Hello and welcome back to the PHSA Podcast.
My name is David Bigford.
I'm the pastor here at SalmonArm.
This is a very special podcast series where I'm going to be sharing with you messages
from our most recent conference in Prescott, Arizona, the Beyond Limits Conference with
a theme of to preach the gospel in the regions beyond from 2 Corinthians 10-16.
I'm going to share all of the sermons from this conference series to include Greg Mitchell,
our head pastor, Joe Campbell, Richard Ruby, Tom Payne, and many, many others during this
series.
So I'll be sharing these with you over the next couple weeks, and I hope you really enjoy
these messages.
If you'd like to see these messages in a video format, you can go to prescottpottershouse.com
where all of these will be available for you to view in a video format.
So without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and move on to the messages, and I hope you
enjoy them.
God bless.
Praise God, I want to add my welcome.
Thank God for all of you that are here.
We are in for a powerful week.
We had yesterday the Holy Ghost was here, and just in our pre-conference Sunday, such
a wonderful dimension.
God is going to meet with you this week, and destinies are going to be changed.
There are going to be people that you will be healed tonight, and this week there are
others you are going to be delivered.
God's going to set you free.
Pastor Campbell was right.
I do like to chase demons, that's true.
Chase them out, that's what I want to do.
God's going to set people free, but destinies, direction, you're going to receive this week.
Let's begin tonight by turning to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, our passage that we have as our
theme.
Beyond limits, the horizon is the line that forms the boundary between the earth and sky.
Our English word horizon comes from the Greek word horos, which actually means limit.
So what you're saying when you talk about the horizon, that is as far as the eye can
see, that is the limit that you can see.
That is what a horizon is.
For centuries, people in Europe would look westward in the Atlantic Ocean, and in their
horizon as far as the eye can see, they were convinced there is nothing more out there.
In fact, in Spain, you know that their motto, their national motto, they had on their coins
and the coat of arms, it literally said, no more beyond.
They had a picture of the ocean.
There is no more.
But then in 1492, Columbus sailed heading west and discovered that there was more beyond.
And when he came back to Spain, the king of Spain changed when he heard the report of
what was out there, he changed the motto and the coat of arms to say more beyond.
So they learned that there was more beyond the limit.
In the text that we're going to read, this is our conference theme, Paul was dealing
with people who were satisfied with what they had, but Paul says, my hope is to preach the
gospel in regions beyond.
In other words, he said, I want to go beyond limits.
And that's what I want to preach tonight.
Beyond limits, 2 Corinthians 10, starting at verse 12, for we do not dare to class ourselves
or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves, but they measuring themselves
by themselves, comparing themselves among themselves.
There's a lot of self there in there.
They're not wise.
We however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which
God appointed us, a sphere which especially includes you.
For we are not overextending ourselves as though our authority didn't extend to you.
For it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ, not boasting of things beyond measure.
That is in other men's labors, but having hope that as your faith is increased, we shall
be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you
and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment.
But he who glories, let him glory in the Lord, for not he who commends himself is approved,
but whom the Lord commands.
Beyond limits, I want to begin.
Let's talk about the greatest danger.
After the resurrection, Jesus Christ gave us our very clear marching orders.
You find it in Mark 16, 15, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person.
In Matthew 28, 19, go and make disciples of all the nations.
Very simple.
What does all the world mean?
It means all the world.
And all the nations is actually every ethnic group, but here it is a very simple command.
Preach the gospel, that is evangelism to sinners and make disciples, train workers to reproduce
godly ministry.
Those two things we are supposed to do in every nation, in every ethnic group, in the
entire world.
That simple.
It's not complicated.
But more than 2,000 years later, that simple command, the job is still not done.
There are currently about 8.1 billion people in the world.
Six billion out of 8.1 billion are completely non-Christian today.
Out of that 8.1 billion, they estimate about 2 billion of them have never had a chance
to hear the gospel message.
They say that almost 30 million people will die this year 2024 without ever hearing the
message of salvation.
And they estimate the last 40 years as many as 1 billion people have died and they have
never heard the name of Jesus Christ even one time.
So the question is why?
If the command is simple and clear, why is the job not done?
Is it because as many people feel in their city that demons are so big and so powerful?
That is not true.
Luke 9.1 that he called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all
demons.
So the demons are not the ones stopping the work of God.
Is it because the politicians or rulers of nations are so strong?
That cannot be true because Proverbs 21.1 says the king's heart is in the hand of the
Lord.
He directs the king's heart like a water course wherever he pleases.
Think about King Cyrus.
Here's a demon worshipping pervert but God moved on him.
He made a command.
I command you to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and I will help pay for it.
King Herod is opposing, arresting, killing people for preaching the gospel and God stepped
in and said you need to stop breathing right in the middle of a political speech.
That's actually not a bad idea.
I'm just saying.
Think about this.
Of all the epistles that Paul wrote in the New Testament, do you know that percentage
wise there actually is a very few percent of the scriptures that speak of spiritual
opposition?
There is a truth of spiritual warfare.
There are a few scriptures that speak of people outside who are harming the work of God.
But here's the point that I'm making now.
There actually are many examples and scriptures in the Bible that show that God's people can
be the greatest hindrance to God's work.
Think about Jonah in the Old Testament.
He was God's man.
He had the command to go and declare the word of God in Nineveh but Jonah didn't want to
do that.
He was stopping people from being helped in Nineveh.
There are numbers of places in text.
I won't take the time but it talks about to even pastors and men of God who are hindering
God's work.
So here is a clear command.
I want you to think about two dangers that Paul speaks about.
He is going to talk about his vision but he says there are two dangers that are stopping
the work of God.
And the first is the danger of criticism.
Criticism is expressing disapproval of someone based on their perceived faults or mistakes.
Second Corinthians, the background, if you want to understand the book, Second Corinthians
was written largely as a response to the fact that people in churches and pastors were criticizing
and attacking the apostle Paul.
Second Corinthians 10.10, for some say his letters are weighty and forceful but in person
he's unimpressive and his speaking amounts at nothing.
They doubted his motives.
They said he doesn't care about us otherwise he would have showed up and preached for us
by now.
They were doubting his integrity and handling money and he had to answer that in Second
Corinthians 10.
So criticism was actually hurting the work of God.
But you know what?
Criticism is a universal disease.
It's not limited to the apostle Paul back in New Testament days.
The Old Testament, the children of Israel criticized Moses, the book of Acts, the Judaizers
criticized everyone.
Listen to me tonight, if we're going to do the work of God, you know the first danger
of criticism is that by finding fault we think we're doing better than we actually are.
I want you to get, what's going on in Second Corinthians here, they were criticizing the
apostle Paul.
This man was caught up to heaven, wrote most of the New Testament.
They are criticizing him.
You know what happened in Corinth is that Paul began this church and revival exploded.
In those days they didn't have buildings and so no doubt there were many, many hundreds
of house churches.
Paul say that some of these people who are critics now, they were pastoring the churches
that they had inherited from the apostle Paul.
Paul was the one, he's the reason why they even have a church but now they say, yeah,
but I don't think that he's really into it.
They're criticizing and Paul says this is dangerous.
Do you understand something?
Some of you, you think criticism is the gift of the spirit.
Yeah, you know, I'm here, you're looking around at conference and I'm, I got my eye on you
and I doubt them and look, yeah, and you think somehow that that is holy because you see
problems in people.
Do you know that tearing down another person doesn't make you any better?
You know when you look at somebody and say that guy, he's dumb and ugly, you didn't somehow
get smarter and better looking.
Right, but here were people, they were criticizing and they somehow, because they thought they
saw a fault, they felt they were doing better and Paul says you're making a big mistake.
The danger of criticism is it distracts us from our main purpose.
Our main purpose is preach the gospel to sinners, make disciples of all nations.
That's our job.
But criticism will distract you from that.
We send men out to pioneer churches and I have at various times I've had them call myself
or one of the other pastors and inform us that someone in their city is different than
they are.
Do you know that they are singing 1.4 more songs than we sing in Prescott?
And my answer is, listen, I didn't send you there to straighten out anybody.
We send you there with a job.
Your job is get people saved, build a church, make disciples, plant churches.
That's it.
Listen, there are pastors here, you like it when your people and your men criticize others
to you.
Pastor, I'm really suspicious about them and you go, really?
You like it.
You think that somehow that's validation of your ministry.
In fact, you encourage it.
Some of you, you teach your people, you teach your men to criticize.
You are putting in them seeds of destruction because Paul says now here I have a job to
do, but you're hung up on criticism.
It's distracted you.
Second danger that keeps us from doing our simple task is the danger of self-satisfaction.
The critics of Paul having inherited some good things, they now assumed that they were
good enough.
Verse 12, measuring themselves by themselves, comparing themselves among themselves, they're
not wise.
They looked around and they came to self-assessment conclusions.
You know, years ago we had a pastor in the fellowship.
He would openly tell other people, I'm one of the best preachers in the fellowship, but
the problem was he was the only one who thought so.
Nobody else thought that.
He compared himself with himself.
We can have self-satisfaction based on past success.
When I was a new convert I was really on fire.
That was a long time ago.
Had a man that was causing trouble in one of the churches and I had to be involved in
a meeting and finally I challenged him.
I said, you have a very high opinion of yourself.
I said, please tell me why.
Why do you think that you are all that?
And he told me 20, I think 25 years ago he had witnessed to somebody and they came and
got saved and a number of kids came from a university and they got saved.
I said, that was 25 years ago.
Now let's examine then you pastored here.
What about there?
No.
What about there?
No.
And what about now?
No.
But you still think you are hot based on 25 years ago?
You are comparing yourself with yourself.
You can have self-satisfaction based on longevity.
I have been saved.
I have been in the fellowship for X number of years.
Self-satisfaction because you are doing some things right.
You are involved in the church to some degree.
There are pastors that are here.
I am praying that God will challenge you.
Right now in your ministry you are preaching some sermons.
You are there in the city.
You are pulling a paycheck.
You have a little bit of respect.
But my challenge to you on the opening night, are you doing what God wants you to do?
Are you doing all that God wants you to do?
Because if you are simply comparing yourself with yourself and you are happy with that,
it could be that God has a very different opinion.
Let's talk secondly about beyond limits.
Paul is showing us that no matter where we are at, no matter what we have accomplished,
we cannot stop where we are at.
His approach to ministry is our conference theme.
Second Corinthians 10, 16 to preach the gospel in regions beyond you.
This is not simply a geographical dimension.
It is actually how he viewed ministry in its entirety.
He said, I want to go beyond limits.
Beyond limits involves a commitment to expand the kingdom of God.
What God has done in our fellowship is wonderful.
As of right now, we have a little over 3,700 churches in 149 nations.
That is wonderful.
Praise God.
I am very grateful for that, but the job is not finished yet.
Joshua 13, one, there remains yet very much land to be possessed.
See Paul's critics, they were content with what they had inherited, but Paul was looking
beyond verse 16 to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you.
Regions beyond, this is literally true.
As I said, we have churches at 149 nations, but there are 81 nations where we do not have
a single fellowship church.
I'm going to put up an image here, this graphic.
These are the nations of the world with their populations that we do not have a single fellowship
church in, not one.
Our job is not to get together and pat each other on the back on what a great job we're
doing because the job's not done yet.
On that list, you're going to find nations like Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3.3 million people
and not a single fellowship church.
The Comoros Islands, 867,000 people and not a single fellowship church.
Eritrea, 3.8 million people, not one fellowship church.
The Central African Republic, 5.8 million people are there and we don't have a single fellowship
church there.
The job is not done.
Listen, in America, we still have four states in America where we don't have a single fellowship
church in the entire state.
Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, Vermont, they have cities like Montgomery, Alabama, 200,000
people, not a single fellowship church.
Portland, Maine, 70,000 people.
Jackson, Mississippi, 139,000.
Burlington, Vermont, 43,000 and we do not have a single fellowship church not only in
those cities or any other city in four states and we've been doing this for 54 years.
Paul says that's not okay.
Romans 10, 14, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without
a preacher?
Paul said in Romans 15, 20, I have made it my aim to preach the gospel not where Christ
was named lest I should build on another man's foundation.
I am praying that God will speak to couples this week that you will want to pioneer.
A pioneer is someone who enters untouched territory.
I'm praying that there are pastors that God will grip you this week.
You may have done some good things in the past, but God will grip you.
You need to send again and we need to go beyond limits.
Beyond limits, it also involves a commitment to go deeper in our calling.
Think about the incredible ministry that Paul had.
How many, come on, how many of us we were caught up to heaven?
That's it, I'm done.
You can't top that, right?
But now Paul, he did not assess himself as having arrived, Philippians 3, 12, not as
though I had already attained or am already perfected or reach where I'm going, but I
press on that I might lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid a hold of
me.
He said, I'm not there yet.
You know the Tartar tribes of Asia, they used to pronounce a curse over their enemies and
that curse was, may you stay in one place forever.
Now I'm not talking about a pastor, but I'm talking about being stuck, not making progress,
not making growth, not going beyond in any way.
So Paul said, that is not, you all may be satisfied with yourself.
That's what he's telling them.
But he said, I want to go beyond limits.
I want to go deeper.
Beyond limits is not just geography.
The book of Ezekiel, the fascinating vision of the water flowing from the temple and in,
I think it's Ezekiel 47, verse three through six, he measured 1000 cubits and the water
came up to my ankles.
Then he measured another thousand.
The water came up to my knees, another thousand.
The water came up to my waist and another thousand.
And it was a river that I could not cross for the water was too deep.
It was water in which one must swim.
Here this angelic messenger is taking Ezekiel and he is taking him deeper and deeper because
that is God's will for your life.
Do not stop and say, good enough.
I have all that I'm ever going to have and I am all that I'm ever going to be.
Listen where, whatever level you are at in the church, as a disciple, as a pastor, go
deeper.
Don't stop.
One man said, God always answers us in the deeps, never in the shallows of our soul.
Colossians 4 17 and say to our Chippas, take heed to the ministry which you have received
in the Lord that you may fulfill it, complete it.
That's what he said.
Listen, you've got something from God.
Are you playing with, have you stopped at a certain level?
He says, fulfill it.
That is what God is speaking to people this week.
We need to go deeper and go beyond limits.
Let's look at one final thought in closing.
I want to talk about true judgment.
Paul had a correct perspective in life and ministry.
He's writing to people who did not see things clearly or correctly.
Paul understood two very simple things.
Number one, the point of life and ministry is not to make ourselves look good and gain
attention.
There are some of you came to conference.
You are so excited because conference gives you an unlimited possibility of selfies and
you are going to post to the world because that's what you think we put on this conference
so you can post and draw attention to you.
Number 17, but he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
We are here to draw attention to God.
If you want to brag, brag on God.
Amen.
This conference is not about us.
It's about God.
And Paul understood that.
We're going to glory on the Lord.
He understood the second thing, the goal of life is to be approved by God.
Verse 18, for not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
That word approved, it means to be tested by fire and found genuine.
Paul says, listen, you think you found a flaw in me and you're criticizing.
He says, what I want is actually not your approval.
I want the Lord to commend me.
Think about what are you saying here?
Listen, listen, this is important.
The reason why he says that it is possible that we could think that we've arrived and
we're great and God have a completely different opinion.
Right?
The people who have told me they heard that man tell them I'm one of the greatest preachers
in the fellowship.
You know why they told me that?
Because they didn't think so.
But that's a human opinion.
What we don't want is we don't want to get to heaven and go, God, you have got to be
impressed with me and God, you are kidding, right?
Paul says, I want the Lord to commend me three ways the Lord commends us.
Number one, he commends us with supernatural help on our labors.
Acts eight, six through eight, and the multitudes with one accord, heeded the things spoken
by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, many
who were paralyzed and lame were healed, and there was great joy in that city.
The commendation was not we think you're great.
It's that something happened, something supernatural happened.
Here people were saved, demons were cast out, bodies were healed.
There was joy in the city.
Why?
Because God was attending their ministry.
Anytime you choose to go deeper in God, anytime you choose to go beyond limits, God says,
I will attend that with my power.
He commends us with supernatural help.
Number two, the Lord commends us with a distinguishing element.
You know what struck me as I was putting this sermon together?
In Corinth, as I said, 2 Corinthians, he is having to have a rebuttal for people criticizing
because these men having received something, they thought we're so hot, we don't know
even one of their names today.
Think about that.
They're telling, we are so good, we're much better than the apostles.
Not one of them do we even know their name, but we do know Paul.
You know why?
Because God causes there to be a divine recognition.
Hidden and private commitments before God to go beyond limits, they cause God's distinguishing
favor.
Joseph and Daniel, they made private decisions.
I'm not going to defile myself.
I'm going to honor God in prayer every day.
I'm not going to sin against God.
Those were private.
No one was around.
He wasn't tweeting out, resisting temptation again today.
Hashtag, just say no.
Nobody knows what he's doing, but listen, if you make a commitment to do right before
God, pretty soon God will make sure everyone knows.
Bible says there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed.
Listen, disciple, if you choose to go beyond limits, I want to go beyond.
If you'll find new people to witness, maybe that's a new people group in your city, new
areas, you will stand out.
You don't have to impress the pastor, letting him know what you're doing.
Listen, do that before God and he will cause you to be distinguished.
Pastors, if you will commit yourself to developing in your preaching, if you will launch workers
into the regions beyond, you will stand out.
Thirdly, the Lord will ultimately commend us when we stand before him.
It doesn't ultimately matter what you think of yourself, what I think of myself, because
it's possible we could be wrong.
Doesn't matter what other people say, good or bad, because they could be wrong.
Every person here, every person watching online, we are one day going to stand before God personally
and give an account of our lives.
Romans 14, 12.
So then each of us will give a count of himself to God.
Listen, when we stand before God, there is no more chance to correct the record.
All that you do, the things done in the body, your time will come to an end.
My time will come to an end.
And then we will stand before God with no more mulligans, no more re-dos, no more oopsies.
Let me try again.
That is why Paul says, now I want to go beyond limit.
That is why we have to live now with the end in mind.
Think about these two stories.
1848, John and Charlotte Getty went to the New Hebrides Islands.
That's current day Vanuatu.
At that time, the people in the New Hebrides, they were cannibals.
When John Getty died, they placed a plaque in his memory, and it says these words, when
he landed in 1848, there were no Christians here.
And when he left in 1872, there were no heathen.
He decided to go beyond, and God blessed his ministry.
Second story, Chuck and Kay Smith, they were pastoring a small congregation in Costa Mesa,
California.
And they began to hear and read of this movement of rebellious young people they called hippies.
Kay Smith especially, she was moved.
She would see them walking down the street, or they would drive to Huntington Beach, and
she would look.
They did not understand what made hippies tick.
They didn't understand how they thought.
It was so foreign from them.
One day Kay Smith told her husband, who was the pastor, Chuck Smith, she said, we need
to meet a hippie.
We don't understand them.
We need to meet one.
And they asked their daughter's boyfriend, do you know any hippies?
And he said, yeah, I met this guy.
And he went and found a young hippie named Lonnie Frisbee and brought him to their house.
And they began to talk to him about how hippies thought, but he had been saved, had been powerfully
converted.
And so Chuck Smith did something radical.
He invited this hippie to come speak in their church.
If you read Chuck Smith's biography, I refresh my memory this week.
Chuck Smith in his ministry was frustrated with the Foursquare effort.
He used to be in Foursquare Sunday night evangelistic services and no one got saved.
So he said, I came to the conclusion the job of the church is not to win the world.
He said the job of the church is to minister to the body.
That's how he's thinking.
But God prompted him to go beyond limits.
They meet this hippie.
And when this hippie comes and church people saw that those creatures could get saved,
it so moved them that one family at the store witnessed to a wild looking hippie named John
Higgins.
John Higgins got powerfully saved and began evangelizing nonstop.
The church exploded in growth.
That was Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California.
But the reason why I'm telling you that is that my father, Wayman Mitchell, heard about
what God was doing in Southern California.
It was spreading from Southern California and beyond.
Had come to Prescott, had a few people saved, got the first few hippies saved.
But he heard about that and he took a few young men to Southern California to see what
God was doing.
My father did not understand hippies either, but he reached beyond limits.
They went to Southern California with a few young men.
One of those young men is here tonight, Ron Burl, 54 years ago went, amen.
They saw Larry Reed preaching on that same Huntington Beach that the Smiths used to see
those wild hippies on.
And they saw a coffee house and concert ministry.
And my father turned to them and said, this will work in Prescott.
And came back and God did something powerful in Prescott more than just a service or a
concert.
He birthed something because, and this comes back to God bless Chuck and K. Smith who went
beyond limits.
And God bless my parents who went beyond limits.
Amen.
Thank God.
But the reason why I'm telling you that is not just to recount history.
Here's my challenge as I close.
What could God do in you?
What could God do through you?
What could God birth?
If you decided tonight and in this conference, God, I want to go beyond limits.
Could it be that we could point back to July of 2024 when there were people that said,
we're going to go beyond and God could birth something powerful through people just like
us.
I want you to bow your heads, close your eyes all across this place.
Thank God I feel the power of the Holy Spirit here.
I'm asking right now, we're going to pray for a number of things in a moment, but first
of all, there are people that are here.
You are not right with God.
Jesus gave the simple command, go in all the world and preach the gospel.
I'm preaching good news tonight.
It's Jesus Christ, the most incredible story in all time and eternity.
God loves us so much.
While we were sinners, while we were breaking God's commands, while we were on our way to
hell, we were bound, habits and Jesus Christ was willing to die for us so we could be set
free from our sin.
If you're here tonight and you would be honest, you say, Pastor Greg, I am not right with
God.
I am a sinner.
I know that I'm living a life that would not be pleasing to God.
You can fix that tonight.
Jesus can save you.
How many here, if you're not right with God and you want to pray.
I want you to do one thing.
Lift your hand up right now.
Say, Pastor Greg, I want to pray.
I need Jesus.
I want to get saved tonight on this first night of conference.
I want to get right with God.
Lift your hand.
Let me see it back there.
There's a hand.
How many others lift up your hand?
Join this one.
I want to get right with God.
Thank you.
I see that hand.
Others, some of your backs lit.
You were saved.
You turned your back on God.
Why don't you come back to God?
Thank you.
Here at the front, God bless you.
How many others lift up your hand?
Hands are going up.
You're responding.
You need Jesus.
Lift your hand right now.
God loves you.
He wants to save you.
He can do a miracle in you.
Thank you.
I see that hand.
Anybody else?
Quickly, I'm going to ask one more time and then we're going to change the service.
If you haven't lifted your hand yet, you want to get right with God.
Lift it right now.
Now's your time.
Now's your chance.
Lift up your hand right now.
Thank God.
Now I want every one of you that lifted your hand.
If you lifted your hand, stand up to your feet.
Stand up.
We want to pray for you.
Stand up.
Thank you.
Numbers of people.
Now, if you're standing, come here.
Make your way quickly.
All the way from the back.
Come here.
At the front, we're going to have someone pray with you.
In a moment, God can save you, can change your life.
Thank God for these people.
Just kneel down at the front.
I want a lady to pray with every one of these ladies, a man with every man.
Thank God people are coming, being honest.
I need another lady quickly.
You'll quickly go make your way.
Lead them in a sinner's prayer before anything else.
Thank God.
Just kneel down right here.
Thank you.
Anywhere at the front.
God bless you.
Thank you.
You want to get right with God.
Kneel down at the front right there.
I need a lady to pray with this girl.
God bless you, man.
Anywhere at the front.
Kneel down.
People are coming.
God bless you.
Being honest with God.
He's going to help you because you're honest.
Thank God.
God bless you, man.
Just kneel down right here.
I need a man to come pray with this man.
Thank God for every one of these being honest.
I want you all to stand up to your feet.
My challenge on the opening night, let's go beyond limits.
Let's believe God.
He's going to help.
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