The Four "G's" of Missionary Work

Bonjour Freer his son Laemi Jensen. good morning. Brothers and sisters, we're the Jensen family. In 2018, we left Ontario, Canada excuse me, Ontario, California for Ontario, Canada.

See, they're easy to mix up, right? we traded palm trees and 40, 65 degree winters for white Christmases and February with minus 40 degree temperatures. And, when you get to -40 °C and Fahrenheit meet. So, so you can relate to that here.

we were sent by Foothill Bible Church, as you saw, through the missions organization, Biblical Ministries worldwide, to the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau in order to plant churches in French-speaking Canada. So the question maybe is, of all the places in the world. Why Canada? Why Quebec?

Well, you heard a little bit about that. But let's just say in Quebec, the real simple answer is that they are actively seeking missionaries because they need them, since only 0.1% of the population identifies as evangelical. The largest evangelical church movement in Quebec, in fact, only has 80 churches that cover a population of 8.5 million people. So imagine.

That's one church for every 106,000 people. That would be like in the city of Riverside where there's 300,000 people, that there are only 3 evangelical churches to reach the entire population. So that's why we felt called and compelled to go to French speaking Canada to plant churches there. So the 1st 3 to 5 years of our time, in Canada consists of on-field training.

This includes language learning, in our case, French, cultural acquisition, where we see and visit culturally significant sites and, and participate in important events, and basically simply learn to live life in a new place. Do the simple things like shoveling snow out of your driveway or, or. skating and outdoor rink. It's just part of life there and the culture of Canada and, and, learn the culture of Canadians that way.

And of course, we are involved in gospel ministry, evangelism, teaching, training, and discipleship with those we've encountered so far. And one thing that has come into mind often during the past 3 years in Canada is the reality of the decline of Christianity in the Western world. In fact, Christianity is in decline, the fact that Christianity is in decline in the Western world is, is well known. You feel that today.

A gentleman named Lehman Stone, he was an adjunct fellow of the American Enterprise Institute and also a research fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. He, compiled a sixty-page report tracing the history of American religiosity and its recent decline, and he concluded that religiosity is declining in America. That that the share of Americans who are religious is declining according to every metric. So just as the social and legal position of religion is deteriorating as well, and he says at the extreme this change is manifesting as an increase in hate crimes against people of many faiths.

So at the end of his study, he leaves us with this thought. He said, Today religious leaders face a crossroads. Their churches are shrinking as a share of the population and are shrinking in absolute numbers. They face enormous social and cultural headwinds.

Furthermore, in recent years, religious engagement in politics has strayed far from the volunteerist support that could actually reverse secularization. So what he's saying basically is that the church in America is shrinking in numbers, the culture is moving against us, and we don't have the political strength to change the public policies that we see that are mounting against us. And I, I'm sure that you feel this along with me today. So the question is, how do we respond to this challenge?

Well, you see, in my observation for the past several decades, the evangelical church has given its attention to political influence and power in attempt to steer the culture toward righteousness. And so now it feels really depressing to think that that window of opportunity or that ability to shift the culture is quickly evaporating. So I ask the question again, how do we respond? Nearly 30 years ago, John MacArthur.

Addressed this issue in his book entitled Why Government Can't Save You. And he wisely stated, we cannot protect or expand the cause of Christ by human, political, or social activism. No matter how great or sincere the efforts. He continues, God simply is not calling us to wage a culture war that would seek to transform our countries into Christian nations.

So again, the question comes, what's the solution? He states, God has above all called us to bring sinful people to salvation through Jesus Christ. If we do not evangelize the lost and make disciples of new converts, nothing else we do for people will matter, no matter how beneficial it seems, none of it will be of any eternal consequence. Turn with me to the book of Acts.

And chapter 14 this morning. While we are living in the midst of this current politically threatening moment. It's encouraging to see that we do not have to live through this alone, nor do we have to live through it in fear. The church was born into politically threatening times, and it thrived.

Opposition against the followers of the way, which, of course we're all known now as Christians. it's been a reality from the beginning and it always will be. If political activism is not the solution, then again, our question is, what is? Might I suggest this morning that it is missions.

When the world presses in upon us, let us press into the work of missions. In Acts chapter 14, you turn with me there, we'll be looking at verses 19 through 28, and we will find what I am calling the 4 G's of missionary work. And that is so that we can be helped to live faithfully in difficult days. We're gonna look at 4 G's of missionary work so that we can be helped to live faithfully in difficult days.

God The goal, grit, and the gospel. So as background, Acts chapter 14 finds us in the middle of Paul's first missionary journey, which began sometime after the death of Herod Agrippa the First, which was in 8044. So perhaps as early as 18045, Paul and Barnabas were sent out and on a missionary trip that lasted about 1 to 2 years. And beginning with Acts chapter 13, we see that Paul and Barna Barnabas were sent by the church in Antioch to do the work that the Holy Spirit called them to do.

They traveled through the island of Cyprus, preaching the gospel to the whole island, and when Paul and his companions sailed to the mainland, John Mark left to return to Jerusalem. And so Paul and Barnabas continued, and they preached in the synagogues in Antioch, Pisidia, in Iconium where the Jews and Gentiles believed, but there were unbelieving Jews that stirred up some of the Gentiles to persecute them. And learning of a plot to kill them, they fled to Lystra, and in Lystra, Paul healed a crippled man, and we're familiar with this story that the people of Lystra thought that Paul and Barnabas were the gods Zeus and Hermes, and they wanted to offer sacrifice to them.

But of course Paul and Barnabas, when they figured out what was going on, they, they would have nothing of that.

And their friends, the Jews came and stirred up the crowd, who then turned against them. And cause trouble for them, and we'll pick up the reading in verse 19 there. Says, but the Jews came from Antioch in Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city.

The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derby. After that, after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith. And saying through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them.

To the Lord in whom they had believed. They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylium. When they had spoken the word in Purga, they went down to Attilium. From there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had accomplished.

When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done, beginning, excuse me, all things that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they spent a long time with the disciples. The four G's of missionary work are God, the goal, grit, and the gospel. Let's take a look at the first one.

The 1st G of missions. So that we can be helped to live faithfully in difficult days. God. Missions begins and ends with God.

Missions is God's idea, and it expresses his heart and intention for humanity. We're all familiar with John 3:16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. God is a missionary God.

He sent His own Son on a mission to rescue broken and fallen humanity and a world that had been corrupted by sin. We read in Galatians 4:4 through 5, that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law. First John 4:9 says, by this the love of God was manifest to us, that God has sent His Son. His only begotten Son into the world that we might have live through him.

And again in verse 14 of the same chapter, we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son, To be the savior of the world. God sent His Son. And he sent Paul and Barnabas. So this is the broad context of Acts chapters 13 and 14.

If you flip back a little bit to Acts chapter 13, and you look at verses 1 through 3, we read this. Now there were at Antioch in the church that was there prophets and teachers Barnabas and Simeon, who was called ***, and Lucius of Cyrene and Mannanen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

So we see the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead. He had a mission for Paul and Barnabas. In working through the church in Antioch, the Holy Spirit sets apart and sends Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I've called them. God called, set apart, and sent them for the work.

This was God's idea and God's work. And then when we get to the end of their mission, at the end of Acts chapter 14 and verses 26 and 27, we read this. They sailed the Antioch, and from there they had been, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had accomplished. When they arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

So we learned firstly that they fulfilled the work the Holy Spirit sent them out to do. And secondly, that it was God's work through them. Notice that they were commended to the grace of God. Now we're familiar with this term, the grace of God, and we often think of it in the context of meaning God's free gift of salvation to us.

But this term, the grace of God can also refer to the gifting or special help freely given by God to aid his people in the work he calls them to do. Just as Paul says, Paul says this very same thing about himself. He says, according to the grace of God, which was given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

So Paul and Barnabas had been commended to the grace of God, to this special help, and they had been specially gifted by God to do this work. So what does it look like to commend somebody to the Lord? What did it look like for Paul and Barnabas to be commended to the grace of God? Well, I think we see that in Acts chapter 13 verse 3 says when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

The result was that God worked through them to fulfill the Holy Spirit's mission. You see, I, I thoroughly believe to the depth of my being that missionaries thrive on the urgent prayers of those who support them. And especially of those local assemblies that have set them apart and sent them out for this work. Think about a forest fire.

We live in Southern California or anywhere in California, we know about forest fires, right? Think of missionaries like the fuel for that forest fire, the, the wood that has been, that is set apart almost for a consuming purpose. I believe that the commissioning and praying of the local church are like the spark and the wind that give life and and set ablaze the work of the spirit in the lives of missionaries. It's really that praying and commending that the local church does that, that gives power to the work of missions.

And I, I believe that Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church that here you guys love and you do support missions all around the world. And I just want to be an encouragement to you that your prayers. As individuals, as a church, they energize this work. So thank you, thank you for praying for your missionaries and continue on in that.

We have, as we have been participating in this work of missions in French speaking Canada, we too have experienced the grace of God through the prayers of others. Now, the fact that Paul and Barnabas were helped by their in their work by God is made more certain when you look at Acts 14 and verse 27. Paul and Barnabas, it says, began to report all the things that God had, that God had done with them. The work that Paul and Barnabas fulfilled was the work that God was doing through them.

There was a, there's a partnership in church planting between God and believers. Let's see how Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 5 through 7. Paul says, Verse 5, what then is Apollo's? And what is Paul?

Servants through whom he believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth. So this is true for Paul and Barnabas. They were the ones working, but it was God bringing the results through their work.

In addition to the church planting work God accomplished through them, God also, it says, opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. God opens the hearts of believers. In this case, Gentiles who a group who was once thought to be unclean and outside of the grace of God. At least that became the common thought among the Jewish people.

Previously, in their first missionary journey, Luke records that Paul turned to the Gentiles in Antioch, Pisidia, and his record is that as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. So we see, God was at work in them. God was at work in the hearts of the Gentiles to cause them to believe. Missions is God's idea.

God's work. He is a missionary God, and he sent his son, he sent Paul and Barnabas, and guess what, he continues to send us, praise the Lord, we get to be part of this work with him. He continues to send us to the return of Christ. The first G of missions is God.

The second is the goal. The goal of missions, I believe, is this repeating cycle of church planting to the ends of the earth. One of the reasons why I picked Acts chapter 14 and verses 9 to 28 is because it shows this beautiful picture of a cycle of church planting, in just a few verses. And we'll look at, there's 7 different aspects we can see here.

First of all, that that missionaries are sent. We see first of all that Paul and Barnabas were sent. This is referenced in verse 26 of chapter 14 where it says, they sailed to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God. They were sent by a local church, the church in Antioch.

Paul and Barnabas were well known to the church in Antioch. Barnabas became acquainted with this church back in Acts 11. He was sent by the church in Jerusalem to see what was going on over there, and immediately he became a part of this new congregation and helped them to grow it. It says in verses 23 and 24 that he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.

And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas had a fruitful ministry among the church in Antioch. Luke indicates that Barnabas was a man of character. It says that he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

Now, Barnabas was the one who brought Paul, who was still called Saul at the time, and, and he and Paul were at the church in Antioch, it says for a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. So you can see that Paul and Barnabas were well known to the church in Antioch. They were proven faithful ministers of the gospel. So well proven and so well trusted that they were sent with a large sum of money to go help with relief to the church in Jerusalem.

Paul Paul and Barnabas were trained men of character, proven in the context of a local church. And sent by this church to do the work that the Spirit had called them to. So they were sent. Next we see that, well, what do they do when they were sent?

Verses 19 and 20 of Acts 14, we see that the Jews, had almost killed Paul by hurling stones at them. but, but Paul miraculously revives and they go leave Lystra and go 40 miles southeast of Derby, which would have been about a 5 day journey. And it says there he and Barnabas preached the gospel to that city. So they go, they were sent, and this was their habit.

They went and preached the gospel, they preached to that city. Every place they went, almost every place they preached the gospel. Now, I don't know about you, but even in the context of missions, when you're sent out for this very purpose, evangelism can still be a difficult thing. It's difficult for us to do as believers because, After a while, we realize that people are not always so excited to hear the message of the gospel because they have to first hear that they aren't good people, that we are by nature corrupt and sinful, and people are proud.

They don't want to think that they need rescue. They want to rely on themselves. So it's difficult. We have to overcome this challenge to go out and share with people this good news.

But as difficult as it may be to evangelize, we can find ourselves, I believe, very satisfied and content when we have presented the gospel to someone and just leave it there. But this is really incomplete. Jesus called us not simply to share the gospel, but to what? Make disciples, right?

we were called to make disciples of all nations, and that includes baptizing and teaching them. There's a a greater personal commitment and investment in making a disciple. And this is exactly what we see Paul and Barnabas do. They were sent, they evangelize, and they make disciples.

But that's not it, they will go on to read more about that. What does it look like to make a disciple? They, they had preached the gospel of that city, it says, and they had made many disciples. Well, disciples a learner.

They brought these men and women to a place of commitment to Jesus Christ, and then taught them. They nurtured the faith of these new believers. And I love the way Paul describes this discipleship relationship in the book of First Thessalonians. Paul describes how he would interact with these new believers in this way.

He says, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. We were ready to share it with you, not only the gospel of God, but our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. The discipleship is not an information dump. It's not, not just transferring knowledge to another person, it's a dear sweet transfer of life, and we've come to learn that more and more, to make a disciple is first to share your life with them, to let them into your life, to let them, know who you are, and to show a genuine love and concern for them.

But it didn't end there for Paul. Nor for Barnabas, because they made a habit of returning to these newly founded groups of believers in order to help strengthen these disciples. There we go, they, they're sent, they evangelize, they disciple believers, and then they come back to strengthen them. Says as we continue in Acts 14, they can return to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith.

When I read this, I asked myself this question. What does it look like to strengthen the soul of another? It sounds great, but I really wanted to have an idea. What does this look like?

Well, in Acts chapter 15 verses in verse 32, we see that Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. So it was clear that, that a big part of that is, is speaking, speaking truth into somebody's life. So what words? Well, there's not time to look in the context of Acts chapter 15, but when the believers there were shaken in their faith by some, some news about what it meant to be a believer, they, they thought they had to become Jewish again.

the, these two men, Judas and Silas, had a letter that encouraged their hearts that it was faith in Christ alone. And, and that's what strengthens us in our faith, that's how we strengthen others, is to reinforce and settle the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm gonna skip past verse 23 for the moment. But we read later, it says that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in every church.

So there's another part of church planting. Jesus sent us on a mission to make disciples of all nations, but we can't forget that this is in a bigger context. It's in the context where Jesus said, I will build my church. And the gate of hell, the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

That is. Jesus construction project, as it were, a church is not planted unless qualified men are appointed to lead it as elders. And you guys went through this process just recently. these men who showed themselves, the, these men appointed as elders who would have been those who showed themselves faithful and gifted, in the body of believers as they were strengthened, as Paul and Barnabas were strengthening the, the church.

So once the elders were appointed, the whole congregation then would be committed to the Lord. Luke records this. It says with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Now in Acts chapter 20 Luke gives us another account of what this may have looked like.

Paul, committed the church of Ephesus to the Lord. And he provides us some more details, so we see 3 things in particular. for one, committing this church was an exhortation to the leaders to pay attention to yourself and to all the flock. And then also a warning against false teachers that would arise within their midst.

And finally, the third thing was placing them under the care of God and the holy scriptures. This was a momentous event where the church is no longer under the care of the church planter, and thus, it was fitting that it involved prayer and fasting. So we might say mission accomplished, church planted. Well, almost.

Paul and Barnabas then returned to their sending church in Antioch to report about the work which they had fulfilled. So that's the last part of this church planting cycle. You're sent out on the front end and then on the back end you return and give a report. Looking at verse 27, we see when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all the things that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, and they spent a long time with the disciples.

This is back in Antioch, they're sending church. The heart of missions, I believe, is this church planting cycle, and the engine that this is the engine that Jesus uses to further his purpose of building his church. Paul and Barnabas were an extension of the local church in Antioch, and so when they returned, it was fitting for them to give a detailed report of the work accomplished among them. So in summary, the goal of missions is the seven step church planting cycle of being sent, evangelizing, discipling, strengthening, appointing, committing, and then reporting back to ascending church.

So we have two G's here. The first G is God. God is a missionary God. The second is the goal.

The goal is this church planting cycle, and now we're gonna move to the third one, which is grit. God, the goal and grit. And what by grit is that both church planters and church people need grit, because we will often face difficulty and persecution. Look back at verses 19 and 20 in Acts 14.

There we see that the whole context in which this takes place says the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him. He got up and entered the city. Paul and Barnabas faced opposition on almost every trip that they went out on.

Paul would continue to face this, and he records this in, his letter to the Corinthians. Here we see that the Jews turned the crowds against them who only a few minutes ago thought they were gods. How would you like that? Talk about going from the highest to the lowest there, right?

They wanted to sacrifice to them and then they want to kill them. So why did this happen? Well, it's possible that, we, we read of a legend that, was familiar to the people of Lystra. they believed that these gods, Zeus and Hermes had visited them in the times past, and, and basically what had happened is there were only two people that welcomed them and the rest of the city ignored them, and so, Zeus and Hermes rewarded this couple and made them priests and destroyed the rest of the city with a flood.

So you could see why the people of Lystra were very eager to welcome Paul and Barnabas cause they didn't wanna have this thing repeat again. But I'm wondering, is it possible that the Jews, how did they turn their turn these people who wanted to sacrifice them in opposition to them? Perhaps it was that they told the people there that, hey, these aren't gods, in fact, they don't even believe in your gods, and you ought to stone them. this is, this is a common tactic of the enemy to distort what Christians believe and use it as grounds of persecution against them.

And this was common in the early church. The early Christians were accused of being atheists because they didn't believe in the Roman gods, or the Greek gods. The early Christians were accused of when they were taking and celebrating the Lord's table of being cannibals, cause they were eating the body and blood of another person. a distortion of what communion is really about, right?

But what, we see the same kinds of distortions taking place today against us in our own context, do we not? We're accused of being homophobic or transphobic, not because we're actually afraid of people who identify that way, but just because we believe that God's intention for humanity is that gender is an outworking of who God has made us biologically, and that marriage is to be reserved between the union of a biological man and a biological woman, right? But it gets twisted against us.

We're accused of being perhaps regressive and even being hateful toward women because we believe in male leadership in the church.

public opinion is being turned against us with each passing day, but this is not new. It happened at the early church, and it continues up to this day, and it'll continue to happen until the return of Christ. Now it's not just that the what we believe is being distorted, it's the fact that the gospel itself is offensive to human pride. Because it, it highlights the fact that we are not good.

And that we need to be saved, and human hearts do not wanna hear that. We wanna save ourselves, we wanna be sufficient in ourselves. Now Paul is a church planner was the first object of this opposition. He was the one publicly proclaiming the truth of the gospel, so he was the object of the Jews and the crowd's hatred.

But it's not just church planters or even pastors who will face opposition in the world, it's all believers. Both church planters and church people, as I say, will face tribulation, and that's why in the middle of verse 22, Paul exhorts these believers and tells them through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Some of these believers would have seen the attempts to stone Paul or even the fact that he had been stoned and dragged out of the city. Missionaries and missions minded people need grit.

Church planters and church people need grit, supernatural grit, power from the Holy Spirit so that we can endure suffering. We need to realize that following Jesus requires us to suffer. if you search the word suffering or tribulation in the New Testament, you, you will see this theme repeated over and over again. We must embrace the reality of suffering.

Consider Paul's word, words to the Thessalonians. He said, for indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction, and so it came to pass, as. in Acts 14:22, Paul says it's through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom. This word must is a Greek word day, and it speaks of divine necessity.

God has ordained that entering the kingdom involves some measure of suffering. our faith needs to be tested, our allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ needs to be tested to be shown genuine and true. in our current moment in history, you will be tested in your faith. Many of you, I am certain, are facing this in the workplace today, and if you haven't, you will soon.

You'll be told that you must call a woman a he or a a man a she, or maybe a them. My brother faced this at work where he was asked to place a rainbow footer on the, his company email in order to support Pride Month, which of course he, he did not want to do. And we see companies every day falling in line, going woke, requiring their employees to agree to things that we as Christians don't agree to. We need to be wise as serpent and gentle as a doves, but we also need to be willing to face suffering.

The three G's of missions are God, the goal, grit, and finally, the gospel. The good news of the gospel is offered to everyone. Paul and Barnabas had exciting news to present to the church in Antioch, but it wasn't simply the success they experienced in people coming to faith in Christ and churches being planted. It was the fact that God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

Now in the Old Testament, there was a come and see mentality. God had set it up so people had to travel through the nation of Israel, these ancient peoples, and they would have heard of the glory of, of the God of Israel, and, the nation of Israel, as God said in Exodus was to be a priest, a kingdom of priest and a holy nation. They were to res represent God to the peoples. Solomon when he built the temple, he was aware of this, and he says, When the foreigner comes and prays toward this house here in heaven in your dwelling place and do according to all which, all for which the foreigner calls you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you as do your people Israel.

So this was the strategy in the Old Testament, but now in the New Testament, Jesus introduced something new. It was a not come and see mentality, but a go and tell. He says, I will build my church, and then he tells his disciples to go therefore and make disciples of all nations. In the book of Acts, we see this playing itself out, chapters 1 through 7, in chapters 1, Jesus says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the end of the earth.

And we see that chapters 1 through 7 is all about Jerusalem. In phase 2, Judea and Samaria begins to take root in Acts chapter 8. And then when we get into Acts chapter 11, we see that it branches out beyond that. To the remotest parts of the earth.

Now it sounds sounds great here. In fact, in Acts chapter 11 verse 19, we see, so then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred, in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, right? These are the ends, beginning of the ends of the earth. But it, they were speaking the word to no one except the Jews alone.

See, the, the early church had a had a challenge to overcome because of their Jewish roots. It was, there was a hes hesitancy to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. And it, it wasn't until later in the book of Acts that this began to be resolved. So when Paul and Barnabas report that God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles, this was not an insignificant thing.

It was a big reality that God was not only sending the gospel to the ends of the earth, but to every single people's in the end to the ends of the earth. And this is the mission today. God sent forth missionaries in the beginning, and he continues to do this, to offer the good news to everyone. So how do we apply this?

What do we, how do we take these things into our lives today? See, in Acts chapter 14, we've seen what I've called the four G's of missions, God, the goal, grit, and the gospel. These four ideas will help us to live faithfully as believers today. Today, Christians, along with the rest of society are feeling enormous pressure to be on the right side of history.

But I'm gonna argue, but what we really need is to be on the right side of his story. His missions is his story. Jesus' work, a work which will not fail, is sending us with the gospel to every people group as he uses us in his work of church planting. Now we can do this in two ways.

See, God is a missionary God. And he offers a free gift of salvation to all people, no matter how wicked the people are. God's compassion leads him to offer the hope of forgiveness and reconciliation to all people, and this was the message that he gave to Jonah, which he had a hard time accepting, but it's one that we must understand and embrace. Jonah didn't want the people of Nine Nineveh to be saved, but God's compassion led him to send Jonah there.

We can become angry ourselves at people that are against us, those who are in political power over us, who support laws and anti-human or anti-god measures. But if God had compassion on wicked Nineveh. If he had compassion on wicked, you and me. Should we not then also have compassion on those whom we interact with?

We need to love them enough to be true friends, not to affirm people in their unbelief or irrationality, but to gently love them and graciously challenge their thinking. God is at the heart and center of missions, and we connect with the heart of God and not only being missions minded toward people around us, but in support of missionary work. Is this where your heart is today? Are you partnering with God in His missionary endeavor?

I just encourage you to pick a missionary, that the church supports here and learn what they're doing and pray for the work that the Lord is doing with them. And one way you can really practically do that as we see in the front and the back end of the missionary cycle and sending and receiving the report of missionaries, you can be an encouragement to missionaries and their families. By giving a word of encouragement, helping them in their training, maybe in practically just watching their kids so you can free them up to invest the hours and time into the reading and their pursuit of missions, as there's a lot of training that goes involved.

And most importantly, I would just encourage you, missionaries have a whole lot of life they packed in a small period of time, and, and being a listening ear to them is really a great benefit.

Think about thoughtful questions to ask them, ask them about their joys and their struggles on the field. See how, ask them how God is working in and around them, and be willing to listen to a long and sometimes drawn out answer. Because honestly, we're just processing through what we've been living through. So that's how you can serve them in a real practical way.

find out, ask them what would be, what would be a real help to them as they're back on a home assignment. If you have a spare room or a house that you rent, if you make things like that available to them, that's a real encouragement and blessing to missionaries. Thank you for your love for missions, and I just pray this morning that God would continue you in that way of thinking and may, may God help us as we seek to apply the word of God this week and the weeks to come. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for your word and thank you for your love and your missionary heart, and we just commit ourselves to you this week and, and offer you our praise and worship in Jesus' name. Amen.