1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,800 Hey everyone, my name is Axel, I'm one of the Trinity students and yeah, today I'll 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:12,120 be reading the Bible, those two passages that are on the string. 3 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:16,360 So first up, John 17, 20 to 24. 4 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:22,360 Give you a moment to get that. 5 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:34,000 My prayer is not for them alone. 6 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,240 I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them 7 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:42,840 may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. 8 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:47,160 May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 9 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:53,280 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be as one as we are one. 10 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:58,760 I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. 11 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,040 Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved 12 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:04,040 me. 13 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:10,080 Father, I want those you have given me to be with where I am and to see my glory, the 14 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:16,520 glory you have given me because you love me before the creation of the world. 15 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:33,960 In second reading, Genesis 12, 1 to 3. 16 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:38,520 The Lord said to Abram, go from your country, your people and your fathers household to 17 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:40,120 the land I will show you. 18 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,360 I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. 19 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,800 I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. 20 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,760 I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse and all peoples on 21 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,560 earth will be blessed through you. 22 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,320 Thanks, Axel. 23 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,000 Let's pray. 24 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:13,320 Heavenly Father, we just say thank you for your word. 25 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:21,400 As we look at your word together this morning, I pray that you will speak to our hearts. 26 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,160 We know that there are so many things that could be on our minds as we heard at the beginning, 27 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:26,160 Lord. 28 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:29,720 We just want at this time to focus in on what you say to us. 29 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:31,760 Help us to listen, Lord. 30 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,120 Help the words I have to say be from you only. 31 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,440 I pray all this in Jesus' name. 32 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:39,440 Amen. 33 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:43,440 As I said, I'm the missions lecturer. 34 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,520 This morning, I'm going to talk about missions, basically. 35 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:52,920 When I say the word missions, I want to know what you think of. 36 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:58,800 Maybe when I say that, maybe you think of people going to someone who is living in one 37 00:02:58,800 --> 00:02:59,800 of those grass huts. 38 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,320 When I say word missions, you think of grass huts. 39 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:09,640 Maybe you think of doing like a Christmas carols event. 40 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:13,760 Maybe it's actually going to the jungle and doing medical work. 41 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,120 You can see my wife doing medical work in the jungle there. 42 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:22,560 Basically, when I say the word missions and think about missions, what's going to shape 43 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:28,600 your understanding of missions is all the experiences that you've had. 44 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:33,640 What you've seen about missions, what you've heard about missions. 45 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:39,520 As I've been talking to more and more people about missions, what I see more and more is 46 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:45,840 that people are becoming more and more confused about what the actual word missions means 47 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:46,840 today. 48 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:53,600 It's basically because the word missions has changed its meaning. 49 00:03:53,600 --> 00:04:00,760 Fifty years ago, if I said the word mission, everyone knew that I would be talking about 50 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:06,280 going overseas and sharing the gospel with people from a different culture. 51 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:11,440 Then if I said the word evangelism, you go, okay, evangelism, that's what we do here, 52 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,240 right here in Armadale. 53 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,400 Sharing the gospel locally. 54 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,880 But things have changed. 55 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:24,120 The young people are experiencing, what they're hearing is that missions is more and more 56 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,400 about doing local. 57 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:28,400 Why? 58 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:33,240 It's because we're in our churches, we're talking about missions as being local. 59 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,080 We keep saying missions isn't international, it's also here. 60 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:38,080 It's here as well. 61 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:42,720 Then we add to the fact that we live in these multicultural communities. 62 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:48,680 When we go to the shops, we're going to see people from all around the world, all around 63 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,040 the globe, here with us. 64 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:57,840 According to the 2021 census, there's about three out of 10 people in WA were born overseas, 65 00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:00,920 three out of 10. 66 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:05,200 What's going on, the result of all these changes is that people are starting thinking that 67 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:09,880 you can do missions wherever you are. 68 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,040 You don't have to go overseas to do missions, you've got people from all over the world 69 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,160 right here with us. 70 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,640 You can do cross-cultural mission right here in Australia. 71 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,680 What's happening more and more is that people are going, well, missions has become about 72 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:24,320 the local context. 73 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,960 I was going, what does this matter? 74 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:28,960 Does this even matter? 75 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:34,360 Because we need to share Jesus with our friends and neighbours, our work colleagues and our 76 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:35,360 communities. 77 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:37,040 This is really important. 78 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,080 I want us to make this really clear. 79 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,640 We can't stop doing this. 80 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:51,520 The problem is that research in Australia has shown that because of this change, churches 81 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,880 are sending less and less missionaries overseas. 82 00:05:55,880 --> 00:06:01,800 I've worked with a lot of mission agencies and they've all said to me that our numbers 83 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:06,320 are dropping, our numbers are dropping. 84 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:13,400 This fact just made me stop and ask, well, does God even need missionaries? 85 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,560 Does God need missionaries? 86 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:24,160 I mean, let's face the fact, knowing who I am and we know who we are ourselves, that 87 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,800 we actually reject God, why would God even want to use someone like us to take the gospel 88 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,880 to people? 89 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:38,040 This question, it takes me back to the Bible, to before creation. 90 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:43,440 I go, when God was before himself, does God really need us? 91 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:50,040 Let's go back before God even created man and say, what happened then? 92 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:55,800 When God was this perfect triune God, when there was only God, and we go, well, let's 93 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:57,400 have a look at this picture. 94 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:59,320 We saw this in that passage in John 17. 95 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,880 If you've got your Bibles, have a look at John 17 with me. 96 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:03,920 We're going to focus on one verse. 97 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,200 It's John 17, 24, and we'll put it up in the overhead. 98 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:16,160 It says, Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my 99 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:25,080 glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 100 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:33,160 So Jesus right there, he's sharing this relationship between the Godhead of glory and love with 101 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:34,160 his Father. 102 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,120 And this is what Jesus focuses on. 103 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,720 This is what Jesus focuses on before the creation. 104 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:41,960 He wants us to see this. 105 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:47,240 This relationship is about giving glory for who God is. 106 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:52,840 And the concept of glory is a hard concept to get your head around it. 107 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,080 I think because we are very limited in our words. 108 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,120 We don't know how to express this, but let me go to Isaiah. 109 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,280 Isaiah tries with limited words to paint a picture of God's glory. 110 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:08,760 And he has God sitting on throne above the circles of the earth, and his people are like 111 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:09,760 grasshoppers. 112 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:14,320 And he stretches out their heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to 113 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,920 live in. 114 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:23,080 And what we can see is God's greatness. 115 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,440 God's just so amazing. 116 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:29,040 He's perfect. 117 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:35,400 Everything about God is stunningly beautiful, like the sunset or the sunrise. 118 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:40,640 It's just amazing. 119 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:46,720 Every characteristic of God and everything he has done is totally perfect. 120 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:51,720 And it's hard to get our minds wrapped around that, isn't it? 121 00:08:51,720 --> 00:09:01,840 And our response to seeing or knowing this is giving glory to God to worship him for 122 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:07,000 all that he is. 123 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,440 We need to worship him for his gloriousness. 124 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:16,160 And then we read in John 17 that this glory comes from a place of love. 125 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:22,720 And the Bible demonstrates to us that God's love isn't conditional. 126 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,360 As Josh said, it's about grace. 127 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:30,480 God never stops loving us no matter what we do. 128 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:31,720 His love is sacrificial. 129 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:36,280 He gave us Jesus. 130 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:40,800 So if God was already glorious and if God was already full of love, why did he create 131 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,520 people who were so bad? 132 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,200 Why would he even bother with us? 133 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,440 And it takes us back to John 17 verse 24. 134 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:54,760 It says, Father, I want those you have given me to be with me to see my glory, the glory 135 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,920 you have given me, because you loved me. 136 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:04,240 Jesus wants us or his disciples to experience what he had already experienced, what he is 137 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:11,720 experiencing with his father, to be with his father, to experience his glory and to know 138 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:13,760 the perfect love of God. 139 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:19,440 Can you just imagine that? 140 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,640 And then this is not just for those current disciples. 141 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:32,480 In John 17 verse 20, it says, Jesus prays this prayer for all who will believe, for all 142 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:36,920 believers, for us today, for all believers in the future, for you and for me. 143 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:41,040 That's what he wants everyone to experience. 144 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:47,760 And what we see in the Bible is the story of how God unveils his plan for his creation 145 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:52,920 to experience this love and this glory. 146 00:10:52,920 --> 00:11:00,520 And it starts with Adam and Eve, made in God's image, made to be in loving relationship with 147 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:06,840 God, walking with him in the garden. 148 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,240 And then we have the four. 149 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:11,120 The four changed all that. 150 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:16,400 Adam's and Eve relationship with God was just in tatters, wasn't it? 151 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,000 They were thrown out of the garden. 152 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:26,880 But I have to remember that God, he doesn't actually abandon humanity, because we've got 153 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:32,280 to remember that God knew that this would happen. 154 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:40,560 And God had a plan that would end in his created, participating in being able to experience 155 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:43,520 his love and his glory. 156 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:50,120 And we see this plan first in Genesis three, verses 14 and 15, where God pronounces judgment 157 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:51,120 on the serpent. 158 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:56,600 And God says that the woman's seed or offspring will crush the head of the serpent. 159 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,400 It's sort of hinting how Satan will be defeated. 160 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:05,280 It's the first mention of the gospel right there in Genesis three. 161 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:06,480 God had a mission. 162 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:14,720 He had a plan and it's a plan to restore the relationship of those he created out of love 163 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,280 for his glory. 164 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:23,880 And for the next few chapters, they, all we read about is men stuffing up again and again. 165 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:25,280 Sin judgment. 166 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:26,840 Sin judgment. 167 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:27,840 The flood. 168 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:29,200 The tower of Babel. 169 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:35,360 But right then in Genesis 12, it's like the beginning where God starts putting his plan 170 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:36,360 into action. 171 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:41,200 And it's where he chooses one family to be the vehicle of blessing to every person. 172 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:47,080 And in verse one, God tells Abraham to go. 173 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,120 And all that follows flows from God's command to go. 174 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:51,840 Go from your country. 175 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:53,280 Go from your people. 176 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:55,240 Go from your father's house. 177 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:59,400 And here we have God is sending out Abraham. 178 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,440 And the reason why God is doing this, why he sends him out is in verse two. 179 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:06,120 And it's a bit tricky to look at this because it doesn't really, the NIV doesn't translate 180 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:07,120 it that well. 181 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:12,040 But at verse two, he actually starts with the words, so that. 182 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:16,080 And these two words are like a signpost. 183 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,960 He's saying, here's the reason. 184 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:20,920 Verse two gives the purpose of Abraham to go. 185 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:25,480 So what's his purpose? 186 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:26,680 Verse two says, so that I will make you into a great nation. 187 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:29,840 So that I will make your name great. 188 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,960 So that I will bless those who bless you. 189 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,280 All the families of the earth shall be blessed. 190 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:37,440 And the so that is repeated. 191 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:42,200 Now in repeating a word or a phrase, what happens is you're building up the climax to 192 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:43,200 something. 193 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,360 You're going, whoa, what's the final so that? 194 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,320 I want to see what the final so that is. 195 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:49,720 And it's in the last phrase. 196 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:54,760 The final so that the ultimate reason why Abraham, where Abraham was sent out was, here 197 00:13:54,760 --> 00:14:07,040 it is, so that all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 198 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:12,320 This is God's ultimate purpose is to bless every single family on the earth. 199 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,440 So I go, what does this mean? 200 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:15,440 Every single family. 201 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,760 I mean, it's hard to get my hand in my head around. 202 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,320 And I've got to be careful not to think about through our Western eyes where I think about 203 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:22,880 my little nucleus family. 204 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,280 Because this is not what it's talking about right here. 205 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:31,680 It's talking in the original language, more like a group of people. 206 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:32,840 So what is a group of people? 207 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:33,840 A people group. 208 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,440 Now this whole phrase has been thrown around the missions world for a long time. 209 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,120 So this is really famous missions guys called Ralph Winter. 210 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:43,760 You don't have to remember his name, but putting it out there, I can't claim it as my own. 211 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:46,120 And this is what he says a people group is. 212 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:51,000 It's a large group of people who all share belonging because of their shared language, 213 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:57,840 religion, ethnicity, residence, occupation, class or caste or situation. 214 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:01,640 Basically it's the largest group that you can share the gospel with without encountering 215 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:02,640 a barrier. 216 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:06,840 So if I share a gospel with you and it keeps sharing and spreading and spreading, but then 217 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:08,720 there's a language barrier. 218 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,240 Well, that's another people group. 219 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:16,680 So basically a people group is the largest group which you can share the gospel with. 220 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:20,960 So here we have, so God's making this promise, this covenant with Abraham and he said, I'm 221 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,080 going to make you into a great nation. 222 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:29,520 I'm going to make your name great and it's a blessing to Abraham so that every single 223 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:32,200 people group on the earth should be blessed. 224 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:38,680 So God works through Abraham to bring his creation back into relationship with him so 225 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:48,000 that they may experience his glory and love. 226 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,400 And just, you know, humans are not very smart. 227 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,520 So God's really gracious again and he keeps restating this whole promise to him. 228 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,720 So you see this in Genesis 17 verse 4. 229 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:04,840 He says again, he said, you will be the father of many nations. 230 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:06,960 No longer will you be called Abraham. 231 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:12,360 Your name will be called Abraham for I have made you a father of many nations. 232 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:14,360 And so this is the whole thing. 233 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:19,840 Abraham gets a brand new name which actually means father of many nations. 234 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:27,800 So when you think about the name Abraham, you should think of the nations. 235 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:32,640 And it reminds me, I don't know with you, maybe you're as old as me. 236 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:38,880 In Sunday school, when I went to Sunday school, we used to sing a song and was called Father 237 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:39,880 Abraham. 238 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:40,880 Who remembers that song Father Abraham? 239 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,080 Oh yeah, you know Father Abraham. 240 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:45,880 I think it's the Christian fursy of the hokey pokey. 241 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:53,960 Right, but basically the song is meant to remind ourselves that we are one of Abraham's 242 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:58,400 children. 243 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,960 Abraham is our father of all the nations. 244 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:10,240 But what we see in Genesis over and over again is this promise of blessing. 245 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:11,640 It's repeated over and over again. 246 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,280 Genesis 26, God renews the covenant with Abraham's son Isaac. 247 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:20,600 He says, I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. 248 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:26,200 I'm going to give you all these lands and through your offspring, all nations on earth 249 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,480 will be blessed. 250 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:35,720 And then again, because we're not that smart, he repeats it again, Genesis 28 to Jacob. 251 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:38,480 So I start thinking, well how is this going to happen? 252 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,560 How are the descendants of Abraham actually going to bless the nations? 253 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:47,440 And in Exodus 19, 5 and 6, so after these lights have been freed from Egypt, before 254 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:53,320 they receive the law, the Lord said to Moses, now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, 255 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:58,080 then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. 256 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:02,720 Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy 257 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:03,720 nation. 258 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:10,000 But what I want you to really see when we look in this passage is the word of. 259 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,840 It says, God says a kingdom of priests. 260 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,840 It's not a kingdom with priests. 261 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:22,200 It's one little word that makes a huge difference. 262 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:28,760 God's saying to Israel, I want you to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and so 263 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:31,200 who are they going to be priests to? 264 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:32,200 The nations. 265 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:40,960 I'm going to make you a kingdom of priests to be the go-betweens between the nations, 266 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:42,600 between God and the nations. 267 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,160 That's the job of Israel. 268 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:49,920 God wanted Israel to live such as this great holy life so that people would see him. 269 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:55,840 They could go, I want to know who your God is because you are so good. 270 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,160 So it was like Israel was going to be like this magnet. 271 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,800 Israel was going to be a magnet attracting the nations and that God's love and glory 272 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:04,720 would be talked about among the nations. 273 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:05,720 Can you imagine that? 274 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:10,160 Wouldn't that be fantastic? 275 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:16,760 And so basically the mission strategy, the Old Testament is come and know. 276 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,880 Come here, come and know. 277 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:20,880 Three words. 278 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,320 But you know what I mean? 279 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:30,200 It's quite funny really because the Israelites really didn't do that very well either. 280 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:35,600 But you know what God says, even if they fail, they're going to be like this witness to the 281 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:36,600 nations. 282 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:37,600 Even if you fail. 283 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:44,200 And we see this when Moses renews the covenant with the Israelites in Deuteronomy 29. 284 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:51,920 Even when you stuff up, even when I pour out my wrath on you, it's going to be like this 285 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,400 witness to the nations that I am God. 286 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:59,080 He says, all the nations ask, why has the Lord done this to this land? 287 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,040 Why this fierce burning anger? 288 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:05,880 And the answer will be, it's because these people abandoned the covenant of the Lord. 289 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:10,360 The Israelites, no matter whether they're good or bad, were going to be witnesses for 290 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:11,360 the Lord. 291 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:14,040 And so I start thinking about this sort of illustration. 292 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:19,280 So I used to be a leader in pioneers, which is a mission organization. 293 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:21,960 So I was a missionary for many years. 294 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,400 So when I was actually a team leader for a while, and then I actually became, they said 295 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:28,280 to me, Mike, we want you to become the area leader. 296 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,600 It was basically looking after a big geography of land in Indonesia. 297 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:32,600 Oh, okay. 298 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,400 Now I'm going to join the big dogs. 299 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:35,400 All right. 300 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,000 So they're going to have the first meeting. 301 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:38,000 You know, can you imagine that? 302 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:42,760 All these people, you go, these guys are really special and we're going to join them up in 303 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:44,160 the special room. 304 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:48,040 We had a conference beforehand and after the conference it's going to be the leaders, the 305 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:49,040 area leaders. 306 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:50,840 I'm going, very, very nervous. 307 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,960 You know that feeling when you're going to meet these people. 308 00:20:53,960 --> 00:21:00,760 So I walked into this room and all these leaders, there's about 20 leaders sitting around this 309 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:01,760 horseshoe. 310 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,560 And it's all pretty, you know, a bit of murmuring, probably like your session, really. 311 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:07,920 I'm giving a murmur, a bit of a chat. 312 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:13,200 And I said, so about, so before we started, one of the other leaders was, I didn't really 313 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:18,320 know that, so she stands up and says, Mike, everyone, everyone, I want you to listen up. 314 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,080 Want to introduce a new area leader. 315 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:22,080 His name's Mike. 316 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:28,600 The reason I know that his son took my daughter to burp the whole alphabet. 317 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:29,600 That's what I was known for. 318 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:34,160 From the beginning, I was the father of the son who taught his daughter how to burp the 319 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:36,560 whole alphabet. 320 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:41,640 And it was like, well, no matter whether I was good or bad, people are going to know 321 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,560 who I am. 322 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:47,920 This is what kids do. 323 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,680 And that's what the Israelites, God's kids, were going to do. 324 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:56,120 Whether they're good or bad, they were going to let his name be known. 325 00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:59,120 The nations were going to talk about God. 326 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:02,440 And they kept failing, though. 327 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:10,720 They failed to glorify God and let alone help others know about God's love and His glory. 328 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:19,840 So I've got to keep reminding ourselves, again, that this didn't take God by surprise. 329 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,960 God knew that this was going to happen. 330 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:24,120 God had a plan. 331 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:27,000 And let's go back to Genesis 22 again. 332 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:31,080 After Abraham was tested with the sacrifice of Isaac, God renewed his covenant with him. 333 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,920 He says, I will surely bless you and make you descendants as numerous as the stars in 334 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:41,240 the sky and as the sands in the seashore and through your offspring, all nations on earth 335 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:45,320 will be blessed because you have bathed me. 336 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:49,960 And what we notice here is that all families on the earth would be blessed through Abraham's 337 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,120 offspring. 338 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:56,960 And we look at the word offspring, it's actually not plural. 339 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:06,400 It's singular, which means it's just one offspring. 340 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,960 God's plan was not going to happen through all of Abraham's, all of his descendants. 341 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,600 It was going to happen through one future descendant. 342 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,680 And this is those questions in Sunday School. 343 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:15,880 You go, what's the answer? 344 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:16,880 And everyone says, Jesus. 345 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:17,880 That's right. 346 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,200 The answer is Jesus. 347 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,480 Jesus is that future offspring. 348 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:28,280 In Acts 3, 25, 26, Peter in his first sermon after receiving the Holy Spirit, preaching 349 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:29,280 to the cloud. 350 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:33,880 This is what Peter says, and you are the heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made 351 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:35,000 with your fathers. 352 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:36,720 He said to who? 353 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:42,520 Abraham, through your offspring, all peoples on earth will be blessed. 354 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:46,480 So when God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each 355 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:48,760 of you from your wicked ways. 356 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:56,040 So here are the exact words given to Abraham in Genesis. 357 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,520 Peter proclaims Jesus as Abraham's offspring. 358 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,880 And with the coming of Christ, the strategy, we see you have the strategy, remember the 359 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:06,480 first strategy in the Old Testament was here, come and know. 360 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,480 Now with Jesus, that strategy changes. 361 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:11,480 And we can look at this. 362 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:13,880 This is not, again, God knew about the changes strategy. 363 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:15,600 He was part of his plan. 364 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:21,280 Isaiah 66, before Jesus comes, it says, it talks about a sign. 365 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,440 And at this time, God will send his people to the nations. 366 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,920 His people would go to the coastlands. 367 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:31,960 They will declare God's glory among the nations. 368 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:39,320 So the strategy changes from here, come and know, to go, declare and make disciples. 369 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,320 Just go to the next one. 370 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:42,320 One more. 371 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:43,320 Here we go. 372 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,160 Go, declare and make disciples. 373 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:52,400 And this brings us to that most famous mission verse, Matthew 28, 19, where Jesus straight 374 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:54,520 after his death and resurrection. 375 00:24:54,520 --> 00:25:01,800 And just before he goes to heaven, tells his disciples, go and make disciples of all nations. 376 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:06,800 And the way it's written makes the word go, which again we saw in Genesis, focus on the 377 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,520 place where they were to go and make those disciples. 378 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:13,000 And it's to all the nations. 379 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:19,920 And it harks back to Genesis 12, the initial covenant with Abram. 380 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:25,200 And the word nations, again, is actually referring to that same word, people groups. 381 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:34,840 So Jesus is telling us in Matthew that we are to go to all people groups in the world. 382 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:42,720 Our role as disciples of Jesus is to bless the families of the earth. 383 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:43,880 That's your role. 384 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:48,680 That's my role. 385 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:53,440 And Acts 1.8 clarifies how we're going to do this. 386 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:58,480 Jesus' disciples were commissioned to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria, and to the ends of 387 00:25:58,480 --> 00:25:59,480 the earth. 388 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:01,520 And this brings out two things. 389 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,800 First Jesus adds a geographical element. 390 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:13,320 He's telling us to go to every corner of the earth. 391 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:23,040 He's telling us to go to every corner of the earth. 392 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:29,040 God's salvation is for all nations, for every people group. 393 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,280 So geographically, every corner. 394 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:39,600 Historically, it means to every people group, again, to all the nations, those who aren't 395 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,720 Jews, the Gentiles, every nation. 396 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:51,400 So the story of Acts shows the beginning of the fulfillment of this command. 397 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,200 It doesn't show us the end. 398 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:58,280 This task is not yet finished. 399 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:04,920 The church's mission, our mission is to go to the ends of the earth, to every people 400 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,160 group, until the task is finished. 401 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:13,920 When is the task going to be finished when Jesus comes back? 402 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:18,600 Now according to the Joshua Project, which is a project which looks at unreached people 403 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:25,760 groups, there are 17,260 people groups in the world. 404 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:39,400 Out of this 17,000 odd, 7,219 are unreached. 405 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:44,440 That's 41.8%. 406 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:53,320 3.44 billion people who have little or no access to the gospel. 407 00:27:53,320 --> 00:28:01,200 3.44 billion people. 408 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:12,920 Why did God create man so that every single human on this earth can share in his love 409 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,920 and his glory? 410 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:32,360 But 3.44 billion people, 3.44 billion, have no one to share that love with. 411 00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:37,320 They don't have anyone. 412 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:43,000 And it brings us back to our original question. 413 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,800 Does God need missionaries? 414 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,240 Yes. 415 00:28:49,240 --> 00:29:00,800 But our focus in Australia on sending missionaries is decreasing. 416 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:09,040 Research has shown that if we focus on global missions, our local missions will increase. 417 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:15,840 It has also shown that if we focus on local missions, global missions decreases. 418 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,000 We say that again. 419 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,560 If we focus on global missions, our local missions will increase. 420 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:27,320 If we focus on local missions, our global missions will decrease. 421 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:37,720 We've still got a job to do. 422 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:46,080 God created humankind so they will experience his love and his glory. 423 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:51,960 Every people group needs to hear of his love and his glory. 424 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,160 He wants people to know this love and glory. 425 00:29:55,160 --> 00:30:00,520 It reminds me of that picture in Revelation where every nation, tribe, people and language 426 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,720 stand before the throne and the Lamb crying out a loud voice. 427 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:12,080 Revelation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. 428 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,880 This is what we want to see. 429 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:22,240 God wants our churches, He wants Grace Christian Church to be part of this plan. 430 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:29,280 And if God has spoken to you this morning about those people who still have not heard 431 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,920 about Jesus, come and speak to us. 432 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:34,520 Come and speak to Michael. 433 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:39,320 He's still a big job to be done. 434 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,920 Again I want to say this is not taking away from local missions. 435 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:49,320 We need to do this but we need to also send our best to the world so the world will hear 436 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:50,320 of his name. 437 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:52,120 Let me pray. 438 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:59,120 Heavenly Father, I pray that you will just transform our hearts. 439 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,320 Your Word speaks to us today. 440 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:10,360 We acknowledge, Lord, that we are not always the best of taking your Word to all nations 441 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:12,360 so we ask for your forgiveness. 442 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:16,760 We thank you for this commission. 443 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,360 I pray that you'll help each one of us challenge us, Lord. 444 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:24,440 Help us to see whether you're calling us to be that person who will take the Gospel to 445 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:33,480 all those people who still have not heard of your love and of your glory. 446 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:35,480 I pray this in Jesus' name. 447 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:54,480 Amen.