The sermon 'Mission of the Church' by Bro. Peter Halliman discusses the foundational role of authority in the mission of the church, as exemplified by Jesus holding the key of authority before passing it to the church. The sermon emphasizes the importance of faith, which must be learned and developed, in fulfilling the church's mission. Initially, Jesus instructed the disciples to focus their mission on the house of Israel, teaching them faith through reliance on God rather than material provisions. The primary mission of the church, as outlined in the sermon, is to glorify God through evangelism and to win souls to Christ. This mission involves active participation and outreach beyond the church walls, using faith and the message of the Gospel. The sermon further explores how the church's activities, such as fellowship and teaching, serve as preparation for its true mission of spreading the Gospel, with the ultimate aim of glorifying Christ.

Book of Matthew chapter 28, as you're finding your place there, I just want to make some introductory remarks about the message. I will do the reading of the text shortly and then I will give you the subject or the title of the message. But in putting together the message and some thoughts that surrounded this message, I've I've often wondered, as preachers prepare a message and preach it, And how we sit and study and try to tune in to God and pray and I, most of my messages come together in the midnight hours. What I mean by that, I don't get up and study all through the midnight hours, sometimes yes, But I believe the study and over the course of time and energy poured into it, I believe it's in the quiet moment of the midnight hours that God comes to his man and source everything out. That's what I believe.

There's enough distraction during the day in phone calls and interruptions and so on and so on. The mind can only handle so much information. And that's for the preacher side of it, but I've often wondered these messages that God's people hear. I wonder that if the subject is presented to you prior to the message being preached, how will it come out? Here's your subject.

You think about it, and you write out in an outline what you think that is. And I've often wondered how it would come out. You can't formulate any kind of outline if you're not a Bible student. You just can't do it. And even with the outline it has to make sense.

There has to be a flow. The dots have to be connected as though it were. And I try to do that in my messages. There's no point taking all this information and loading it as though it were and dumping it as though it were on God's people and walk away feeling that you've preached God's word. That's not preaching.

And so here in the book of Matthew, just some thoughts to give us an introduction. The Lord has spent his life with his disciples. The Lord started his ministry with baptism. His ministry did not start until his baptism was received. And After the Lord's baptism you'll read and see that the entire ministry of John the Baptist went downhill quickly and the Lord's ministry went uphill quickly and John the Baptist said to the Lord, I shall decrease and you shall increase.

And so connecting some dots for the message and leading up to this, John the Baptist was the only man upon the face of the earth that had direct, vertical authority from heaven directly to him. No church was involved with John the Baptist. His family was not involved, his parents was not involved, the synagogue was not involved. God called one man and his name was John and God called him, appointed him, He filled him with His Holy Spirit whilst he was yet in the womb. Don't think the small children can't hear the preacher.

Don't convince yourself that a pregnant mother, the baby, cannot hear. Don't cheat yourself into that thinking. It has been scientifically and medically proven that baby can pick up the vibrations of the musical instruments and hear the voice of the mother singing. That has been proven. It's also been proven that when the baby is born, the baby already knows the voice of the mother and the father because it's been listening from the time it's been in the womb.

And that's backed up with Bible because when John the Baptist, his mother Elizabeth was with child six months And Maria came along and made the announcement, I'm also with child of the Holy Spirit. And when the babe in the mother's womb, John the Baptist heard the message of the Messiah, he leaped. In the womb. Why do you think he leaped? He heard the gospel message.

God saved John the Baptist in the womb. You don't get the Holy Spirit until you're saved. God saved him in the womb, gave him his Holy Spirit, was filled with the Holy Spirit. No unsaved ever has the Holy Spirit not much less been filled with the Holy Spirit. And he was the senior of Jesus by six months, his cousin.

God appointed John the Baptist to have the authority, gave him the authority, called him, ordained him, and qualified him, gave him his authority, and sent him with the message of repentance and judgment. Repentance and judgment is what his message was. And Jesus was in Galilee at the time that John the Baptist was baptizing. And Jesus walked 102 kilometers or 60 miles. Yes.

Now why in the world would Jesus walk for sixty miles to be baptized? Were there no rivers in Galilee? There were! Were there no men in Galilee to perform the act of baptizing? There were.

So why in the world would Jesus walk for sixty miles to be baptized? Well, I'll tell you why. Because John the Baptist was the only man who had authority. Go to John. Go to John.

And Jesus went to John. He was baptized by John the Baptist, which would have made Jesus a Baptist. And then following, the ministry of Jesus started. As soon as Jesus received his baptism, the key, the authority from heaven to John went horizontal to Jesus, the key was transferred. Jesus held the key all the way through his ministry, did not relinquish to the church yet.

Understand? This is all introductory. Jesus held on to the key authority. He did not hand it over. He did not give it to the local church.

Jesus started his ministry and he called into existence the first Baptist Church. Amen. And he started the church with two members, not 12. Right. Understand the Bible?

Walking along the Sea of Galilee, Jesus seen Peter and Andrew and called them and said, come follow me. They were already saved, they were already baptized, they were not members of a church because John was not called to organize the church, he was called to preach and baptize in the story. And after Jesus called Peter and Andrew the first two members. That's why Jesus also said in Matthew 18 and running into 19, Jesus said in church capacity, where two or three, two or three, Yes. Church capacity are gathered together in my name.

There I am in the midst of them." It's important we balance the Bible. Yes. And so Jesus started the church with two members and added two more, James and John, and added another Matthew, and then it went on down and you can have all the names of the twelve apostles in Matthew chapter 10 and it goes on from there. Jesus sent the disciples out in Matthew chapter 10 and said to them, take no money, take no two shoes, don't take two jackets, don't take your credit card and your money card and your debit card, don't take any of that, don't pack a lot of things, don't take your sleeping bag, Don't take your tent. Yes, Lord, but you're sending us on mission work.

I wonder who Judas went with. Does that surprise you? Have you ever given thought that Judas did mission work? He did. The Lord sent the twelve out two by two.

Judas was right there. Jesus did give requirements and said, go to none but the house of Israel. You don't go to the Samaritans, you don't go to the Greeks, you don't go to the Africans, you don't go to any Gentiles, you go to your own people. What was Christ doing to the disciples when he sent them out with nothing. What was he doing?

He was teaching the disciples to learn faith. People have to learn faith. You're not born with it. When you believe in Christ to be saved, there is an exercise of faith, but that faith is elementary. It's not advanced faith.

After the baby has been born spiritually, not the human baby, the spiritual baby, after we've been born again, then that faith starts increasing with the trials and the tribulations as they increase. As the level increases, so does must the faith. The intensity will increase the faith. And that's why a lot of Christians in developed countries are still at the baby faith, they've never been involved in intense situations. And Jesus sent the disciples out and said, you'll take nothing, just go as you are, just go, Carry on, get on with it.

They weren't going to a people of a hard language. Their own people speak their own language, so they don't need translators. They were not going to a people that were going to offer them a different menu, they ate the same menu, they were Jews going to minister to Jews. You might have a problem with the diet in New Guinea. I don't.

The Jews, those who were the apostles, the disciples, they would not have had a problem with the meals that the other Jews would have served. They are Jews, they are Jews. Their customs would have been the same. They would not have been offended going into the homes, sitting in the places, talking to them, preaching to them, witnessing to them, ministering to them. There would have been no offenses with customs.

They would have had houses that would have been accommodating. They would have had the proper food for their own custom. That's why the Lord said, don't take anything, just go as you are. How they sleep is how you're going to sleep. That was not a challenge on the human side, It was a challenge to the spiritual side and Christ was teaching them how to live by faith.

We heard that last night. Fast forward. This is all an introductory but it's helpful with the message that's coming. And so they did this for approximately three and a half years. You come down to the ending of the ministry of Christ, And by the time you get to the ending of that ministry in Acts chapter 1 down in verse 8, you'll have the recording where the Lord, not the apostles, changed the mission program.

The Lord changed it, not the apostles. And you can put eyes on it, it will help you, so we'll just go then read it. Acts chapter 1 verse 8, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, don't stop there, and in all Judea, that would be the districts, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Lord, you mean we have to go minister to these dirty people, the Samaritans? That's exactly what I'm telling you.

They looked at the Samaritans as though they were spiritually dirty people, half-breeds, mixed race, the Jews would go out of their way before walking on the very property and land that belonged to the Samaritans. If it meant that they had to walk another day's walk, they would do so. They would not step foot on the Samaritan land. They would not associate with them at the local markets. They wouldn't even go to their markets.

They would not eat. They would not take food. They would not take water. They would not give. They would not shake hands.

They would have no bodily contact with the Samaritans. Unclean spiritually, ethnically unclean people and the Jews believed that if they came in close contact with a Samaritan, it was the same as being defiled by a dead body. It's quite strong, isn't it? And Jesus now changes the mission program. That's where I'll go.

The title of the message now, The Mission of the Church. If you were to write your outline on the mission of the church, what would you write? What would your outline say about what the mission of the church is? And piecing together, putting together this message, I thought about the Lord's ministry, I thought about the authority, I thought about He's the one holding the keys, He's not surrendered yet. And all the same while, you've got the disciples as they're on the way to Jerusalem to observe the Passover, and there in that journey, you've got the disciples with Christ and they're all jockeying for position.

You've got James and John who are concerned about positions in the kingdom to come. The only reason their names are mentioned there is because they beat the others through it. Don't think the other disciples didn't want positions, they were all Jews. And you know how it is when you're somewhere and there's a lot of people and everyone's jockeying for a position. No one really cares about anyone else.

A lot of selfishness is shown when people are jockeying for a position. That's what was happening on the way to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. No one of the disciples cared about Jesus. He's preparing to go to the cross. They should have all thought about Him.

They didn't think about Him. They were all thinking of themselves. Sound like today? They didn't care about Christian service. It was the Lord in the upper room who had to take the basin and the towel and kneel and wash the feet of the disciples showing the magnitude of His love.

And Peter said, Oh no, Lord, don't wash me. Jesus said, If I don't wash you, you have no part with me. Which one of the disciples washed the feet of the others? None of them. Can you see the arena?

Can you see how selfish these Jewish disciples were in their own minds? Jesus is preparing to go back to heaven, going to prepare to go to the cross. He's got the weight of the world on his shoulders. The Bible says that he sweated great drops of sweat and blood as though they were. He had me on his mind.

Isn't that wonderful? He had the weight of the sins of his people on his mind. He had Calvary on his mind. He had the fact of the matter that the Father would turn his back on him and leave him stranded all alone. He had that on his mind and yet these disciples did nothing about that.

Kind of like today. You wonder where people are in their own life, in their own service, and leading up to this, Jesus is still holding on to the key. He's been prepping the disciples for some time. I'm going to the cross. I'm going back to heaven.

My mission is going to be completed. I'm going to give you the mission. He's been prepping them all along and leading them all along and encouraging them and schooling them all along the way. This is what you've got to do, this is what you will do, you don't do this, you don't go there, you do go here. This is how you preach and this is how you believe.

He was teaching them faith, he was teaching them the ministry, He was teaching them how to walk by faith. He was teaching them don't believe in the physical things of the world. Believe in me. Believe in me. Believe in me.

That's what Christ was doing. And it comes to the point, here we are on Matthew 28. Verse 18, as it's often been referred to as the Great Commission, and Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. At this point Jesus has already risen from the dead. Let your mind use the sanctified imagination that God has given you.

Before the death of Christ, Jesus was man of very man. He was very much a man. He was the God-man, yes, but he was also the man, Christ Jesus. He's got two names, not one. His earthly name is Iasous in Greek, which means Savior.

And he has the name Christos in Greek Christ which means the anointed one. His name in heaven that has always been has been Christos. His earthly name Jesus became he became the Savior of his people and Christ has the identity of being all of man perfect man perfect God all in one, I don't know that I understand it, but I believe it. And before the death of Christ, Christ was subjected to pain. He felt it.

Christ was subjected to sorrow. He wept for the disciple he loved, Lazarus. I have a theological question. I'd like to ask this to preachers. I've read the commentaries, I've read the Greek, I've read the Bible historians.

I get They're just other men's books like me. I'm a man. They're no different than I am. They were not a prophet of the Old Testament. They were not a disciple, an apostle of the New Testament.

Josephus is no more anointed than I am. John Gill, Spurgeon, the prince of preachers as they call him, he was gifted with speech but he was no more saved than I'm saved. So all these commentaries, be careful how you place so much confidence in commentaries. They're good to a point. But Jesus, when he, the Bible says, he wept at the death of the disciple whom he loved.

And you'll hear commentaries and preachers and so on and so on And they will say, and I am who was the disciple whom Jesus loved. Who was he? People say, oh, he was John. John the apostle. He loved John.

So he didn't love Peter. He didn't love John, but he did love James. What's the deep spiritual meaning that he loved the disciple whom Jesus loved? The only disciple that is written in verbal form, the vernacular, in the Bible, in the New Testament, the disciple whom Jesus loved was Lazarus. Prove me wrong.

I challenge you. Let it go on the air and let some professor call me. Yes, I know the grammar of the Greek. I get that too, mom's Greek. I have a Greek background.

I get the Greek. Yes, I know the language and the input of it, and I know that the third person of how John writes his epistle, and I know it's common belief that, oh, well, Jesus loved John, and so then what's the deep spiritual meaning of that? Does that mean he didn't love Peter? Does that mean he doesn't love me or he doesn't love you? What's the meaning of that?

Well, I'll let you muse on that as I preach. And Jesus was subjected to the elements of the world, he was subjected to dying before he rose from the grave. He still was subjected to that. He was subjected to feeling pain, feeling hunger, he was feeling tired, he ate, He grew weary, he had to rest, he felt pain, he bled, he died. These are all elements of human life.

Jesus was subjected to that. In a sense, before his death, as a man, he was also confined to some of the authority as a man. But you come to Matthew 28, after the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus said, oh, a power authority. That word is authority and the Greek is authority.

There's two words in the Greek for power. One is dunamis, where we get our Greek word dynamite. That's power. That's power to make things happen. And then the other Greek word is exousia, which means authority, Governmental authority, ordinance authority, authority of parents, authority of the military commander, authority of the ministers, authority of the president, authority, authority.

That's what is used in Matthew 28. And Jesus comes to the disciples, he summons them out of Jerusalem and he says, meet me tomorrow here and I will have a church service and I will take care of business. And they came and they met, here they are, there are eleven disciples, not twelve, what happened to the twelfth? Judas' chariot is gone. And Jesus says to them in the opening statements, Jesus said, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

He has resurrected from the dead. All authority in heaven and all of the authority in the earth belongs to him. He has it. He's about to hand over the key. And Jesus says unto the church, verse 19, Go ye therefore teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

It's not an option. And lo, I am with you always, always I'll be with you, even unto the end of this age. Amen." That's what Jesus said. Jesus said that to the church. He completes the handing over of the key and his church becomes the emissary of his authority.

The local Baptist church, not just any local Baptist church, the local Baptist Church that embraces, not in lip service, embraces this book, especially the New Testament in terms of mission work. This book becomes the guideline and the law. It becomes the ordinance that the church must operate within. And before I go too far, Let me say this lest I forget. No Baptist church has the authority to jump the New Testament.

The Lord's church does not have the key to open a door that the Lord said don't open. The Lord's Church does not have all of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The Lord's Church does not have all of the authority that Jesus has. They have the key that they need and only that they need, no more, no less. The Lord has equipped his church to do all that he commands her to do.

She's not unequipped, she is equipped. She is equipped. And so the book of Matthew, this is not the ending, but this is the climax here in Matthew 28. Matthew has been moving up to this point in the narration of the life of Christ and the disciples and the Church. Matthew has been walking to this end, to bring everything to the climax of what the mission of the church is.

And I ask you a very pointed question you can muse over it and find your answer. And the question is this, As you train for some event, whatever that event is, as you go maybe to learn to become a musician, or you're training to be an athlete or a singer or a performer of some type or some sort. Or you go to college and university to become, to gather skill sets, to work at a certain kind of job, to do a certain kind of vocation. All this training, so all of that background, all of this training, the hours and the days and the weeks and the months and the years, and you've completed it, and you've graduated, you get the certificate, passed your examination, all of that is to what point? All of that is for you to do your job.

That's what it's for. It's qualifying you to come up to the climax of you going solo. I did all this training in the helicopter. In order to just get ready to go solo. What has all of the church services done for you From the time you were saved up until today, how many messages have you heard?

How many preachers have you met personally and how much preaching have you sat under? And how many messages have we listened to with all the electronic devices and technology we have today, and all the hours, hours and hours of training and coming to church and listening to the preaching and the messages and the Sunday School lessons and the Bible conferences and the fellowships and so on. All of this put together is for what point? It is that the Lord may equip you to do His work in the theater of the world. Yes.

Not here. That's right. This is the exercise room. This room is your platform to work out. It's where the machines and the weights are, it's where the instructor is teaching and two, three, and you've got your notebook, and you're going to be taking exams and after it's all over and by the time you come to the end when you come you mature as a Christian, God has matured you to go work out in that arena out there.

That's the point. Matthew has been moving to this point. What is the mission of the church? The purpose that Matthew has articulated this and written Matthew 28 is for which Jesus came and to where Jesus is going and what happened in between. It is a message that we must understand in order to perform as God's people.

Would you not agree with me that there's much of this missing in today's our churches? People don't know what they're supposed to do. They don't know what's the point. They just come to church. Come to church and go home, repeat it.

It's like an alarm clock. Set it, raise, get up, off they go. Revert back, repeat it tomorrow, the next day. Next time, we'll go to church. It's what we do.

Where you go? We go to church. It's what we do. To what end are you going? To what point?

So what is the mission of the church? Some people go to church, they just show up when it's convenient. They go frequent a church to enjoy what is provided for them there. A lot of Christians are there to take and not give. Does that describe you?

Are you a taker or a giver? Most Christians will take what they feel like taking and they will leave what they don't feel like they should take. Oftentimes, leave more than what they take. They seem to be much involved in the church life when it's convenient for them. I've heard people say, well, I can't go to that church, though it's a true Baptist church, I can't go to that church because it's what?

Twenty miles. Oh, really? You got no problem getting up Monday morning at 4 o'clock and going to work an hour's drive away. And you repeat it 5, 6 days a week, come home. You don't belly ache about the traffic or the drive because you're making this.

Pays your bills and you've got a life of your own. You've got a vehicle, you've got a home, you pay your bills, you pay your rent and so on and so on. You have some money in your pocket, you go buy things and so no bellyaching about that. But go drive 20 miles to a Baptist church, to attend church, worship in spirit and in truth, you hear the belly aching. So people go to church, they think the mission of the church is go there and pick up what's convenient or what they like.

People go to church so that they might have some particular need in their own personal life, and the preacher has to meet that particular need for them, otherwise they will come. It somehow escapes the understanding of people that they are to come to church for the training. That somehow escapes people's understanding. So what is the mission of the church? It is commonly believed amongst our Baptist that the primary purpose of the church, and I will give you some answers that people have gathered over the years and I have made my little note.

It's like a grocery list. I have asked people over the years, why do you go to church? They just quietly write it down, make a note and I move on. I've been doing this over the years. People have said to me the reason they go to church and they believe the main function of the church or the mission of the church is because that's where they find good fellowship.

As I go through the list, you listen and see if that fits you too. And then others I have asked, why do you go to church? And I've had some people say to me they go to church, the Lord's church, the Baptist church, wherever they go, they go to make friends, to meet good people and honest people and godly people that their own life might be strengthened, and through that fellowship and through that friendship, they can enjoy this fellowship and that's why they go to church. Then I've been told that the reason some people go to church is to provide a place for the activity for the family. Enjoyable activity, meaningful activity, and godly activity that they don't want the world to raise their children, so they take them to church so they might have godly activity.

Is that the reason you go to church? Some people have told me that the mission of the church is to provide godly music because it's music that ministers to the spirits of people so they go to church to hear the spiritual music. Some people told me they go to church because that's where they can cultivate good and proper relationships. They can meet the right one in the Lord. Be careful how you want to match people.

You're going to get blamed. Be careful how you mix and match up people. Well, so and so would be good for you. How do you know? God knows.

Some people have told me that's why they take their families to church so they can meet the right one and cultivate a godly relationship. Well, that's all good and fine, but that's not the mission of the church. And some people say, well, I go to church because that's just a place to hang out until the rapture. Some people say, well, that's a good place to go because that's where love is cultivated, where love is shared, and certainly that's true and it needs to be. And some people say, well, Jesus said we ought to love one another, and how can we know how to love one another except we go to church and be his disciples.

And all these answers have been given to me over the years. Some might even say that on a higher note, that the mission of the church is that of teaching to strengthen believers or expound doctrine or to articulate theology, to train people for various responsibilities, to instruct the children in obedience to the law of God. And All that is certainly true for that's part of the commission, but that's not the mission of the church. One step above this might be where people say the real mission of the church is that to praise God and that the church is really praising God and is living in a community, and so people see that and they'll be drawn to the church. It is suggested that the central activity of heaven itself, praise, adoration, honor, reverence, homage is given by the saints in heaven as well as the angels to God himself and so the church needs to duplicate that.

What is the mission of the church? If all of this is not the mission of the church, then what is the mission of the church? We must start with the motive. You understand the motive? Someone does something, you say, why did you?

I understand you did it, but why did you do it? If you really want to get to the root cause or if you really want to understand why people do something, go straight to the motive. What was it that pushed you or drove you? What is it that drives God's people to church? What's the Bible reason for the mission of the church?

And so we start with the mountain. The answer is simple. We are what we are because of what God has made us to be for His glory, not our glory. We have been saved for God's glory. We've been placed in His church for God's glory, not our own.

There is a purpose of church activities. There's a purpose of the church goals. There is a purpose of the mission of the church. What is it? We might start with this, the motive.

The answer is Very simple. Jesus said that he would receive glory where? In the church. That's where we start. The primary motive of the church or the mission of the church is to do what?

To glorify God. And so by glorifying God, church membership, evangelism, teaching, preaching, Sunday school, main service, singing, musical instruments, whatever it is, whatever talent, whatever you do, it's not to bring glory to you, it's to strip away from you and give glory to God. So that will cut out all of this self. And you can pay attention to some people who sing in choirs or special songs and it seems as though that all the glory is for them. Why are you doing it?

That's not the mission of the Church, not Biblical. Let's look at redemptive history. When Adam and Eve fell into sin back in the Garden of Eden, Adam's fall, all of mankind fell. He stood as a representative, as the head. And Christ came, and in Christ all have life who are in Christ.

And he stands as the last Adam, the first Adam all fell into sin, and in the second Adam all have life. The motive or the mission of the church is to glorify Christ. Everything we do is to glorify, He is to be the central theme of everything we do. When on your way to church in the vehicle, you need to be reminded, I'm going to church because of Christ. Yes, amen.

I will sit in the pew because of Christ. I will study and I will come back again because of Christ. I will drive the distance because of Christ. I will study because of Christ. I will learn more because of Christ.

He becomes the central theme of who we are as God's people. When Adam fell into sin, it was not him who was roaming around looking or calling out to God. It was God who called out to Adam and he said, Adam, where are you? God always initiates the search. God immediately set out to redeem man back to himself.

That's the mission of the church. Does God call today? Is God calling people today? Indeed so. If anyone is to be saved, God must open their hearts.

If anyone is to see spiritually, God must open their eyes. It is God who is the seeker. It is God who initiates the seeking. He's the great shepherd. He is the one that seeks and saves and calls his elect unto him.

He's the one who goes out finding the lost sheep. That's the mission of the church. God redeems people out of every nation, out of every tribe, out of every kindred, out of every language in order to do what? To glorify himself. Can you imagine what the nation of Israel, how they would review the world if that the Gospel had not been turned?

Let me share a thought with you. Perhaps you've not thought about this. You Remember Paul, he was ministering to the Greeks while he ministered, he was going to minister to the Jews, he was. He wanted to minister to his own kinsmen and he did when he went into every city. It was by his custom first to go into the synagogue.

Follow my thoughts for a moment. And God had delivered the Gospel to the Jews first. God told the Jewish apostles, don't go to the lost house of Israel, don't go to these other tribes, go to the lost house of Israel, and that's the only way you go. It was not until Acts chapter 1 verse 8 when Jesus changed the mission. And here was Paul and he's ministering to the Greeks and the Phoenicians and the people in the Mediterranean.

And he's on his way to Asia. Now that's not Far East Asia China as you might think it is, it's not. And he's already started his trip. It was not by airplane, not by vehicle, it was not by motorbike or bicycle. It was either walking or on the backside of a donkey, or it was in a carriage or on a ship.

Modes of transportation. And he was on his way to Asia, that would have been Central Asia, that would have been India, that would have been India, and then eventually it would have been China. Listen, he's on his way. In the mind of an apostle, he thinks he's doing the Lord's will. You ever been there?

You ever thought you were in the Lord's will doing something? It wasn't the Lord's will. If an apostle can get it wrong, where's the legal elite? And here's Paul on his way to Asia. India.

What's next to India? China. Think with me for a moment. Can you imagine if the Gospel had been transitioned to India and then it ends up in China and we're in 2023, where would that have left America? Can you use your sanctified imagination about right now?

Where would that have left you? All men? The Gospel, Paul was given a vision. He's in the middle of his journey on to Asia, and in the middle of the journey he has Luke, Dr. Luke with him, he has Barnabas with him, he has John Mark with him, the party, they're all together, and they're in their way to Asia.

And God stops them along the way, God gives them a vision in the night, and He hears a man in Macedonia. Where's Macedonia? Greece. I just left Greece. You want me to go back there?

I just came from there. I spent the money, I came all these miles. I've had a hard journey. Lord, I'm in your will, I'm doing your work, I'm going there. Lord said, oh no, you're not, you're not going there, you're gonna turn around.

The Lord turned around the journey of the gospel. I want you to think how important this is. I don't know if you've thought about it or if you've missed it. I didn't see it for many years. I've seen it some years ago.

The Lord changes the direction, the intended direction of the Gospel, and the continent of Asia, China missed out first. India missed out. God was putting the feet of Paul back in Greece. And when he got back to Greece, he went to Macedonia. You remember the scripture said that he heard the voice, there was a man calling him, come help us.

I got to chasing that up in scripture. And I'm going through my Bible and I'm chasing this up. Okay, Paul, you went back to Macedonia. I get it. I'm there.

I'm with you. I'm tracing up Bible history. I'm reading in the Bible. I've got my maps out. I'm looking at it.

There's Macedonia. There's in the city of Philippi. He goes to a city of Philippi. There were very limited Jews in Philippi. There's some man in the vision that says to Paul, you need to come preach, help us, help us with the gospel, help us with salvation, help us with the mission of the church.

Okay, I'm on my way, God has turned me around, I'll be there shortly. He's in his way. He's thinking about this man. He doesn't know the man's name, but he knows there's a man that needs help. He's on his way.

He gets to Macedonia. He goes to the city of Philippi. He's in the city of Philippi. There's no synagogue. Guess who's there?

Gentiles. Gentiles. Gentiles are there. No synagogue for Paul to go to. He's there with his party roaming around in the city trying to find God's will.

Where's the man? Where's the man that called us? I had a vision. He's an apostle. They were given visions.

The Bible was not complete. And he was given a vision and he's looking for this man. He doesn't know the man's name. Maybe he had a face in the vision. Maybe He knew what he looked like.

He's looking for the man. They wandered around. They were there for several days in the city of Philippi. I kept searching for the man. Where's the man?

You know what I did find? A group of women meeting where prayer was wont to be made at a river outside the city of Philippi. Yeah? You Bible students remember now? What are the preaching?

We remember now? And so Philip now, I mean Paul now, and his party, leave the city of Philippi going out on the Lord's day where prayer was want to be made and they come across a group of women yes Lord But you said in the vision there was going to be a man here. They found Lydia. Lydia was a businesswoman, and she dyed clothes with a purple that she sewed to the rich people. Business.

She was lost. And that whole journey was coming back to preach to one woman. Can you see the sovereignty of God working out in this? Can you see step by step, all steps? God's moving all these men together.

God's moving these men in a party. They left, they go back again. All this energy, all this movement, all the time, all the money they spent, everything. I thought I was doing the Lord's will. Many times I've been out and a lot of money been spent.

Paul goes back, he's in Macedonia. He comes across, there's no man there. He never found a man, he found a group of women. And it was in the group of women, doesn't say anything about the other women. It says, and God opened the heart of Lydia.

Hallelujah. God saved Lydia. It took all that for God to bring a lost sheep home. What an amazing story. The mission of the church.

God is always the seeker. And so the mission of the church, The motive of the church is to glorify God. The mission of the church is to win mankind to the Savior. What does the book of Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 30 say? He that winneth souls is wise.

There's some wisdom. Someone said to me, well, brother Peter, you can't save anyone. I know that. I know I can't save anyone, But I know the Lord uses humans to talk to humans. That's what I do know.

I know the Lord leads people to people. And I know that the Lord will direct His servants and his people, not just men. People have been saying in the Bible, from the lips of a small maid, a great captain was saved. That's right. It's not just a preacher.

Amen. From the lips of a widow. Yes. She had her son raised. The faith of a widow.

There are those who are prostitutes and harlots that God has saved His people. It's not always a preacher. God saves His people through the service and the work of women, men, and even children. His people. And if His people are not willing to do it, God will use the heater.

Do You remember over there in Matthew chapter 7, the sermon on the mount, what did Jesus say? That there will be many, there will be many in that day and hour that will confess to me, Lord I knew thee, Lord I prophesied in your name, I preached in your name, I healed in your name, I performed miracles in your name, I went and visited the sick in your name, I went to church in your name, I read the Bible in your name, and They go through this long list of what they did in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, and the Lord will say to them in that day and hour in heaven, depart from me, For I never knew you. Now did these false prophets actually preach the word? Yes they did. Does God allow false prophets to preach His word?

Yes he does. And you want to know why? Many of his people don't do it. You might remember what the Pharisees said when they came to John about to look and they said, we want to be baptized and because, because, because, well the children of Abraham. And John replied, that's no big deal.

God can raise up the stones and make his children. Don't claim your pedigree. Everything we do is to glorify Christ. There's more here for you at one sitting. But I will say this to you in closing about The mission of the church.

The mission of the church is all about winning men to Christ. God forbid that we contain the gospel in the full walls of the building. It is good to have your theology on target. It's good to have all this information. It's good to have all the money and the effort and the energy and all of this that we have in the nice buildings and the heat and the air condition and the lighting and the fuse and the carpet and the vehicles and so on and so on and so on.

It's good to have all that but that's not what it takes to win people to Christ. It takes the gospel. It takes a willing heart, a talking tongue, and a going feet is what it takes to win men to Christ. It doesn't take any of all this. This just makes it nice.

It makes us comfortable. And so lastly, all of the fellowshiping, all the teaching, all the praise of the church is not the mission of the church. It's simply a preparation for the real mission. It's the training ground for the mission. How long have you been in training and you haven't performed yet?

What will it take for you to perform? Another message. Another conference. Another prayer meeting. What will it take?

Well, if I could just hear one more message and I give it. Oh really? So the mission of the church is all about winning people to Christ. May the Lord add his blessing for Brother David. May the Ruralis Blessings for the day.