Missions, Methods and Motivation

Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=89335

The Presidential Inauguration is behind us. We have a new President & Vice-President.

God bless them &God bless the United States of America.

God doesn’t care anymore about those people in Washington DC than He does you and me or

the orphaned AIDS child in Africa or the millions of people living throughout this world

who never have heard about Jesus.

Missions

We need to think about worldwide missions because God thinks about all the people in the

world.

He isn’t just concerned about what is going on in America.

He has every hair of every head in this universe numbered!

His love and compassion knows no limit!

Matthew 28:18 ESV And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and

make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of

the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am

with you always, to the end of the age."

Our mission is to make disciples or followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because we believe He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and Savior, it is our desire to

turn people onto Him!

Teach them & fan the fire the Spirit sparks in them!

And do this worldwide!

Christianity Today: Missions Incredible. South Korea sends more missionaries than any

country but the U.S.And it won’t be long before it’s number one.

Samuel Kang was God’s improbable choice to be a leader in the world’s fastest-growing

missionary movement.Kang was born in Japan when the Japanese empire was forcing alien Shinto beliefs down

Korean throats.

At the end of World War II, the Kang family returned to Korea and grew deeply fervent in

their Christian faith.The Kangs dedicated their son Samuel to God,

and they told him, "You will become a preacher."

Kang rebelled. "I did not want to accept my parents’ dedication of me to God without my

consent," he says.

For years, he resisted God’s call.

But by the time he was 20, Samuel’s heart softened, and he felt compelled to give himself

to God.

"No one can escape from his sovereign call," Kang says.

It took another 20 years of discipling and discernment before Kang set foot on a mission

field.

At age 39, Kang and his wife, Sarah (who had discovered her own call to missions work), left

South Korea for Nigeria.

When they departed in 1980, there were only 93 Korean missionaries worldwide.

During the next 11 years, Samuel and Sarah Kang raised a family, planted Nigerian

churches, and started a Bible college for Nigerian preachers.

Kang’s eyes sparkle as he recalls his days in Africa.

"The Lord gave me this wonderful opportunity to serve him," he says.

"If God gives me another life, may I give it to him as a missionary."

Kang doesn’t look backward very often.

Now 64 years old, with silvery hair and a gentle smile, he is leading an ambitious 25-year plan

to help South Korea send out more missionaries than any other country. (Commitment, dedication, passion!)

Kang is chief executive director of the Korean World Mission Association and dean of the

Graduate School of World Mission at Seoul’s influential Chongshin University.

He has helped move South Korean missions into a place never before imagined:

South Korea today sends out more missionaries than any other country except the

United States.In terms of missionaries per congregation, Korea sends one missionary for every 4.2 congregations, which places it 11th in the

world. (The U.S. does not rank in the top 10.)

Kang and the association plan to send 100,000 full-time Korean missionaries by 2030.

Scott Moreau, chair of intercultural studies at Wheaton College (Illinois) said, "The day of Western missionary dominance is over, not

because Western missionaries have died off, but because the rest of the world has caught the vision and is engaged and energized."

God wants us to catch the vision of worldwide missions!

We are to go into ALL the world, not just Buffalo, MO! Not just the USA!

Mark 16:15 ESV And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the

whole creation.Acts 8:4 ESV Now those who were scattered

went about preaching the word.Matthew 10:7 ESV And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.‘

METHODS

Everyone needs a method to their madness, whatever that madness is.

What is it you like or need to do or you are good at doing?

Could be anything, fishing, farming, baking, traveling…

Whatever it is you have a method, a process, a way you want or need to do it so it is done well

& to your satisfaction.

How do we get it all done?There are so many things to do.

Housework, homework, away-from-home-work, schoolwork and church work all demand

our attention.We have got to bring home the bacon, put it on

the table, get the kids to the ballgame, get everything done around the house, spend time together as a family and find time for the Lord

all on the same day.

Help! My Hair Is All Gone!

This probably does not even begin to describe your busy schedule.

In a world full of things that need to be done, where do we go to get some sense of what to

do first?How do we determine our priorities?

Most of us just jump right in and overload ourselves.

As a result we begin to get very nervous. We say to ourselves, "Well, I will just have to try

harder. After all, other people seem to be able to manage all this, so I should be able to do it

too."

The tension which results from this overload seems to correspond directly with the amount

of hair on our heads.The more we overload ourselves, the more we

pull out our hair in frustration.Finally we realize that we just cannot do it all.With this realization comes two choices: We

can go crazy trying to keep up with the unhealthy pace we have set and be grouchy, mean, unsatisfied, unfulfilled and unhappy.

Or, we can prioritize our lives to decide which activities are the most important and thus be

happier, more fulfilled and much more satisfied with the direction we have taken.

Jesus told His disciples to be "wise as serpents." Matthew 10:16 ESV "Behold, I am

sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent

as doves.

How can we become wise?How do we go about the process of organizing

and prioritizing our lives?Here are some suggestions that will help us

get started.Pray. This is the single most important thing

that we do.We need guidance from the Lord, and He has promised to give it to us if we will only ask Him

for it.

We need to be as specific as we can, not for God's sake, but because it will help us to focus on exactly what we need to do and be asking

for.

James 1:5 ESV If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Seek wise counsel. Since we cannot know all that we need to know on every subject, we

need to be searching for counsel from people we know who are wise.

Plan. Without an organized plan, even the noblest of ideas will fizzle out.

Prioritize. Once you have set your goals, decide which parts of your plan need your

attention first.You may find that you need to streamline your

objectives-maybe even cut something out.Matthew 6:33 ESV But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these

things will be added to you.

Act now that you have prayerfully and thoughtfully designed your plan, take action.

Watch as some of your worries seem to disappear and your hair begins to grow back.

There must also be a method to worldwide missions work.

There is translation work, as in the case of John and Marsha Relyea’s work and there is,

of course, dealing with the people on a one-to-one basis, which they also did.

But the basic method of worldwide evangelism or missions is simply this:

1- Someone has to go2- And someone has to send.

We either go or else send someone in our place!

That’s the method of worldwide missions!

Rom 10:14 ESV How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never

heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written,

"How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

Have you decided what you are going to do?

I can hear some of you say, “Hey, it’s too late in the game for me. I’m on the downhill slide,

etc.”Maybe.

Maybe not.

Look at what one organization has done to defeat one disease.

Rotary International has been fighting polio since 1979. In 1988, there were 350,000 polio

cases.

At the end of 2005, there were 1,670 cases worldwide—better than a 99 percent reduction.

There are 1.2 million Rotarians around the world.

Now just imagine what 2 billion Christians might accomplish as one faithful force against

one disease.Imagine the possibilities for proving church-

mocking skeptics wrong.Imagine closed doors opening for the gospel.

Imagine the lives saved.

What are we saying?We can do far more than we think we can!

The Lord’s church can do far more in regard to reaching the lost of this world than she realizes, imagines or is presently doing.

Of every dollar given to a U.S. Protestant church, the average amount that goes to

overseas missions is two cents.

In 1920 the church gave 10 percent of the total offering to missions, compared to today’s 2

percent.(http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2007/06/

what_christians.html)

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR MISSIONARY ZEAL?

The method is: we either go or send someone in our place.

2 Corinthians 5:13 ESV For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ

controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have

died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him

who for their sake died and was raised.

MOTIVATION

If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God.

And we might add for His cause in this world.

We’re talking passion, compassion and love.

Our ultimate motivation.The love of Christ.

Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres, from 1982 to 2001) has been one of the best hitters in major

league baseball.Gwynn has hit .300 or better in 17 major

league seasons.He’s won 8 league batting titles.

He has collected more than 3,000 hits. What the secret of his success?

It’s not a secret to the people who watch him work every day.

Gwynn says, "There’s got to be a passion for it, a love for the game. And I still love it."

San Diego Padres General Manager Kevin Towers said, “I think the key thing is his

passion for the game, a passion for what you do.

Never take anything for granted, keep trying to hone your skills and be better… that’s what

Tony Gwynn is all about.”Tony Gwynn is not the only person who is

passionate about something.

"I’m not a preacher, and I’m not a pastor. But I really feel my career was leading me to make this," Mel Gibson has said in reference to The

Passion of the Christ. "The Holy Spirit was working through me on this film, and I was just directing traffic. I hope the film has the power

to evangelize.“And indeed, God has used Gibson’s "The

Passion of the Christ" to evangelize.

Bob Kraemer of Campus Crusade Canada shares the words of a young Muslim man:

"I was raised as a Muslim by my father.

I was never really fond of the religion.

After seeing The Passion of the Christ and knowing Jesus did so much for me, it opened

my eyes.

It made me wonder if I was worth it.

I think I’m not worth it.

He did so much for us and yet people reject him.

Well not me, because today and till the day I die and so on I’ll always love Him because He saved me and also because He loves me too."

Thank God for those who have a passion for Christ and for the millions who are lost without

Him!Thank God for those who have a passion to do

something about it.

The story is told of General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, and the day

Queen Victoria of England asked to meet with him.

Because she had heard so many favorable things about his work in the slums, she asked

him for the secret of his success.“Your Majesty,” he replied, “Some men have a

passion for money.Some people have a passion for things.

I have a passion for people.”So be it. And may it somehow be with us.

The mission: reach people for Christ.The method: Go or Sent!

Pray, Plan, Prioritize!Go proclaim the gospel, preaching the word,

proclaim as you go, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.‘

Any method is better than no method at all. The motivation: the love of Christ in us.If the love of Christ doesn’t motivate us,

I don’t know what will.