters, I share this, my story, to encourage all believers to stand firm in the faith. God is victorious. And at the end, they give a little update. After being released from jail, Sung went back to complete his homework assignment as a result his team baptized more than 100 new believers and planted seven house churches in the same area where he was persecuted.

My friends, we live in a nation that's choking in the riches. I allow at times the forest to grow up so much around me that I feel like the third man that Scott talked about last night. At times I wonder if I'm that man. If I could stand behind a pulpit and preach for 30 years and still have such a forest of worldliness planted in my life. We are being choked by the riches and cares of this world.

And as someone who's been a part of planting two family integrated churches, planting his third right now, I'm concerned that the family integrated movement is going to become family ingrown. I was going to ask you to play Never Have I Ever today, but I decided not to. I was going to ask you if you've ever prayed that God would send your children to the ends of the earth. That God might use your children as great men and women of faith who are truly living sacrifices. I'll let God ask that question to you.

When we look at these lives over the centuries, what did we see, what characteristics did we see? We saw there was a sufficiency of scripture. There was a reliance on the Holy Spirit. There was a willingness to truly have a commitment to prayer, and there was sacrificial living. Truly sacrificial.

And they persevered. They put their hand to the plow and they trusted God and they did not look back. Don't be a quitter. Trust Christ. Allow him to break you.

Allow him to shape you and mold you into the person that he wants you to be Repent of desiring to be a celebrity if that's a problem. And be willing to allow God to reach the ends of the earth through you. And if you don't know any real missionaries, my friend, Breit Purcell, is here. He's been in Russia for 23 years. 23 years an American that stayed there.

Talk to him. Talk to him about the exciting things of the churches they've got scattered over nine time zones. Talk to our brother, Tikrit von Turkey. Talk to our brother, Conrad, from Africa. Talk to these people.

You will be blessed with every conversation you have with Him. To God be the glory, great things He has done. Amen. The National Center for Family Integrated Churches is dedicated to proclaiming the sufficiency of scripture for church and family life and to the establishment of Biblically ordered churches. For more information, resources, and products, please visit our website at www.ncfic.org.

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