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"Myths About Missions," a message by Dr. Bruce W. Thielman. [Music] Psalm number 22, reading the first and then the 19th and following verses. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

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O Lord, be not far off. O my strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions. Save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my brothers. In the congregation I will praise you.

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You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you descendants of Jacob, honor him. Revere him, all you descendants of Israel. For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help.

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From you comes my praise in the great assembly. Before those who fear you will I fulfill my vow. The poor will eat and be satisfied. They who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations will bow down before him.

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For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship. All who go down to the dust will kneel before him. Those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him.

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Future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn. For he has done it. And may God bless to us and to our understanding.

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This reading from his words. Pray with me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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I would like to begin by expressing my deep appreciation to you for being here tonight. I am always glad when you are here to worship with us. But tonight especially so because I want to talk with you of a matter of great urgency. I want to talk with you of the world mission of the Church.

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And I would like to think in terms of those myths, those misunderstandings, those confusions which concern the world mission of the Church, which ought also to concern us in our thinking of world mission. The first myth is the myth that mission is not a biblical priority.

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I think every Christian, no matter how unsophisticated, knows that we are called to mission in the Bible. Most Christians can quote, for example, the Great Commission. "Go ye into all the world and make disciples of all nations." At the same time, most Christians are not aware of the fact that the two greatest imperatives of the scriptures are these.

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First, to know Christ as Lord and Savior. And second, to tell others about him. That second priority is the mission priority. There are religions on the face of the earth that are inward-looking, that are essentially self-centered.

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The Christian faith is not one of those. It never focuses upon the center. It always focuses upon the circumference. Pascal, the great philosopher, said on one occasion that it was the pathetic fate of God to perpetually be misunderstood.

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Surely God's mission priority has been misunderstood by the children of men. God said to his people, "Scatter." And they got together and built a tower at Babel. They did not go out into all the world.

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They tried to go up toward God. God said to his son Abraham, "I will bless you, and you in turn will be a blessing to all the earth." This is the first appearance of the Great Commission in scripture. But Abraham and his descendants did not go into all the world.

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Instead, they focused upon themselves and upon their own believing. Again and again in the Old Testament, in Genesis, Exodus, in Numbers and Deuteronomy, in 2 Chronicles and Psalms and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Zechariah and Malachi, in all of these books, the mission imperative is sounded.

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But the Old Testament church missed the message. They were willing to go into all the world to gather the materials necessary to build the temple, focusing, you see, on the center of their faith. But they were not willing to go into all the world to proclaim the good news of God.

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The catholicity of the magnificent purpose of God was lost in the conservative parochialism of his people. The classic example of this, of course, was the prophet Jonah. Told to go and announce the gospel to the people of Nineveh, he says simply, "No." And that's the Old Testament story in the face of the mission imperative, consistent refusal.

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And then came Jesus, that man of the circumference. It's interesting to think of the fact that God only had one son, and that one son was a missionary. When he came, men came from the east to worship him. Toward the end of his life, Greeks came from the west, saying, "Sir, we would see Jesus."

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He drew people from the four corners of the earth. He ministered not only to Israel, but also to Tyre and to Sidon. His words were as much as the Gentiles as they were for the Jews. On his cross, the inscription was written in the principal languages of the world.

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And he consistently said to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world." This was so central to his ministry, that at the end of his life, he announced to his people, "It is expedient to you that I go away." And then he ascended to his father.

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Why was it expedient to us that Christ should go away? Because if Christ were still with us in the flesh, we would be centering always on his presence. Every ship, every plane, every railroad train, every automobile, every road would lead toward Jesus. But we are called in our faith never to the center, but always to the circumference.

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Jesus says, "I go that you may go into all the world." But the New Testament church didn't grasp this. So many read the New Testament and fail to understand it. We applaud, for example, the ministry and the work of Peter.

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Yet Peter was essentially a failure. Peter is the New Testament Jonah. God comes to him in a vision. He shows him a sheet with animals representing all the peoples of the earth.

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And he says to Peter, "Eat from these animals." That is, "Go out into all the world and proclaim my gospel. Let nothing be foreign to you, nothing be separated from you." And Peter, recognizing that this vision is of the Lord, says to the Lord, "No. No."

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Isn't it a great tragedy that the greatest missionary of the New Testament was not one of the disciples, but the Apostle Paul? That the second greatest missionary of the New Testament was not one of the disciples, but Barnabas? Once again, you see, the core group at the very center of the faith didn't understand. And what was true in the Old Testament and what is true in the New Testament is true today as well.

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The world's Christians spend more money every year on chewing gum than they do on the proclamation of the good news of God in Jesus Christ. Here in this country, for example, American Christians send $315 million a year to various television ministries. Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, Robert Shuler, Oral Roberts, Rex Humbard, The 700 Club, PTL. $315 million a year.

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For those $315 million a year, they support three congregations, five colleges, and one hospital. And only 5% of what is sent to those broadcasts goes into the world mission of Jesus Christ. And all the rest of those millions is spent for radio and television time. More focus, you see, on ourselves. More ministry for ourselves. More aiming at the center instead of at the circumference.

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Let me bring it home to you very personally. Just ask yourself this question. How does the amount of money that you've spent this year for Christian record albums stack up against the amount of money you've given to send the gospel around the world? What was evident in the Old Testament is equally evident in the New Testament. In the book of the Acts, in all the letters of Paul, in Hebrews, in James, in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, in 1st and 2nd Peter, in Jude, and in Revelation, the great prophetic book of the New Testament,

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in all of these, the mission priority is announced. Revelation says, "Let people of every race and tribe and kindred come before his throne singing, 'Salvation is of the Lord.'" I don't see how anyone can believe the myth that mission is not central to the biblical priority. We are called as God's people to the circumference. The second myth I would ask you to notice is the myth that the mission task is largely completed.

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Now, I've never heard any Christian argue that everyone in the world is a Christian, but I have heard many suggest that because the seeds of the gospel have been sown in various nations, it is really not essential for us to go anymore to those nations. If we will just allow those seeds to grow, the mission will be carried on.

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And one can see how people arrive at this mistaken idea. The Christian church has multiplied 83 million times since 31 AD. No institution in history can equal that growth record. More people have been brought to Christ in the 20th century than in any of the preceding centuries.

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There are tonight 1,261,000,000 Christians. That's almost more than twice as many as believe in any other faith system. There are 206,000 missionaries moving about the world tonight. 54,000 Protestant missionaries, 152,000 Roman Catholic missionaries.

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And great things are happening on the mission field. In Korea, for example, in 1966, 11% of the people were Christian. Today, 30% of the people are Christian. Presbyterianism started in Scotland, but the largest Presbyterian congregation in the world is in Korea.

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Methodism started in England, but the largest Methodist congregation in the world is in Korea. The Assemblies of God started here in the United States, but the largest Assembly of God congregation in the world is in Korea. And more than one-third of the Korean churches have sent out missionaries,

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incidentally most of those missionaries going to Saudi Arabia. Or go with me behind the Iron Curtain. In 1945 in Romania, for example, there were 30,000 Baptists. Then the curtain came down.

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Today, there are 164,000 Baptists. Or look at Africa. In Europe, it took a thousand years to make 30 million Christians. In Africa, we're making 30 million Christians every 20 years.

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In 1900, there were 4 million Christians in Africa. Today, there are almost 300 million. The Church is growing at a rate of 16,000 per day on the African continent. Now in the face of figures like that, impressive and thrilling as they are,

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it is, I suppose, easy to suggest that the mission task is largely completed. But that's a myth. It is not true. The fact of the matter is that though the Christian Church is growing at the rate of 100,000 a day, the world's population is growing at a rate of 243,000 a day.

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And that means we are falling 143,000 more behind every 24 hours. And I have yet to say anything of the hidden people of the world. The hidden people of the world are the people who have never heard of Jesus Christ. There are billions of them.

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For example, there are 574 million people in what we call the Hindu world. Out of that number, 8 million are committed, dynamic Christians. It is estimated that those 8 million will be able to win 50 million more. There are 12 million nominal Christians who are not effective in witnessing.

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But there are 504 million people in the Hindu world who will never hear anything that any converted Hindu has to say. Why? Because most of the Christians in the Hindu world come from the lower classes

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and from castes which were previously considered to be untouchable. And most Hindus will not listen to anything that those people have to say. The only ones who can reach those Hindus are people from the outside. We have a similar situation here in the United States.

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Who do you think is doing the most effective evangelistic work in Harlem? Do you think it is white preachers? No, no. In Harlem, they're called honkeys. Do you think it is black American preachers? Oh, no.

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They are considered in Harlem to be the tools of the white man. They're called Uncle Toms. The most effective missionary agents in Harlem are Nigerians, free black men and women who have come from a free black nation

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to announce the gospel freely to all those who need to hear. An outsider can do what an insider cannot do. In Japan, only 1% of the people are Christian, but most of those people live in the big cities.

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And there are thousands of small villages in Japan that have never heard the word of the gospel. In Thailand, there are 991 Buddhists for every one Christian, and most of those Buddhists have never heard the name of Jesus.

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The Church is strong in Burma. It's been there for 160 years, but it's strong exclusively amongst the tribal people. And the 28 million Buddhist people who live there

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will have nothing to do with those tribal people. And so those Buddhists have never heard the name of Jesus. There are 200 million animus in the world. They speak more than 2,500 different languages.

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2,000 of those languages have never been written down. In other words, there's no one in the world who can go and speak to those people in their own language about the Lord Jesus Christ.

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There are 1,000 missionaries working tonight in Brazil, almost all of them amongst upper-income people. They're not reaching the slums and the masses. And tonight, 2 million orphaned children

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will sleep on the streets of Brazil without any meaningful mission outreach to them. The most spoken language in the world today is Mandarin Chinese. 900 million people speak it.

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But very, very few who are not Chinese have ever learned that language. And the vast majority of those 900 million have never even heard the name of Jesus.

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In the Muslim world, there are 720 million people, and only 500 missionaries go into it. Here it is in a nutshell. If you had a stadium that seated 50,000 people

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and you filled it every day and had evangelists preaching in it every day for 165 years, then and only then will everyone on the face of the earth tonight who hasn't heard the name of Jesus hear it.

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They'll hear it only once, but they'll hear it. And that does not take into account all those millions who would be born across that 165 years. The task of mission is largely completed? Oh, no.

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The vast majority of the world's people haven't heard the word and will not hear the word from within their societies. Why? Because they have more sin than we do? No.

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Because they are less deserving than we are? No. It's only because no one has ever gone to tell them. The third myth I would ask you to think about is the myth that mission is no longer dangerous and challenging.

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You know, when you mention mission, most people think of it in terms of the mystique, that is, in terms of the romance of mission. There is a suggestion that all of the excitement

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has gone out of the world of mission. That's a myth. As a matter of fact, more Christians have died for what they believed in the 20th century

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than in any of the previous 19th century. And when the history of the Church is written sometime down in the future, this 20th century of ours will be known as

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the century of the Christian martyrs. Let me give you just one illustration of that. Chester Bitterman was a young man who went to Columbia for the Wycliffe Bible Translator

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to bring the gospel to Indians there in their own language. He was kidnapped in January of last year by a group of Marxist terrorists. They made certain non-negotiable demands

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to the Columbian government, which the Columbian government refused to fulfill. The whole world prayed for Chet Bitterman. One Tuesday morning, his bullet-riddled body

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was found wrapped in the Columbian flag. In the experience of Chet Bitterman, we see the danger and the peril of mission today. Notice first, he was killed by Marxist terrorists.

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The Communists are diametrically opposed to the proclamation of the gospel. Douglas Hyde, a former Communist, he was for 20 years the editor of the Daily Worker,

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the Communist newspaper in London. He is now a convert to Christianity, a faithful Roman Catholic Christian. Douglas Hyde says that all young Communists

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are taught to have a worldwide vision. And mind you, half of the world's Communists are less than 15 years of age. They are taught to see the whole world

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as their battlefield. They are called to the task of being ready as soldiers of the Marxist gospel to go anywhere at any time to advance their cause.

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And they are taught that their cause is to stand with the have-nots against the have, to join the underdogs against the fat cats, the underprivileged against the overprivileged.

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They are given a vision of winning the whole world for Leninism. The other day I heard one of our campus personalities say, that we should not give anything that we have produced

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in America to poor countries. After all, we earned it, it's ours, and we ought to keep it. Now aside from the smug and arrogant selfishness of that,

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I would submit to you that there's nothing anyone could say that would delight the heart of a Communist more. That's exactly the attitude that they want us to have. That's exactly the attitude that they want the rest of the world

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to see in us. The Marxist terrorists don't kill smug, satisfied Christians that sit at home. They kill the ones who go out into the world,

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like Chet Bitterman, in a ministry of compassion and caring. But it's interesting to notice that one of the other factors in the death of Chet Bitterman

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were the activities of a team of British anthropologists. They came to Colombia, and they asked the missionaries there to gain them interest into certain Indian tribes

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in order that they might photograph them in the primitive states, and the missionaries helped them accomplish this goal. But then these British anthropologists took these films and edited them in such a way

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that the missionaries were made to look like cultural imperialists, like those who were trying to dominate the Indians for the sake of Western society. And the movie that these anthropologists produced,

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called The War of the Gods, was shown all over Colombia, and the group that killed Chet Bitterman was in part motivated by that film.

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Now the fact of the matter is that missionaries are not cultural imperialists, that they in fact know the primitive tribes in the primitive states and protect them there

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more than anybody else in the world. That's the reason the anthropologists went to the missionaries in the first place. The missionaries are trusted.

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They can go in where nobody else can go in. Also it's interesting that these anthropologists, who were so quick to attack these missionaries, never say one word about the Japanese or the African

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or the Indian businessmen who are spreading Western culture more rapidly in the world today than even we are here in America. If you go into a hut in Africa and find a radio,

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it's not because a missionary left it there. It's because a Pakistani businessman sold it there. You can go into tribes on the face of this earth today and find in those tribal situations

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Sanyo transistors or Tiger brand flashlight batteries which come from China. They've been sold in those tribes by Chinese businessmen. No missionary has ever been to those tribes yet.

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The agents of business in the world today outnumber the missionary force 1,000 to 1. And more than that, what right do these anthropologists have to say to a tribe

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that it cannot choose Western culture if it wishes, or any culture that it chooses? Because these people are primitive, does that mean they are to be given no options to advance themselves,

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and do they not have the right to choose for themselves? Obviously, many of these tribes opt for Jesus Christ. We're starting 1,600 new churches every week in Africa today. Many are deciding for Christ.

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Jeff Bitterman went out, not as an imperialist, but as a servant to offer to these people whatever they wanted in the name of Jesus. These anthropologists would keep them as they are,

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a kind of primitive, sick, diseased, fearful, superstitious living laboratory, not for their benefit, but for the benefit of science. You know, before Jeff Bitterman went out to the mission field, he was asked, "What if you lose your life there?"

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And he replied, "I've already lost my life. I gave it to Jesus Christ. I am dead, Jesus. It is Christ who lives in me."

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Bitterman understood, you see, that Jesus Christ and the Church will always have enemies. The Church, you see, is a living organism. Every living organism is preyed upon by other living organisms.

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There are enough lethal bacteria in your body tonight to kill you within 24 hours. But there are certain defense mechanisms in your body which protect you. The defense mechanism, if you will, of the Christian Church is the present power of the Holy Spirit

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that stands against unbelief and false beliefs and complacency and pride and fear. And standing at the center of the Church says, in the name of the Jesus who said it first, "Go ye into all the world."

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And the romance and the danger and the peril of that going, the opportunity to be a hero or a heroine for Christ, is greater today than it has ever been before. And I have one last myth to mention to you, and then I'm done.

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And that's the myth that missions are not for you. There are certain people across the history of the Church that are called "gap people." John Chrysostom, for example, bridged the gap between God and the Goths of the Balkan lands. St. Patrick, for example, bridged the gap between God and the Celts of Ireland.

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Pope Gregory the Great bridged the gap between God and our ancestors, at least the ancestors of most of us in middle European nations. Before Gregory and his missionaries got there, our ancestors were painting their faces blue and eating one another in cannibalism.

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St. Francis and his little brothers and sisters of the poor, they bridged the gap to the poor and suffering all around the world. Bartholomew Lascaux, he bridged the gap to the Indians of South America. Count Dinsendorf and his followers, the Moravians,

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they bridged the gap to North America and to South America and to India. William Carey, the founder of the modern mission movement, he bridged the gap between God and India and translated the scriptures into 30 different languages.

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Hudson Taylor bridged the gap to China, and he was the one who sparked the student volunteer mission movement. That was in a day when there was only one-thirty-seventh as many college students as there are today. But in response to that movement,

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100,000 college students committed themselves to mission. 20,000 went to the foreign field, and 80,000 raised the support for the 20,000 who were in the front lines. Now, the reason I mention these gap people is this.

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Almost every one of them was under 30 years of age. Mission has always been, in a special way, the province of the young. So what about you? Many times I'm asked by young people on this campus why it is that their faith does not have more excitement or thrill.

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They read the Bible, they are faithful in prayer, they are part of a fellowship group, they are involved in some kind of stewardship commitment, and yet their faith lacks power and it lacks authority. Why? Most often, it's because they haven't learned

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that the basic principle of the Christian faith is giving what you've gotten away. And the more you give away, and the broader the field into which you give it, the more deep and vital and powerful your faith is going to be. The person in the wheelchair, who moves about only a little, will have a certain degree of health.

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The individual who walks his dog a mile and a half every day will probably have more health. The person who jogs five miles every 24 hours, that person will be the healthiest of all. The more you see, the muscles are stretched, the more discipline that is demanded, the greater the health.

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Now, it's just so in the spiritual realm. If you are focused only upon yourself, your little fellowship group, your little record collection, your little Bible study, then your faith will be as dull and weak and meaningless as those things can be.

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But if you've got a vision that's as big as the whole world, if you understand that the Spirit of God just might be calling you to the foreign field, and if you wrestle with that issue, I mean honestly, wrestle with that issue, that stretches faith, that builds faith.

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The question is not, "Have you accepted Christ as Lord?" I know you have. The question is, "Have you wrestled with the fact? Have you accepted his great commission?" Do you have a map of the world on which you keep track of the movements of the faith? Not a map, incidentally, with the United States at the center.

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Have you read any key books on missions today? Do you regularly read any of the excellent mission periodicals that are available? Do you read any of the secular periodicals that have a worldwide perspective? Have you ever taken a course in world mission?

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Have you ever been to a missionary conference? Do you take every opportunity you get to see and hear and talk to mission servants of the church? Do you talk to international Christian students to learn what is happening for the gospel's sake in their country? If you've had the opportunity to travel, have you investigated mission enterprises where you have gone?

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Oh, I know the reasons that are given to avoid these things. "My church," some will say, "well, just doesn't send out as many missionaries as it used to. Not as much money available." "Praise to the God of silver and gold." "I've never yet known a person who wanted to go to the field and whom God wanted to go to the field, who did not find that the funds became available."

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Or some say, "Well, my friends tell me that I'm too good to waste myself on the mission field, to lose myself out there." "I should remain here where I can be more productive." Do you mean to say that we are to send the stupid to wrestle with the subtleties of Hindu doctrine? Isn't it true that the most ignorant student demands the most excellent teacher?

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If Christ wasn't too good to come to the earth, then how can you be too good to go anywhere? "Well, my friends tell me that my health isn't good enough. My emotional control is not sufficient." "My spiritual maturity is not great enough." Those are serious concerns. If you can build up your health, you can build up your emotional strength.

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And if you're spiritually immature and your friends are telling you that, then halt! The scriptures teach that it is God's purpose to bring every man into full maturity in Christ. And if you're not mature and growing in maturity, then stop whatever else you're doing and focus on that for your very soul's sake. The question is not what your friends say to you. The question is what sayeth the Lord.

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"Well, my parents would not support me if I said I was going to the mission field." That's a tough one. Admittedly, the scriptures say, "Obey your parents." But the scriptures also say, "Obey your parents in the Lord." Notice how Jesus dealt with his mother and his family when they protested what he was doing.

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You can study that in Matthew 10 or in Matthew 12. Most young people whose parents oppose their going to the mission field discover when they enter into mission commitment there is such a new power flowing through their lives that their parents see this, recognize this, and come to the place where they support them in it. But suppose the parents don't. Suppose they oppose it all along the line.

00:40:58.400 - 00:41:38.400

That in itself is bad, that any parent should stand between their daughter or their son and her or his obedience to the Holy Spirit. That's bad. But what's worse is for the son or daughter to know that that is happening and to surrender to it. As I said, "Well, the one I love doesn't want to go to the mission field with me. I'm going to marry her and she won't go. I'm going to marry him and he won't go." Usually that problem arises from lack of honesty.

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You see, in any serious relationship, if you're really called and committed to the mission field, that ought to be right up front. Whenever you start dating anyone, that ought to be right up front. They ought to know that from the very beginning. And if they're not willing to consider that as they consider you, then that relationship should come to an end immediately. Then, when it is concealed, the difficulties are magnified. And you may come to the place where William Carey, the founder of modern missions, was. The woman he loved would not go to the field with him.

00:42:12.400 - 00:43:27.400

And so finally he had to say to her, "Go, I must, or guilt will rest upon my soul." I don't want to be glib or easy or simplistic about this, but my experience has been that when someone genuinely searches out God's will for their life, and God says, "It's your comfort," he provides whatever is necessary to go there. On the cross, Jesus prayed three prayers. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." But one more. The words, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" are the opening words of the 22nd Psalm. That psalm was known to all of the Jews of that day.

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If I say to you four score and seven years ago, you know what I'm talking about. Just so, when Jesus said, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" In that moment, every Jew who heard those words knew what was on the Master's mind. He was praying that the whole world would come to his Father. From the agony of the cross, Jesus was praying for the world's mission enterprise of the faith. For that 22nd Psalm concludes with these words, "That all the ends of the earth shall bow to the Lord, that all the families of the nation shall worship him, that all dominion belongs to the Lord. Proclaim him," that psalm says, "even to those yet unborn." That's what Jesus asked for from the cross. If you respond by giving yourself to the mission enterprise, you're responding to Jesus' dying prayer.

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You're giving yourself to the one who gave himself for you. Which is what helped me understand the greatest missionary sermon I ever heard. It lasted 30 seconds. It was preached by my most honored professor, Dr. James Kelso. He got up in the seminary chapel one day and he said, "I'm going to preach to you about mission. My sermon has three points, and when it is done, I shall sit down." I will now repeat his sermon to you. Point one, be a missionary. Point two, if you cannot be a missionary, then support mission sacrificially.

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Point three, if you cannot be a missionary, and you cannot support mission sacrificially, then get converted. You do not yet know Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior. [silence]