*below are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

 

Move > Far | Psalm 67:1-2

 

Do you have any moxie?

• Determination
• Nerve
• Confidence
• Courage
• Bravery
• Boldness
• Grit
• Guts
• Spunk

John was born on a farm in Scotland.

He was the oldest of 11 kids.

John’s dad manufactured stockings and from the age of 12 John learned the stocking trade and spent 14 hours a day working in his dad’s shop.

He had two hours a day that he could quit working and eat, and he spent that time studying. 

When he was about 15 years old, a story broke about two men connected to a London society that were killed on an island about 1,200 miles northeast of Brisbane, Australia. 

Those men, James Harris and John Williams, went specifically and strategically to that island to tell people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

They were killed on November 20 just minutes after they landed on the island. 

And they were killed by cannibals.

Why did James Harris and John Williams go to those islands?

• They had moxie!
• They were courageous!
• They were brave!
• They surrendered all, with joy, to Jesus!

19 years later that Scottish farm boy, John Paton, got married and two weeks after his wedding he and his new bride moved to those same islands to go and tell people about Jesus.

In his journal he wrote about how a respected elder named Mr. Dickson said this to him about why he shouldn’t go:

Mr. Dickson

The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!

How did John Paton respond to him?

John Paton

Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms;

John Paton

I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms;

John Paton

and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.

How was John Paton able to say something like that?

• He had moxie!
• He was brave!
• He was courageous!
• He surrendered all, with joy, to Jesus!

He had another church leader tell him that he didn’t need to go to the land of the cannibals because he was doing such a great job in ministry where he was. 

John Paton

The opposition was so strong from nearly all, and many of them warm Christian friends, that I was sorely tempted to question whether I was carrying out the Divine will, or only some headstrong wish of my own.

John Paton

This also caused me much anxiety and drove me close to God in prayer.

Did you catch that?

His anxiety drove him close to God.

He was in the middle of a defining decision about moving halfway across the world with his brand-new bride and it drove him to God. 

Keeping in line with our last two sermons, John Paton was moving.

• He was moving up
• He was moving in

And that kind of moving stirred him to move…far.

Why?

What made him move far?

God called him to move far. 

How did God call him to move far?

The same way God is calling you to move far.

Does that make you a little nervous?

Good, then you are right where you need to be.

Listen to the words of Psalm 67:

King David is writing a song and says:

1 God be gracious to us

Have you ever been miserable about something you did wrong?

Have you ever done something wrong and you knew it was wrong and you knew there would be consequences and you were longing and hoping the whole way home that your parents might show you some mercy?

You knew you didn’t really deserve any mercy, but you were hoping you would get it all the same because you really were miserable on the inside?

We’ve all been there with our parents or with a teacher or with a coach or with a friend or with someone.

We know what it means to long for mercy. 

Mercy is undeserved favor for the misery of sin. 

David starts his song off:

“God, be gracious and give us some mercy for our misery.”

We know how to pray like that.

What does he say next?

1 God be gracious to us and bless us,

We are good with that part too, right?

We like a blessing!

• The blessing of good health
• The blessing of a good family
• The blessing of a good job
• The blessing of a good house
• The blessing of a good test score
• The blessing of a good game
• The blessing of good friends
• The blessing of a good tax return
• The blessing of a good car
• The blessing of good kids
• The blessing of good grandkids
• The blessing of a good church

We all like some mercy and we all like a blessing. 

We like to be blessed and happy. 

What does David pray and sing next?

1 God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us

Yes – three for three!

• We like the idea of getting mercy
• We like the idea of getting blessed
• We like the idea of the face of God shining on us

Forgive me for oversimplifying this, but would you rather have someone smile at you or scowl at you?

Philosopher James Vernon Taylor wrote:

James Taylor

Whenever I see your smiling face

I have to smile myself

Because I love you, yes, I do

And Philosopher Barry Alan Pincus takes it a step further when he says:

Barry Manilow

You know I can't smile without you

I can't smile without you

I can't laugh and I can't sing

I'm finding it hard to do anything

• Mercy
• Blessing
• The shining, smiling face of favor from God

Only the meanest and most militant atheist might say that they don’t like any of those things. 

And how has God been most gracious and merciful to you?

What is the greatest blessing God has ever given you?

How has God shined his favor on you more than any other way?

This is how the Apostle Paul said it:

Romans 5:6

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

• Helpless
• Hopeless
• Powerless
• Defenseless
• Ruined
• Destitute
• Ungodly
• Undone
• Unsaved

That’s who you are without Christ.

You cannot pull yourself up by your bootstraps into heaven.

You cannot serve the needs of the poor into heaven.

You cannot Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian or Lutheran or non-denominational yourself into heaven. 

Without Christ you are dead in your sin and completely helpless to save yourself and make yourself right with God.

And at just the right time in history, about 1,000 years after the death of King David, Jesus died to make a way for your story to change. 

He made a way for you to go from:

• Ruin to rescued
• Destitute to delight
• Lost to loved

Someone might say:

• “I don’t even believe in Jesus.”
• “I don’t need to be rescued.”
• “I don’t need to be blessed.”
• “I’m fine all by myself.”
• “I don’t need your religion.”
• “I don’t need God.”

Please don’t underestimate the words “helpless” and “ungodly”.

You can try to ignore them or deny them or suppress them, but those two words apply to all of humanity. 

Charles Spurgeon

In this verse the human race is described as a sick man, whose disease is so far advanced that he is altogether without strength: no power remains in his system to throw off his mortal malady,

Charles Spurgeon

nor does he desire to do so; he could not save himself from his disease if he would, and would not if he could.

The state of a soul that is separated from God is soaked in helpless, hopeless, escapeless misery and death.

So, is there any good news?

Yes, Christ died for ungodly, separated, helpless souls!

John MacArthur

When we were powerless to escape from our sin, powerless to escape death, powerless to resist Satan, and powerless to please Him in any way, God amazingly sent His Son to die on our behalf.

At just the right moment in history, before you were even born, God was merciful to you and God blessed you and God caused his face to shine upon you because Jesus substituted himself to satisfy the sin-filled, justified reality that you fall short of the glory of God.

Charles Spurgeon

You will say, “Oh, I am one of the worst in the world.” Christ died for the worst in the world. “Oh, but I have no power to be better.” Christ died for those that were without strength.

Charles Spurgeon

“Oh, but my case condemns itself.” Christ died for those that legally are condemned. “Ay, but my case is hopeless.” Christ died for the hopeless. He is the hope of the hopeless. He is the Savior not of those partly lost, but of the wholly lost.

Charles Spurgeon

I would not mind if I were condemned to live fifty years more and never allowed to speak but these five words, if I might be allowed to utter them in the ear of every man, woman, and child who lives.

Charles Spurgeon

“Christ Died for the Ungodly” is the best message that even angels could bring to men.

• Jesus is the greatest mercy!
• Jesus is the greatest blessing!
• Jesus is the most radiant shining of the face of God ever!

If your heart is honestly telling you today that you are still ungodly and helpless and lost, then we plead with you to come to Jesus today and be saved!

David adds one more little word at the end of his sentence:

1 God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us – Selah.

“Selah” was kind of like a musical pause.

It’s like David is saying:

“Okay, we just asked God to be merciful to us and bless us and shine his face on us and that is great stuff, so let’s marinate on that for a moment to prepare us for grabbing this next part.”

So, let’s do that – let’s pause and let those words sink in.

1 God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us – Selah.

Let’s break it down and repeat after me:

1 God be gracious to us

1 and bless us,

1 And cause His face to shine upon us

Why do you think David threw that “Selah” in there?

Why do we need to pause and soak that first part up a little bit?

Well, notice that we say “us” 3 times.

So, this is a prayer and a song that starts off with us asking God to do things for us.

John Daniel Jones (pastor)

It is right to begin where this prayer begins – at home; it is not right to finish there.

John Daniel Jones (pastor)

I pity the man who in his prayers never gets beyond “God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us”; for he has simply not learned the elements of prayer.

John Daniel Jones (pastor)

For that is a marred prayer, a narrow prayer, and a selfish prayer. And whatever Christianity is or is not, it is the very antithesis of selfishness.

So, the first part is super fantastic, but we have to move on. 

We can’t stay there. 

We have to move up and move in and keep moving. 

Where?

Where do we go after the pause?

• Why is God gracious to us?
• Why does God bless us?
• Why does God cause his face to shine on us?

2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.

Don’t miss that:

God blesses you so that you will move.

Move where?

Move far.

What does that mean?

Moving far means that at just the right time Christ died for the ungodly so that the ungodly could be and would be saved and that those who were formerly ungodly would make sure that those who are still ungodly would see and hear and discover that there is a way to be saved and get mercy for their ungodly misery. 

Moving far means that if you are a Christian and the only people you are trying to reach are the people that might show up at this building on Sunday then you are not functioning as a Christian. 

Moving far means that if you are a Christian you have been called to be on mission – what kind of mission?

Does moving far mean that you need to go on a mission trip?

Sure, it can mean that.

Does moving far mean that you need to give money for other people to go on mission trips or even support someone who goes and lives as a missionary in another country?

Sure, it can mean that. 

Does moving far mean that you should quit your job and move to an island of cannibals so that they can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Sure, that’s exactly what it might mean for you. 

But make no mistake, if you are a Christian, you have been specifically blessed so that all nations might know about the salvation of our God. 

What does David mean by “all nations”?

He’s not talking about political nations.

He’s talking about people groups. 

More strategically, his words are pointing toward unreached people groups. 

What is an unreached people group?

We could say that it is a group of people that are the same ethnically or culturally or have the same language and no one in their group is a Christian or there is not a gospel church in their people group.

Can you even imagine Cayce/West Columbia without churches?

An unreached people group does not have the gospel in their community. 

Either they have never heard of Jesus or there has only been a very limited exposure to anything about Jesus. 

Generally speaking, there are about 7,000 unreached people groups – groups of people in different parts of the world that have not heard the best message angels could bring.

They have never heard that Christ died for the ungodly.

I read something the other day that said the spread of the gospel is like a waffle more than like a pancake. 

You can’t just pour the gospel out and it easily spreads all over the world like syrup on a pancake – the spread of the gospel is more like a waffle.

Like a waffle there are places in the world that have little walls of language or walls of cultural or ethnic differences. 

And it takes unique and strategic effort to get the gospel into the next square of the waffle.

That’s why our church supports the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for world missions (we surpassed our goal this year).

That’s why we financially invest in what is known as the Cooperative Program so that pastors and missionaries and mission agencies can be trained and sent out all over the waffle. 

That’s why we are sending a group of folks to Guatemala this summer (by the way there is only one spot left).

That’s they we preach sermons that press us to move far.

But let me press us a little more:

John Piper

…if God blesses his people for the sake of the nations; then God is most likely to bless us when we are planning and longing and praying to bless the nations.

John Piper

If God wants his goods to get to the nations, then he will fill the truck that’s driving toward the nations. He will bless the church that’s pouring itself out for unreached peoples of the world.

John Piper

When we move toward the unreached peoples, we are not earning God’s blessings, we are leaping into the river of blessings that is already flowing to the nations.

I could probably preach months on Psalm 67, but this is just one sermon, so, let me just offer this simple challenge to our church:

• We need to get our truck ready for God to fill
• We need to leap into the river that is already flowing

Someone will say:

“We got plenty of missions to do right here in our community.”

Yes, we do and we will talk about that a little more in next week’s sermon called “Move>Near”.

But today please understand that Jesus himself declared in Acts chapter 1 that God has not blessed us only for Holland Avenue and Cayce and the United States.

Thinking like that is the opposite of Christianity.

So, let’s pray that God will help us get our truck ready and let’s pray that we will look for how we can dive into the river that is already flowing to the nations. 

And why should we?

This is what Jesus said:

Matthew 24:14

This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Jesus is coming again!

And if we claim to be one of his followers than we must be engaged in preaching the gospel to all nations.

What does that look like in real life?

The story is told of Bible professor Howard Hendricks once being stuck on a long delay on an American Airlines flight.

Due to the delay and other circumstances one of the passenger’s got difficult and unruly with one of the flight attendants, but she never lost her cool. 

She continued to be kind and patient and helpful to the passenger even though he continued to be a jerk.

When he was deboarding the plane, Hendricks asked the flight attendant for her name because he wanted to write a letter to the airline to let them know what a fantastic employee they had. 

The flight attendant responded:

“I appreciate that, sir, but that won’t be necessary because I don’t work for American Airlines. I work for Jesus Christ, I’m just here on assignment at American.”

She had some moxie!

If you are a Christian, your life is not your own.

With joy and excitement and determination you are here to make much of Jesus Christ across the whole waffle of the world – near and far.

And just one more word of challenge and encouragement when it comes to the call on my life and your life to move far to all people groups.

Friend, there is no doubt that our nation and our world are in a state of moral and spiritual crisis.

But can I just say in memory of John Paton and James Harris and John Williams and can I also just say in the unique possibility that one of our very own teenagers in this church might be the one to take the gospel to the very last unreached people group and trigger the return of Christ that although the country may seem like it is broken and falling apart, the kingdom of God is alive and well!

The kingdom of God does not need to be made great again, because it has always been great and will always be great because our King has never left his throne!

So, let us live and breathe and think and talk and act with the moxie of the gospel!

And let us move far because our God reigns and Jesus is coming again, and his kingdom is forever!

Dow Welsh | February 24, 2019 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

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Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

 

So do you have any moxie? Moxie. You know, determination, courage, bravery, got any guts and grit, and he spunk in you. John was born on a farm in Scotland. He was the oldest of eleven kids. His father manufactured stockings. And so John, from the age of twelve learned the stocking job, and he worked in his father's shop fourteen hours a day. He had two hours, all for he could go and eat, but he used those two hours to study. John was pretty serious. When John was about fifteen years old, a story broke about two men connected to a London society that had been killed on an island about twelve hundred miles northeast of Brisbane, Australia. Those two men, James Harris and John Williams, went to that island strategically and specifically to tell the people on that island the good news. The great news about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's why they went. They were killed on November twentieth, minutes after they landed on the island, and they were killed by cannibals. What is it about James Harrison? John William is Why did they go to those islands? They had moxie. They had courage. They had bravery. They woke up every morning and said, I surrender. Oh, all to the my blessed savior, I surrender. Nineteen years later, that Scottish farm boy John Patton got married two weeks after he got married, he took his new bride and they went and lived among the exact same islands. There isn't respected Elder that was encouraged him why he should not go. His name was Mr Dixon. And this is what Patton wrote in his journal that Mr Dickson said to him, The cannibals, you will be eaten by cannibals. So he said, Don't go. So how did John Patten respond to him? Is what patent said? Mr Dixon? You are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave there to be eaten by worms. I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I'm eaten by cannibals or by worms. And in the great day, my resurrection body will rise. This fair is yours and the likeness of our risen redeemer. How the world can John Patten respond like that? Well, he can respond like that because he had some moxie. He had courage. He had bravery. He woke up every morning and said, I surrender all all TV, My blessed savior. I surrender. Oh, Mr Dixon wasn't the only one who challenged him that he shouldn't go. He had other folks that would challenge him for a lot of other reasons. One of the other church leaders said to him that he shouldn't go because his ministry was so good where Iwas things were selling. It's going so great where he wass Patton wrote this in his journal. The opposition was so strong from nearly all and many of them warm Christian friends that I was sorely tempted to question whether I was carrying out the divine will are on ly some headstrong wish of my own. And he said this. This also calls me much anxiety and drove me close to God. It's great Christian St I don't go and it created anxiety in him. But but notice what he says. It drove him close to God. He's in the middle of a defining decision that's going to take him halfway around the world. He's struggling with it. There's some anxiety, and all of that drove him closer to God. And keeping in line with our sermon. Siri's. John Patten. Boy, he was he was moving. He was moving up. He was moving in and moving up and moving in stirred him to move far to move far. Why? Well, why was he stirred to move far? Well, he was stirred to move far because God called him to move far. And how did God call him to move far? He called him to move far in the exact same way that he's calling you to move far. Yeah, I didn't stutter and your ears didn't flap. God is calling you to move far. Make a little nervous. Great. You're exactly where you need to be. Listen to some sixty seven. First one. God, be gracious to us. Have you ever been miserable about something? I mean, miserable, Like like you knew you did something wrong, and you were miserable over it. In your own your way home and men, you're really hoping that your parents are going to show you some mercy? You don't deserve that, Mercer. You know you don't deserve that mercy. You know, in the moment that you deserve whatever it is that's coming to you. But, boy, you are so miserable on the inside. You're hoping that mercy is coming. Mercy from a biblical standpoint is is undeserved grace and favour for sin. So David begins his mama's and okay, what you would you be gracious to us which you show us mercy which you help us with the misery of arson. Would you give us a favour? Undeserved favor for the misery of arson? Oh, God, be gracious to us. God be merciful to us. It's good stuff. Right way Could get behind that God be gracious B be merciful to us. And then he says this. God, be gracious to us and bless us. We like that part too, Right? And we we love a blessing. Now we want the blessing of a of a good family and a good house and a good job and a good card. We want the blessing of good kids and grand kids. We want the blessing of a good tax return. We want the blessing of a good grade on the test. We want the the blessing of good friends in the good community and a good church. And you know, we love blessings. We like blessings we like some mercy and we like some blessing. We want to be happy. We want to be blessed. So we're tracking with David. I no problems here. God be gracious to us. God be merciful is God, God bless us. And he says this God be gracious to us and bless us and calls his face to shine upon us three for three, right? This is good way, love getting mercy. We love being blessed. And we love the idea of the face of the living God shining and smiling on us. Floss for James. Vernon Taylor wrote. Whenever I see your smiling face, I have two small myself because I loved you. Yes, I do. Lost for Barry Allen. Pincus gives us a bit of the other side of that. You know, I can't smile without you. I mean, I can't smile without you. I can't laugh. I can't sing. I'm finding it hard to do anything We know the concept of of smiling and shining Maybe Let me put it another way. Do you like for people to smile at you Our scalps at you? What cranks your tractor Better, right scalp or smile. See David's praying and singing in such a way saying you know God be merciful God got show us mercy Be gracious to us God bless us and calls your smiling, shining sovereign face to be on us The world scowls at us constantly so God, which you please shine on us mercy and blessing in the shining, smiling face of the favor of God. Yes, that's good stuff. We could get on that. You know, really on ly the the meanest most militant atheist would say. No, I don't. I don't want any of that. Just get all that stuff away from me. And how has God been most gracious to you? How has God been most merciful to you? How has God blessed you the most? How has the face of the living God shined into your world the most? Impossible. I'll put it this way. Romans five or six For a while, we were still helpless at the right time. Christ died for the ungodly, helpless, hopeless, powerless, defenceless escape. Lis ruined, destitute, un godly, undone, un saved. That is who you are without Jesus Christ, You cannot pull your boot straps up into heaven. You cannot serve the poor into heaven. You can not baptised yourself for Methodist yourself. For Presbyterian yourself, for Lutheran yourself or non denominational yourself into heaven. There's no boot straps there's. There's no good deeds. Good works there's. There's no denomination. There's no religion that gets you in heaven without Christ. You are separated from God. You are ungodly. Your soul is destitute and ruined and lost and unsafe. Without Christ you're dead and your sin completely helpless And without God in this world or the world to come. And Paul says at just the right moment in history. But about a thousand years after King David died, Jesus died to change your story. Jesus died to make it possible for you to no longer be on Godley. He made a way for you to go from ruin to rescue from destitute to delight from lost. I too, loved someone might say I don't believe in Jesus. I don't need to be rescued. I don't need to be blessed. I'm fine by myself. I'm good. I don't need your religion and I don't need God. Let me against just graciously and and kindly refer you to these two words helpless and ungodly. You can push him away. You can deny them. You can ignore them. You, Khun, suppress them. But the words helpless and ungodly, applied to all of humanity, all of humanity. Charles Burgeon said this about Paul's words and this verse. The human race is described as a sick man whose disease is so far advanced that he is all together without strength. No power remains in his system to throw off his mortal malady, nor does he desire to do so. He could not save himself from his disease if he would, and would not if he could. That's a desperate soul. The state of a soul without Jesus Christ is is separated from God, and it is soaked and helpless, hopeless escape, lis misery and eternal death. So is there any good news? Very good news for for this helpless, hopeless escape, Lis. Misery and death. Yes. There's not just good news. There is great news at just the right time. Christ died for the helpless escape Lis on Godley Soul Christ died for the ungodly Christ died for the helpless Christ died for me and he died for you. MacArthur's this when we were powerless to escape from our sin. Powerless to escape death, Powerless to resist Satan and powerless to please God in anyway God amazingly sent his son to die on our behalf at just the right moment in history. Before you even existed before you were ever born, God was gracious to you. God was merciful to you. God blessed you. God caused his face to shine on you before you were even born through Jesus Christ, substituting himself for your justified since end that calls you to fall short of the glory of God. Spurgeon goes on to say this you will say, Oh, I am one of the worst in the world Christ died for the worst in the world. Oh, but I have no power to be better. Christ died for those that were without strength. Oh, but my case condemns itself. Christ died for those that are legally condemned. I But my case is hopeless. Christ died for the hopeless. He is the hope of the hopeless. He is the savior not of those partly lost but of those holy lost. And he says this. I would not mind if our condemned to live fifty years Mohr and never allowed to speak. But these five words, if I might be allowed to utter them in the ear of every man, woman and child who lives Christ died for the ungodly is the best message that even angels could bring two men. Jesus is your greatest mercy. Jesus is your greatest blessing. And never at any moment in the universe has the face of God shine more brightly into your life, then in the face of Jesus Christ. If your heart would honestly tell you today that your soul is still separated from God that you are still ungodly then we plead with you to come to Jesus today that you would run to him and go from ruined two rescued, destitute to delight and lost to loved. David. That's one more little word. At the end of his sentence, he says, God be gracious to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Sula. Still, I was kind of a musical pause, so to speak. It's kind of like a little moment of rest. It's a Ziff What David is saying. His boy. We just talked about God being merciful of us and talk about God blessing us talk about God shining his face on us. Okay, so that's great stuff. Let's let's marinate on that just for a sec. Let's hang on to that just for a second before we move on to the next part. So let's let's take David was at his word here. Okay? God, be gracious to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Let's break that down. I just want you to repeat that after me in sections. Okay, I'll start. God, be gracious to us. And bless us and cause his face. To shine upon us. Great words, great words and Davis's. They just pause on those for a second. Just just soak those in a little bit. Why? Why would he tell us to do it? Well, you know, here's a bit of a hint. Notice that we just said us three times. Okay, so this thing begins with God. You do something for us. Don't do something for us. Do something for us to do something for us and that's that's okay. That's all right. John Daniel Jones was a past on the late eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds. He said this. It is right to begin where this prayer begins at home with us. It is not right to finish there. I pity the man who in his prayers, never gets beyond God be merciful to unto us and bless us and caused his face to shine upon us. For he has simply not learned the elements of prayer. For that is Aimard prayer, a narrow prayer and a selfish prayer. And whatever Christianity is our is not. It is the very antithesis of selfishness. So the first part is fantastic. It is wonderful. It is beautiful. We own it. We love it. We embrace it, we enjoy it. But we can't stay in it. We have to move. Wei have toe move. So where do we go after the Paul's? Why's God gracious to us? Why does God bless us? Why does God calls his face to shine illness? Why? Listen averse to that your way Maybe known on the earth, your salvation among all nations. God blesses you to move. God blesses me, Teo, to move, not to stay where we are but but to move to move, where to move far to move far. What does that mean? Well, moving far means this. That those who are ungodly because of Jesus Christ, their status changes. They go from being ungodly to being godly because of Jesus and those who were formally ungodly. They wake up every morning and again say, I surrender all all to thee, My blessed savior. I surrender all and the formerly ungodly stay passionate about making sure that the still ungodly hear the message about Jesus that they hear that there is a way to be saved. They hear that there is a way for their misery to be erased. Moving far. It means that if the on ly people that you seek to reach or the people that show up in this room, then you are not functioning as a Christian. Moving far means that if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you have been called to be own mission. What kind of mission? What does that mean? Does that mean you should go on a mission trip? Sure. Moving far means that that you can You can go on a mission trip. That would be a great thing to do. Does moving far mean that if I can't go on a mission trip that I need to give money to those who are going on mission ships? Yep, sir. That's exactly fantastic thing to do. Does moving farming? That may be beyond just a trip that I actually begin to support a missionary in their family as they go to a place where no one has heard about Jesus. Yeah, sure. That's that's part of moving far. Does moving far mean that I pray for that family that I adopt a missionary family? I faithfully pray for them every day That is moving far mean that maybe I even adopted and unreached people group a group of people who have never heard the gospel. And I pray for them every day. Yeah, that's that's part of moving far. Does moving far. I mean that you quit your job and that you go to an island on the other side of the world to tell a bunch of cannibals about Jesus. Yes. That is exactly what moving far might mean for you. But make no mistake. If we are going to call ourselves Christians, we have no option. The God of the universe has called us to make sure that the Gospel gets to all nations. So does that mean what does David mean by all nations? Well, he's not talking about political nations. For David, it was kind of two groups. You have Jews and you have a gentile. So So David's really praying that the great news of God's salvation would would go beyond just the Jewish people in that that the gentile people would find out about Jesus would find out about God's salvation. Now, don't forget, we're Gentiles. You know, when you're sitting in the breakfast joint like I remember? One morning I was sitting in a breakfast joint. I heard some guy a couple tables over. Yeah, these these Middle Eastern people, men, they're taken over our country. You know what my first thought was? Thank you, Jesus. That a Middle Eastern person left their home so that I could be saved because had they not the gospel would never get to me. So thank you, Jesus, That those Middle Eastern disciples of Jesus said, we're moving far. We're moving far. By all nations. Really, We would say today what what David was pointing us to is unreached people groups. What is an un reached people group? Well, it's a group of people that kind of have some things in common. They're either ethnically similar, or they're culturally similar, or their language in their dialect or similar. And what they also have in common is that never heard about Jesus. It's It's a group of people that have not heard the gospel. There's there's not a gospel church anywhere among all of their people. I mean, we imagine this. Imagine that there are no churches and Casey West Columbia like none like There's not a gospel church anywhere in this community that there's there's not even a Christian anywhere in this community. That is almost impossible for us to imagine, right? And yet there are places in the world that that is the reality of everyday life. There's a lot of estimates out there, basically a rough numbers. There's about seven thousand unreached people groups. There's about seven thousand groups. The people that have never heard the Gospel. They do not have a gospel church in their community David is riding and Paul is riding. And Jesus is preaching, reminding us that there are people that have never heard that Christ died for the ungodly. I read something other day that said that the spread of the gospel is more like a waffle than a pain cake. It's a great picture that the spread of the Gospels more like a a waffle than a pancake. And the reason why is because you pour syrup out on pancake and it kind of, you know, moves around it. But waffle little different, right? You pour syrup out on the waffle and and they didn't always get. And all those little compartments, you know, you get, you gotta work at it. You pick your plate up, flip it around and do something or put more syrup. You know, there's these little walls, these these little walls. And the illustration is a great picture, right? Because when we look around the world, there are some little walls and different places, some little walls of ethnicity, some little walls of cultural different, some little walls of language difference. And if the Gospel is going to get in that little part of the waffle, it's going to take some effort. There's gonna have to be some prayer and some money, and some resource is, and some people that work hard to make sure that the Gospel gets over into that little square of the waffle. That's why our church gives the lot of moon Christmas offering for international missions. Way surpassed our goal this past year. That's why our church is is part of something called the Cooperative program is this unbelievable financial resource where we trained pastors and missionaries in missionary families and mission agencies to make sure that the Gospel gets and is moving toward all those little anew breach bits of the waffle? That's why we sent a group of folks to Guatemala. We got one slot open. Might be yours. That's why we preach sermons about the nation's is why we preach sermons about the gospel getting toe, all the little pieces of the waffle. But let me let me push this and press. It's just just a little further John Piper rights. If God blesses his people for the sake of the nation's, then God is most likely to bless us when we are planning and longing and praying to bless the nation's. If God wants his goods to get to the nations than he will fill the truck that's driving toward the nation's, he will bless the church that's pouring itself out for un reached peoples of the world. So when we move toward the UN, reach people's, we're not earning God's blessings. We are leaping into the river of blessings that is already flowing to the nations. Ask good stuff. If you've been around here long, you know, I could probably preach about six months on some sixty seven. There's a lot in there, but there's just one sermon. So so let me just say this is a bit of a challenge to us as a as a church family. Let's do everything we can to make sure our truck is heading in the right direction. Let's do everything we can to leap in to where the river is already flowing to the nation's God blesses us to bless the worst. No, so my might. So, hey, we got plenty of missions to do right here in this community. You're right. Be here next Sunday because that's what next Sunday sermons about move near That's next Sunday. But today we're moving far because Jesus himself said. But this gospel that we have is supposed to get beyond Holland Avenue and Casey in West Columbia, South Carolina and the United States. That's what Jesus said annexed after one, the gospel supposed to be here. But it's supposed to get beyond here. It's not supposed to stay here. In fact, if our mentality is, we've got plenty to do here. Just know that is the opposite of Christianity. That's the opposite of the words of Jesus. That's the opposite of the gospel We stay near and we go far both and and if it's one of the other, then we are failing. So let's keep the truck ready. Let's sleep in where we need to leave. Let's dive in where we need to dive. And why Why Why should we do any of this? This is what Jesus said, Matthew. Chapter twenty four, verse fourteen. The gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end Well, come, Jesus is coming again. Jesus is coming again. Everything about his life that has ever been promised has always come true. And he promised that he is returning. So according to the Scriptures, if we claim to be a follower of Jesus, then we must surrender all and make sure that the gospel gets toe all nations. Because Jesus says when the gospel gets toe, all nations, then the end will come. So are we longing for the return of Jesus? Are are we really happy in the sin and the evil and the misery and the difficulty of this world? We'll have lost some precious friends in the last two years. Precious believers. And I want you to know there is not a second that I long for them to still be here. There is no more sin. There is no more misery. There is no more trial, No more trouble. They are with the one who has rescued and redeemed, who delights in them and who loves them to infinity and beyond. So what is all this like in real life? What's it like in real life? To say, You know what I am supposed to be about the business of getting the Gospel to all nations? Because Jesus commanded me to be a part of that. And also, he said, that is the trigger for his return. So was that, like in real life? Just one way. Howard Hendricks stories told of him getting delayed. He was a Bible professor out of Dallas Theological Seminary. For many years he was delayed on a plane and and the delay was really long. And as the story goes, the delay was so long that they, you know, passed out some, you know, adult beverages. And you know, when God just had a few too many and he was really giving the flight attendant a hard time. He was just being an absolute jerk. But the flight attendant never lost her cool truce. Khan. She was gracious. He was merciful Chu's patient. And so when the flight was over and Howard Hendricks started de boarding the plane, he asked the flight attendant if he could have her name. He said. I'd really like to sin American Airlines a letter telling them What a fantastic employee that they have and this is what the lady said. I really appreciate that, sir, but that won't be necessary. I don't work for American Airlines. I worked for Jesus Christ. I'm just on assignment at American. You're on assignment. If you're a believer, you're your own assignment. You do not work for whoever you work for. I do not work for Holland Avenue Baptist Church. I work for Jesus. The Christ, the Messiah, the Lord, the Redeemer, the savior, the King of my life. And if you're a believer, so do you. So do you. There's a little cheerlead for work tomorrow. You know what that flight attendant had? Just moxie. She had some courage. Cem Cem bravery. She woke up in the morning and before she got on that plane, she said, I surrender all all to the my blessed savior, I surrender all If you're Christian, your life is is not your own And I pray that you will with joy and excitement love the call on your life to get the gospel toe all the corners of the waffle let me just share one more challenge. Guns and word of encouragement. Tow us with this call to all the nations, and I just want to say it this way. You know, there's there's really no doubt that our our nation and in our world or in a state of moral crisis, to say the least, but can I just say? In a way. Toe honor John Patten and James Harrison John Williams. And maybe in a unique way, to honor the possibility that one of the college students or teenagers, our children and Holland Avenue Baptist Church might be the person that takes the Gospel to the last UN reached people group. Sailor. Pot's on that for a moment. In light of the men and women who have given their lives so that the Gospel gets to all of the waffle and light of the fact that even in this room, the person who might get the Gospel to the last Un reach people group triggering the return of Jesus Christ in light of all of that, can I just say that the Kingdom of God does not need to be made great again? The Kingdom of God has always been great because our king has always been great. And though this world feels like it is falling apart, the truth of the kingdom of God is marching on. So friends, believer Christian, let's get some moxie. Let's be brave. Let's be courageous. Let's wake up in the morning and say Jesus again with all of this junk in my marriage and with my kids and at work. And it's school and in this country again today Jesus, I surrender all. And I surrender all and I will move far because Jesus, you are still king and your kingdom is for effort.