Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:13] So John Allen Chow was an American Christian who had a burden for the people of the sentence. The Sentinelese people, they live on North Sentinel Island. They are completely isolated from the outside world, about 700 miles off the east coast of India. They have zero contact with the outside world. No modern technology.
[00:00:37] It's so remote that India, who's sovereign over this area, doesn't allow anybody within 5 km of the island.
[00:00:44] And Chow gets a vision for this place that he feels like he needs to go and proclaim the gospel. Nobody's proclaiming the gospel to them. They have no Bibles.
[00:00:55] And so he goes and he hires a fishing boat illegally, because, again, you're not allowed to go to this island. And the fishing boat won't get close enough to the island for him to be able to get there. So he has a kayak with him, and he goes on multiple occasions to get close to the island. And he even has learned some of the words from some surrounding cultures to see if he can engage with them. And on one occasion, he gets close enough and he has his Bible in his hand and he says, mo, my name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you.
[00:01:29] And shortly after that, they shot an arrow and it went through his Bible.
[00:01:34] So obviously he retreated. But he was not deterred.
[00:01:37] He came back two days later on November 17, 2018, and this time he made it to the land and was immediately again shot and this time killed with an arrow.
[00:01:49] And I guess the fishing boat came back the next day, because the following day they see the Sentinelese people dragging his body on the sand and buried, carrying it.
[00:01:59] Chao understood that the gospel had to go to the nations, and he felt a burden to take the Gospel to these people who were perishing in their sin.
[00:02:10] Now, the. The methods that he took and the way that he did it was some of that foolish, maybe, potentially.
[00:02:18] But was his heart for these people who are lost and perishing? Is it inspiring?
[00:02:25] Does his heart match the heart of God for those who are far from him?
[00:02:34] Let's see as we dig in.
[00:02:36] So verse nine, what we're going to do here is we're going to. We're going to look, we're not going to read the text again in its entirety, but I want to draw attention to one thread that we see throughout this text and really throughout all of Acts 10, and I would argue throughout the whole Bible. But we're gonna. We're gonna focus in on that one thing for a moment, and then we're gonna look more closely at Peter's vision and Then that's gonna draw us towards our big idea for the day. And so verse 9, Luke starts out and says, the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city. So immediately we gotta see. We see that we have to do some context, right? So what happened the day before, as we saw last week, Cornelius, this Roman centurion, this God fearing man, received this vision from the angel. So what that meant is that that Cornelius was not a Jew, he wasn't circumcised, but he worshiped the God of the Jews. And in prayer, God shows up to him and sends this angel and says, go send some people, go get Peter. I've got a message for you. He's going to come back and share it with you. And so he does that. He sends two of his servants, one of his soldiers that he could trust, and they're making this roughly 30 mile journey from Caesarea on the coast down into Joppa, where Peter is.
[00:03:54] And so the next day, as they were on their journey, they're approaching the city. So they're probably a few miles out. Peter goes up onto the roof to pray.
[00:04:04] And every time I read that, I'm like, isn't that dangerous to be up on the roof? That's how we think, because our roofs are slanted. That would be very dangerous. That's not how it was in the ancient world. It's a flat rooftop. This is where they would hang out, they would have meals, they'd even sleep on the rooftop. So this is a very normal thing in this context. So Peter goes up to pray and he gets this vision. And so what I want to do is I want to draw our attention to what we see throughout this entire narrative. And that is that God is sovereignly orchestrating all of these events for his purposes.
[00:04:46] He's sovereignly orchestrating these events for his purposes. So look, they're about to arrive. Peter goes up onto the house to pray. He receives this vision. There's subtle humor in this as well. If you notice, there's not really any reason for Luke to tell us that Peter's hungry, but he tells us Peter's hungry because he's about to receive a vision that God says, kill and eat. He commands him to kill and eat.
[00:05:09] Of course, as we're going to see, Peter is very confused. He has no idea what's going on. He refuses this commandment three times.
[00:05:16] And then as he's pondering this vision at that moment, as God had orchestrated and planned, these people show up at his door and they're ready to take him back to Caesarea. And at that moment, this time, again, some subtle humor. Maybe God doesn't show up in a vision. He's like, okay, Peter didn't get it. I'm going to speak to him audibly by the Holy Spirit and tell him what to do. He says, there's men here. Listen to them. Do not hesitate.
[00:05:49] And again, some humor in this, if you notice, he doesn't say. The Spirit doesn't say, hey, there's three Gentile men here.
[00:05:56] Don't hesitate.
[00:05:58] He just says, hey, there's three men here. God knows he's going to hesitate when he realizes they're Gentiles, but he tells them, don't hesitate. Go.
[00:06:07] And we see all throughout this narrative that. That God is orchestrating every detail to bring about his purposes. And we're going to see what this culminates in next week.
[00:06:19] As he's doing all of these things and as Peter goes and preaches this Gospel, Peter's slow to get it. He doesn't understand what's happening, okay? He realizes, all right, God's at work here. He's speaking to me now. So he's. He's trying to be obedient. He's going. But he doesn't quite fully understand all that God's doing until he preaches the gospel and the Spirit falls on these Gentile men. And as we're going to see, this changes everything.
[00:06:46] This changes everything.
[00:06:49] And so one thing I want to just briefly discuss. It's not going to satisfy everybody's curiosity, but I do want to address this for a moment, because anytime, not anytime, most of the time, when I start talking about the sovereignty of God, I. I get various questions that oftentimes boil down to something like this.
[00:07:12] If God is sovereign and in control of all things and orchestrating all things according to his good purposes, according to his good plan, then doesn't that just make God our puppet master and we are puppets, just kind of doing his bidding? We don't really actually, in other words, have any real choice.
[00:07:33] How does he hold us morally culpable if God is sovereign and in control of all things? Right. These are reasonable, understandable questions. When we start talking about the sovereignty of God.
[00:07:47] And so I want to make one brief point again, it's not going to satisfy everybody. That's not the point. What I want to do is ground us in the word of God and encourage us to make that where we go for truth, not us rationalizing things.
[00:08:03] And so let's look at Acts, chapter two. You can turn There if you want. You don't have to. I'm just going to read one verse, verse 23.
[00:08:10] So Peter, back in Acts 2, Pentecost has just happened. The Spirit's poured out and now he's preaching to the Jews.
[00:08:19] And he says to them in verse 23, he says, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed at the hands of lawless men.
[00:08:37] In 700 years before this, the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 53:11 that it was the will of the Lord to crush Him.
[00:08:46] God has been orchestrating all things throughout history. He's totally in control. And he's doing this to bring about the salvation of all nations, to bring them into his salvation. And he's totally in control. This is what Luke and the rest of the Bible have no issue with, saying that God is in control, and yet people are responsible for their decisions.
[00:09:12] God is in control.
[00:09:13] In other words, if we look at verse 23, he's in control. He's. It's his definite plan, but he's not responsible for evil.
[00:09:21] It's the men who did this who are responsible for the evil.
[00:09:27] And I know our minds kind of like, how. How is this all working out? That's the point. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign over all things. We see this all throughout our narrative in. In Acts 10, and that people are still responsible for their decisions.
[00:09:46] We have to stop the incessant desire to rationalize everything.
[00:09:51] And when I say that, I'm speaking to myself as well. I want to understand how all these things work. But that just because we can't see how these two parallel truths come together in our finite minds does not mean they are not both true.
[00:10:09] And so we have to trust God at His word.
[00:10:13] God is sovereign, and we are responsible moral creatures created in his image.
[00:10:20] And so I told you that wasn't going to satisfy all of your questions on that. But my encouragement is to go to the Word and see what the Word says. Because what I often see, just to close up on this particular thing, is when people want to deal with the reality that we do make true and real decisions, what ends up happening is if they're not grounded in the Word, this is my opinion, they end up lessening the sovereignty of God. Or they even say that God Himself restricts His sovereignty. And I just, I don't see. We get that picture in the Scriptures. And that's certainly not what Luke is communicating to us through this whole narrative. He's giving us so Many details to show us how much God is doing to bring about his purposes. And these purposes are amazing, as we're going to see.
[00:11:12] And so next, let's move to the vision that Peter receives in verses 11 through 16. So if we look just before that, we see that Peter came hungry. He went up onto the house to pray. He fell into a trans. And at that moment is when he saw this vision in verse 11 says. And saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending. Bring descending. Being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice. Rise, Peter, kill and eat. That's a commandment. Kill and eat. And Peter said, by no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.
[00:11:59] And the voice came to him again a second time. What God has made clean, do not call common.
[00:12:05] And this happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once.
[00:12:12] And so why did God do this? In order for us to understand what's happening here, we have to go back into the Old Testament. We have to look at the food laws that were given in Leviticus, chapter 11.
[00:12:26] You can turn there if you want, but we're not going to spend a lot of time going into the details. I'm going to kind of overview what's happening here. And I want us to remember as we're looking at the Old Testament laws, specifically these types of laws, like the food laws, they're meant to. To separate Israel as holy unto the Lord, to be consecrated and set apart as obedient to the God who has made them and redeemed them out of the idolatry from the surrounding nations.
[00:12:56] And so the food laws are part of that. But they're weird, right? We don't understand them. And just to give you a few examples, the law says in chapter 11 of Leviticus that an animal, in order for it to be clean, has to have a split hoof and it has to chew the cud.
[00:13:15] So think cow, goat, sheep. That's clean. You can eat that.
[00:13:20] But if it only does one of those things. So if it only has a split hoof but doesn't chew the cud, so think pigs. This is why pigs are unclean. Or if they chew the cud but don't split the hoof. So like a rabbit, unclean.
[00:13:34] And in the water similarly, we see God say, if it has scales and fins, it's clean. So fortunately, they can eat some sea bass. Pick your favorite fish, they can do that. But unfortunately, if it doesn't have that, it's unclean. So no lobster, no crab, no shrimp. That's off the menu.
[00:13:54] And why did God do this?
[00:13:57] Is there something inherently wrong with lobster?
[00:14:01] I mean, praise God, that that's not the case. There's nothing inherently wrong with the lobster itself.
[00:14:08] So why did God do this then? Well, we see in Mark, chapter seven that we know that lobster's not inherently unclean because Jesus in Mark 7 says there's nothing outside of a person that by going into him, can defile him, but it's the things that come out of a person, out of their heart that defile him.
[00:14:29] And then again, he says whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile him, since it enters not into his heart but into his stomach and is and is expelled.
[00:14:40] And then Mark in the text gives us a little side note that says, thus Jesus declared all foods clean.
[00:14:47] And then we see in our text Today, in verse 15, I think, yeah, what God has made clean do not call common. So we can say with certainty that it's not because there's something inherently wrong with these animals, that God in his again, sovereignty, decided to do this and give this law to the people of Israel.
[00:15:07] There's different thoughts as to why he might have done this, but I think foundationally, foundationally, we get the answer in Leviticus, chapter 11, verse 45. So at the end, after he's given all these food laws, he says, the Lord says, for I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God.
[00:15:31] You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
[00:15:36] And so, again, what. What. Well, what holiness means, in part at least, is to be separated, to be set apart, to be consecrated. And so what God is doing, again, is He's. He's showing the Israelites how they are to be set apart in all of life to the worship and obedience of the one true God.
[00:15:59] This is. This is incredibly important for them because God knew how tempted they were going to be to be assimilated, assimilated into the surrounding cultures, all of the idolatry that was surrounding them, all of the abominable wickedness that we see all throughout the Old Testament that's practiced in these surrounding nations that we see, unfortunately, Israel gives into again and again. And so God is saying, I have saved you. I am your creator. I have set you apart. Obey me. It's for your good. I am setting you apart.
[00:16:34] And so in light of all of this, if we think about those things, we realize and we can Maybe have some sympathy for Peter on why he was being so dense and confused in this moment.
[00:16:47] It's because he had never eaten anything unclean. He knew that that's what God had commanded. This was one law that he had obeyed all of his life.
[00:16:54] And now he's getting this vision that says to kill and eat.
[00:16:58] It was.
[00:17:00] We can understand why it was so confusing.
[00:17:03] But what Peter and the Jews generally, and us often miss is that God is doing something bigger than what we often see.
[00:17:17] See, the separation of the Israelites from these surrounding nations was not meant to make a wall of hostility that we see in Ephesians chapter 2.
[00:17:27] It was meant to separate them as holy to the Lord, that they might be a light to the nations.
[00:17:34] But so often as we get into the the things that are familiar and what we know, like Peter did, we miss the bigger picture of what God is doing. God's heart was always for the nations.
[00:17:50] He wasn't just doing something for the Jews. He had set the Jews apart, that they might be a light to the nations and that ultimately, as the Messiah would come from them to bring salvation to the whole world.
[00:18:04] This is what God is doing.
[00:18:07] And this is what is happening in this pivotal text in Acts chapter 10.
[00:18:12] And so just a few Old Testament texts to real quickly highlight that Peter obviously had access to. He would have known these texts. And this is the thread that we see throughout the Old Testament. God's setting apart Israel to be holy, but in that he's doing something much, much bigger than just Israel. And So Isaiah chapter 49, verse 6, says, I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
[00:18:47] To the end of the earth.
[00:18:49] Psalm 67, verses 1 through 3, say, May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
[00:19:04] Let the peoples praise you, O God.
[00:19:07] This is what God has been doing. This is his sovereign plan. He's orchestrating all things to accomplish this plan.
[00:19:14] And it goes all the way back even to Genesis chapter 12. This is the very beginning when God plucks out Abraham from the pagan nations, sets him apart as holy unto the Lord. He's going to bring the nation of Israel from Abraham. And ultimately, as we see in the New Testament, Paul picks up on this and says that the one offspring from Israel, Jesus Christ, is coming to bring salvation.
[00:19:38] And even back in Genesis chapter 12, God's heart is for the nations. This is what he says in verse three, while he's calling Abraham, he says, I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, in you, Abraham, in your offspring, in your line, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
[00:20:05] This is what God has always been doing church to bring the wonderful news of his salvation to the whole world.
[00:20:16] He's been sovereignly working throughout all of history to orchestrate everything according to his perfect plan and to his good pleasure, to his good purposes. This is what God has been doing. And if we ponder that a little bit and we look at Acts 10, we realize. So Acts 10 is the longest narrative in the entire book of Acts. It's the most detailed narrative. Luke is doing this intentionally. This is a monumental moment in the history of redemption.
[00:20:47] As we. The last memory verse we had, remember it, was that we might go to Jerusalem, into all Judea, into Samaria, into all the earth.
[00:20:57] Well, the Gospel's gone to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and now it's going out to the whole earth. This is what happens as Peter brings the Gospel to Cornelius. This is what is still happening in our day. We are to take the gospel to the nations, the only way of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we see God doing throughout the Scriptures and particularly here in Acts 10.
[00:21:26] And so I just want to highlight. I mentioned this a minute ago. Ephesians chapter 2.
[00:21:30] I love this text. And the Apostle Paul. It's a few decades after this event in Acts chapter 10. Paul's in prison in Roman for ministering the Gospel. And he's writing back to the church in Ephesus and he tells them about this, the wonderful realities of this salvation, that prior to Christ, the law expressed in ordinances. Think the food laws that led to a wall of hostility between the Jew and the Gentile, right? We saw that they're to be set apart, but there to be a light to the nations. But a wall of hostility has been raised.
[00:22:07] The law was meant to set them apart. They made it a wall of hostility. And so instead of being a light, they became insular and hostile towards outsiders, just as we often do in our hearts, if we're honest with ourselves.
[00:22:22] But listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 2. Quote, he says, Jesus has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man. In place of the two, there was Jew and Gentile. God was separating the Jewish people to be a Light to the nations in Christ Jesus. There is now one people.
[00:22:54] Anybody who puts their faith in the Lord Jesus is now a child of God. There is one people. The dividing wall of hostility is gone.
[00:23:02] This is why the gospel is to go forth to the nations. Because the Savior of the world has come.
[00:23:09] There's one people. And then he says that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two. So making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, through the crucifixion of Jesus, through his bloodshed for sin, he is making one body, therefore killing the hostility. The hostility is gone.
[00:23:36] Church this is the. The. The definite plan and purpose of God throughout all history to take the gospel to the nations is the Church.
[00:23:48] We have received this salvation. We have received the deposit of the gospel in God's plan. He's sovereignly orchestrating all things. And that plan is to work through the means of the church proclaiming the gospel. This is what God is doing.
[00:24:06] This is what he's doing that he might reach every tribe, every tongue, every nation on the planet.
[00:24:13] And this brings us to our big idea, our main idea for today.
[00:24:20] If the sovereign plan of God is for the salvation of the nations, and this changes how we view people, if God's sovereign plan is for the salvation of the nations, then it changes how we think about people.
[00:24:39] We are just like Peter, right? We are so naturally inclined to what is comfortable, to what is known and what is easy. We love our culture that we live and breathe in.
[00:24:51] We are not drawn towards so many times those who are different and those who have different experiences from us. We love what is comfortable.
[00:25:01] We also know as Christians that everybody's created in God's image, right? We know that we are to love everybody.
[00:25:07] That's pretty foundational.
[00:25:10] But I wonder, I see this in my own heart.
[00:25:13] I wonder how much of that love is. We think of it in such a passive way.
[00:25:21] What I want to draw attention to is that if we look at God's love, it's a love that compels him to that which is unfamiliar, to that which is different.
[00:25:35] The eternal Son of God and the perfect felicity of the Trinity takes on human flesh, becomes man, becomes what is infinitely unfamiliar. The Creator of all things becomes part of the creation and the person of Jesus Christ.
[00:25:52] And even more than that, he humbles himself to the point of death for our sins.
[00:25:58] God in his love compels him towards that which is unfamiliar. We see this in the person of Jesus.
[00:26:06] Jesus goes towards the marginal, like the woman at the well in John, chapter four, the woman in Mark, chapter five, who's unclean because of her bleeding. For decades, she's been unclean. Jesus goes towards her when he heals her.
[00:26:23] And most amazingly, when Jesus says, I came not to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom.
[00:26:34] So the point is, when we consider the heart of God, it is an active love that sends us towards the marginal, to bring the good news of this gospel to those who are far from God, to those that don't necessarily think and act and breathe the cultural air that we breathe. And so my question for you is, does your heart, does your thinking about people match that of God's? And I think if you just ask yourself one question, I think this will be helpful as you process this, you'll know based on how compelled you are to go towards those that are different, how compelled you are to go towards the unfamiliar, to go towards those whose culture is different.
[00:27:28] I mean, I don't know about y', all, but that oftentimes I'm like, I just want to go towards what's comfortable.
[00:27:33] Just want to be around my people, which is good, right? There's nothing inherently wrong with that.
[00:27:37] But if we ponder the heart of God for those who are far from him, it should compel us outward. Our God is so amazing and mighty, and he's redeemed us, and he calls us to be a part of what he's doing in the world. He's working through us, proclaiming the gospel, to bring people into his kingdom. How amazing is that?
[00:27:59] It's crazy.
[00:28:02] So let us walk in repentance in this area as needed. As you spend time praying and considering God, how might you renew and change my thinking that I might be more in line with your heart, with the way that you think about people?
[00:28:18] So the sovereign plan of God for the salvation of the nations changes how we see people.
[00:28:24] And this leads to my final point, that if God, if God has such a fervent heart for the nations, we should as well.
[00:28:37] If God's heart is for the nations, for those who are far from him, we should as well.
[00:28:42] So listen to Revelation, chapter 5, verse 9. This text says that we're gonna. We're gonna sing a new song in heaven.
[00:28:51] And this is that. This is at least part of that new song. This is to Jesus.
[00:28:56] Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals.
[00:29:00] For you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe, in every language, in every people and every nation.
[00:29:18] This is what God is doing. This is what God is going to do and what he's going to accomplish. So much so that in heaven, where all nations, all peoples are going to be praising him, we get to be a part now of what God is doing in the world that we might for all eternity worship him with people from all nations, all tribes, all tongues.
[00:29:40] Do you believe this scripture is true?
[00:29:46] Do you believe it's true? I see one person shaking their head.
[00:29:50] Thank you, Matty.
[00:29:51] Okay, both Mattis, thank you.
[00:29:54] Yes. If this is true, then we have work to do.
[00:29:57] We have work to do. So what I want to do next before we wrap up, is this the first time I've ever used slides, so I hope this goes well.
[00:30:06] Um, I want to just give you a taste of what is happening in the world and what God is doing in the world as we finish up this text. And so the first question for you, don't answer it right away if you know it. What is the country with the most unreached people groups and the overall greatest number of unreached people?
[00:30:30] Total number of people?
[00:30:32] And before you answer that, let me define what that means. Unreached people groups. The Joshua Project defines it like this. It's a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.
[00:30:52] What this means is that missionaries are needed.
[00:30:55] There's Christians there. God is doing a work.
[00:30:58] But more missionaries are needed to help build up the church, to help evangelize these unreached people. So that's what that means. Unreached people group means missionaries are desperately needed.
[00:31:09] So anybody want to take a stab at it?
[00:31:14] Oh, my gosh. Yes. Wow. Good job. Okay. Yes. So if you want to go to the next slide, the picture.
[00:31:23] Sorry, I forgot about the other slide. Told you this was. This is new.
[00:31:28] So every single dot is an unreached people group.
[00:31:32] This is India.
[00:31:35] There's over 2000 unreached people groups in India alone.
[00:31:41] So their own language, culture, background, over 2,000.
[00:31:45] And there's more than 1.4 billion unreached people in India alone.
[00:31:52] They need the gospel. And again, God's at work there. There's churches being planted. But there are so many areas of India that are completely unreached. They don't have the gospel, they don't have Bibles.
[00:32:03] And so the last thing I'm going to do is we're going to look at the top two unreached people groups in the world.
[00:32:10] There's some slight debate Depending on how you define people groups. But this is. This is going to hit. At least they're in the top three.
[00:32:16] So anybody want to take a stab at what the second most unreached people group in the world is?
[00:32:24] I don't. Yes, that's a good guess. There is a people group in China that isn't. Doesn't meet the definition here. So that's why they're not on. It's not China.
[00:32:35] China's not really a people group either. China is. Is a place where there's multiple people groups. But that's a good guess. That's what I figured somebody was going to say was something about China.
[00:32:46] Huh?
[00:32:50] Africa. Sorry, Robin, I didn't see you. No, it's not Africa. I don't think you're going to get it because I was surprised by this if you were in prayer this morning. This is the number two most unreached people in the entire world. It's the Japanese in Japan.
[00:33:03] There is 124 million people in Japan, predominantly Shinto Buddhism, which is kind of like a mixture of some animistic beliefs with Buddhism.
[00:33:14] 124 million people.
[00:33:18] How many Christians?
[00:33:19] Evangelical Christians.
[00:33:22] There's about 500,000 evangelical Christians. That's less than 0.5% of the population.
[00:33:29] Massive communities in Japan that are unreached with the gospel. Again, God's doing amazing work. There's churches being planted in Japan, but they need more missionaries.
[00:33:39] The number one most unreached people.
[00:33:42] Time's sake, we're just gonna go. It's the Bengali people of Bangladesh. 133 million people.
[00:33:49] This is the predominant people group in Bangladesh. Mostly Sunni Muslim, about. We don't even know for sure. Around 100,000 evangelical Christians, less than 0.1% Christian in these communities.
[00:34:06] So again, God's at work. There's things happening, but there's desperate need for missionary support in these areas.
[00:34:15] And so church Jesus has commissioned us, as we see in our memory, verse that we just started. He's commissioned us to go and make disciples of all nations.
[00:34:26] God's sovereign definite plan to reach the nations is the church. We are called to God and we've got work to do. As we can see, this is just a small taste of what is needed and what's happening around the world.
[00:34:42] And I know that many of us are going to be called to be here in Fort Worth to make disciples. We are. That's why we're here at this moment.
[00:34:50] But I am certain that there are some of us in here that are called to go to Go overseas if you're not called yet. I'm certain that God is going to call some. Some of us. He's already called Hannah from our midst and sent her to Central Asia with the Gospel.
[00:35:09] He's already called Austin and Kirsten from our midst to go to the Chinese, the unreached Chinese in Canada with the gospel.
[00:35:18] And he's most most recently called Braden and Laney from our midst to go to Western Europe with the gospel to reach the unreached with the truth of the gospel.
[00:35:34] Who's going to go to Japan to reach the Buddhists? Who's going to go to India to reach the millions and millions of Hindus and Muslims that are there?
[00:35:45] The Lord has already called many. Who is he calling now? Well, isn't that dangerous, Pastor? Japan's not very dangerous, but Bangladesh is. It's a dangerous place.
[00:35:57] Isn't that dangerous?
[00:35:59] Yes, you will probably be persecuted. But Jesus said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[00:36:11] Well, might I die if I go?
[00:36:14] Would my family maybe die?
[00:36:17] Maybe.
[00:36:18] Hopefully not, but maybe.
[00:36:20] But Jesus also says, don't fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
[00:36:26] Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
[00:36:31] Let them do their worst. The Apostle Paul was constantly at risk of death, and he says death would be gain. When he writes to the Philippians, do we believe what he writes in Romans when he says that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, not even death itself?
[00:36:55] So who is going to go?
[00:36:58] God is at work all throughout the nations, and he's invited us in to come alongside him as he sovereignly works through the proclamation of the Gospel to bring all the nations into his kingdom.
[00:37:12] And so one practical exhortation that I want to give us is maybe you don't feel called to go to the mission field, at least not yet.
[00:37:24] As you consider God's heart for the nations, would you consider, as we've talked about, aligning your heart with God's heart for the nations? And so practically, what might that look like?
[00:37:37] Start like we did this morning in our prayer gathering to pray for what God is doing around the world, to pray for the missionaries that we've already sent, that God might encourage them and. And. And build them up.
[00:37:50] I'll even send some resources on slack later this afternoon just to kind of give you some guidance on. There's great resources out there for how we can pray for the nations and then make contact with our missionaries, if you haven't already.
[00:38:04] They need our encouragement, they need our prayers, but we also need them. We need to be encouraged and built up by them in Lord willing here. In a few months, we're going to be installing a couple deacons that are going to be helping us specifically with this arena and connecting us more with our missionaries and to help build us up through the missionaries. Because this is what I think, what I am confident will happen.
[00:38:31] Even if you're not called to go at this moment, as you align your heart with God's heart for the nations and you do these things and you pray and you connect and all of these things, God is going to use that to make you a more effective gospel minister here.
[00:38:50] There's a million people in Fort Worth who need the gospel. We have the nations in Fort Worth. There's refugees here that need the gospel. And so as we start to align our heart with God's and we start praying for the nations, I'm confident that the Lord is going to embolden us here.
[00:39:09] And as we take the gospel, maybe, maybe he would call you to go overseas.
[00:39:15] I think he will for some of us.
[00:39:19] Okay, so say what you will about John Allen Chao and his methods of trying to reach the Sentinelese. Again, you can debate that, but what I see, at least in part, is a man who had such a heart for the nations that he was willing to go to bring the gospel to those who were far from God. He was willing to even die for it. He had to have known that death was a high possibility.
[00:39:47] And there's an. There's an anthropologist that had studied the Sentinelese people for decades. And when he found out about Chow's death, he said this.
[00:39:57] I feel very sad for the death of this young man who came all the way from America. But he made a mistake.
[00:40:05] He had a chance to save himself, but he persisted and paid with his life.
[00:40:12] The world does not understand.
[00:40:15] The world did not understand when Jesus was hanging on a cross and they said, why don't you save yourself?
[00:40:20] Why don't you save your followers from persecution and death?
[00:40:25] The world doesn't understand.
[00:40:32] Why does life have to come through the death of Jesus?
[00:40:36] Chao understood this. He knew the heart of God for the nations. And that the only way that those who are far from God and who are perishing in their sin to be reconciled to God is to proclaim the gospel.
[00:40:52] He believed that God worked through the gospel.
[00:40:56] It's the message that the world desperately needs.
[00:41:01] And Chia understood that.
[00:41:03] Do you?
[00:41:06] Let's pray.
[00:41:22] Sa.
[00:41:50] J.
