And 18 through 20. Bring you back up to speed from this morning. If per chance you weren't here. Matthew twenty eight 18 through 20. We often call this the great commission.

One of the last things that Jesus said before he went back to heaven, He left a command, a mission, a ministry with his disciples and with us because they represented the church and we are the church. And so this is not just their mission, it's whose. It's ours also. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you all way even unto the end of the world.

Amen. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your word. We pray, Lord, that you would use it mightily in our lives, that you would challenge us this evening to be better witnesses for Jesus Christ and to use the tools that you have given us in your service, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

John twenty twenty one is our theme verse for the conference last week, then said Jesus unto them, peace be unto you as my father has sent me, so send I you. So this mission that is Jesus' mission is also whose mission? It's also our mission. Now, He did the hard part. He died on the cross for our sins.

And praise God, He rose again from the dead. But when He went back to heaven, he told us that we have a part. We're partners in this mission. And it is our joy to be privileged to do this, to share the good news of Jesus Christ. What's the mission?

To testify to what we have witnessed concerning the resurrected Christ, his word, and our personal relationship with Christ. To proclaim the good news of the gospel to every creature that Jesus Christ came according to Scriptures. He died, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures. And He saves to the uttermost those who come to Him in faith. To make disciples of all nations, not just one little group here, one little group there, the gospel is for everyone.

For Jesus, for God so loved the what? The world. The world. That's that's everyone. And just as we needed to hear, they need to hear.

Why must we do it? Because it's been commanded and it shows our love and our trust in our God who gave us that command when we obey it. Because the name of our God needs to be glorified. Matthew five sixteen, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. He deserves to be glorified.

To be glorified in his children, who are willing to share his love and his good news with others who need him. Because it is vital to building his kingdom. Except a man is be born again, he will not see the kingdom of God. Not enough just to go to church, not enough to to do some good works here and there. Bible says our righteousness are as what?

Filthy rags. They need to be born again. And how can they be born again? How can they believe in him of whom they have not what? Heard.

They need to hear. That's our part. Because the lost need to be saved. Now, as I mentioned this morning, whatever task you have to fulfill, usually that task involves some tools. So, what are the tools that God has provided us with in order to fulfill the task that he has called us to?

Well, we look first of all at Acts one eight, but you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. So, Jesus said, y'all go back to Jerusalem and you wait there and you wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, then you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. But you need a tool, you need some help. And that help is coming in the person of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit that came to them that day and indwelt them and empowered them in his services, the same one who came into our lives when we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

And he is there to help us as he was there to help them. Don't don't underestimate the power of the holy spirit or the power of God in your life and say, I can't. No, Maybe you can but I know someone who can and he lives inside of you. So, don't underestimate him. You have an incredible helper.

We have the Holy Spirit. Mention that this morning. We have the sword of the spirit. What's the sword of the spirit? The word of God.

It's quick. It's powerful. It changes lives and hearts. If we'll learn it, If we'll learn to use it, you too can plant a seed, water a seed, see it grow fruit, people get saved. If you will share the word of God, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

In a different context, the Lord said to Joshua, he said, let not this book, the law, depart out of your mouth, but meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. Now, what did what did Joshua need help in doing in leading 2,000,000 plus people into Canaan to conquer the land for the glory of God? We haven't been called to lead millions into a land to conquer it. We have been called to conquer the hearts of men and women by giving them the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the means is still the same.

Meditate on the word of God. Observe to do it. Tell others it will change your life and it will change theirs. Number three, we looked at prayer. Prayer is a powerful tool given to us by God to be used in this battle because we can speak to the God of heaven, the all powerful one.

And what we can't do, he can do. We can't change hearts and lives, but he can. He can give us wisdom. He can direct and guide us in our in our witness. He can help these missionaries in their endeavors.

He can call others onto the field. But he asks us to what? He asks us to pray. Luke ten two, therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great and the laborers are few. Pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.

You have not because you what? Ask not. So ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

Avail yourself of the invitation of God of heaven to pray, to pray for wisdom, to pray for the souls of the lost around you, specifically, that God would open their hearts and open their eyes, to pray for these missionaries, that God would supply their needs and direct them in their ministry. Maybe you can't go and maybe you don't have much to give, but you can pray if you know the Lord. And that matters. It really does. Time and time again, Paul requested in his letters that those to whom he wrote would pray for him, would pray for boldness, would pray for wisdom, would pray for protection, would pray for the furtherance of the gospel because Paul knew prayer works when you're praying to God in the name of Jesus Christ because God honors those prayers.

So pray. Seek his face. It is a powerful tool. Now, next one this evening. What other tools do we have?

Well, your personal traits, gifts, talents, experiences, do those matter? Could those be tools that God has given for you to use in his service? Yes or no? Could those be tools? Okay.

A few of you are shaking your head. Yes. Yes, I do believe so. And the wonderful thing is our personal characteristics, talents, our gifts, they're not all the same because God needs people with different gifts and different talents to reach different people in different places. So he doesn't call everyone to be pastors or teachers.

He doesn't call everybody to be foreign missionaries and he doesn't give us all the same gifts or even talents because you might reach somebody that I would never reach because of who you are and who God made you to be. They're valuable. Oftentimes, we look at some of these as as obstacles and and hindrances and and things to get frustrated about when we should be looking them as opportunities and tools that God has given to be used in his service. The apostle Paul, for instance, use him as an example. The apostle Paul, for instance, was a prepared vessel to be missionary to the Gentile world.

God prepared him for that mission even before Paul knew that that was God was doing. God took some of the terrible things in Paul's life and he turned them around and worked them together for his good, not only for his good, but also for the good of others. Paul grew up like grew up a Jew, likely with a superiority complex, but he lived and moved among Gentiles in the city of Tarsus, a Roman colony in Eastern Turkey. In that day, was called Cilicia. He was well learned in languages and cultures, making him adaptable to different cultures more than most.

Do you think that was a benefit to Paul and his ministry? It was. He was a man of logic, which the Gentile world appreciated. And while he was extremely learned in the word of God, he seemed to be somewhat versed in Greek philosophy. He had something in common with just about everybody, with the Jew and with the Gentile alike.

When he came to Athens twice, he alluded to Greek philosophers, not for authority, but for a commonality. Being a Roman citizen got him out of trouble on several occasions and opened doors that would have been closed to others. Because Paul was born in a Roman colony, he also became a Roman citizen. And because of that, he got out of jail when others wouldn't have been able to. And he had opportunities like when he was arrested in Jerusalem to speak to the crowd that others would not have had the opportunity to, to to be taken to Caesarea, to speak with governors that nobody else who wasn't a Roman citizen would not have had the opportunity to do.

He used that to his advantage in the furtherance of the gospel and for the glory of God. Being trained as a rabbi opened doors to synagogues in Gentile cities, giving him an automatic audience to start with. When he went to a Gentile city, if it was large enough to have a Jewish community, a Jewish community would have a synagogue. A synagogue meant a place where a Jew could walk in and say, hey, it's my turn to speak, and that was Paul. And so time after time, he went to these cities, they had synagogues, and he had an automatic opportunity to speak and share the word of God.

And he had something in common with his fellow Jews, particularly the Old Testament scriptures. He was a passionate, zealous man by nature who poured himself into his mission, Whether that mission was to arrest Christians or to plant churches, he poured himself into it. That's who he was. And God used that to bring thousands, if not millions, to Jesus Christ. Acts twenty twenty four, Paul said this, but none of these things move me, neither count on my life dear unto myself that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

So many others would have said, hey, I'm not going to Jerusalem. I hear they're going to arrest me there and I hear I'm going to suffer there And so I'm not going there, but that wasn't Paul. That wasn't Paul. I mean, it wasn't who Paul was. If the Lord was calling him to suffer, if the Lord was calling him to go to Jerusalem, then Paul knew the Lord had a purpose in it and he wasn't stopping.

All of those things made Paul who he was and made him the perfect missionary to the Gentile world. You also have personal characteristics, talents, gifts, experiences. Some of them you don't consider to be good ones, but God can use them as tools to lead others to Christ, to find things in common with other people, to be able to better understand where they're coming from and point them to Jesus. Personal traits like your intellect and your training, your upbringing, your talents and gifts of the spirit, your burdens and passions. Before I was a Bible major in college, I was a physics major.

I spent two years as a physics major. There was a time when I wondered if I wasted two years of my life as a physics major before I surrendered to God to the ministry. But you know something? I don't think I wasted two years of my life. I think I learned things that I would not have learned had I have been a Bible major when I went to college.

And at times, that knowledge and those experiences have helped me. I grew up in a Christian home. I worked with youth before I became the pastor here. I have a family, a wife and two sons, now a daughter-in-law. For all my angst concerning so called science, I actually like science and I like history.

And sometimes those serve me well. I love music. I started singing in church long before I started preaching. And at times that has served me well. I had to work my way through college, working construction and yes, Al, in a tire factory.

And it gave me life experiences I wouldn't have had if I didn't need to do that. All those things are tools that I can use to minister in ways that maybe I couldn't have ministered quite as well if I hadn't have had those experiences. You have different experiences. And many of those are just as valuable as mine. Find some way to use those tools.

They're tools to be used in the ministry of Christ. Life experiences often are difficult, but later they yield good fruit in our lives. James one says, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work that she may be perfect and entire wanting, meaning lacking nothing. So James says, when you go through these trials, when you go through these tests, even sometimes when you falter, don't get discouraged, don't quit, don't get down in the mouth, get back up on the horse, trust the Lord, find some way to let God use that struggle to make you more like Christ, to make you a better witness for Jesus Christ. They are opportunities.

I think of and I've mentioned this before. We had two men in the church by the same first name. They're not here now. They both went to be with the Lord in the last few years. One's name was Steve Morris.

The other name was Steve Altman. Steve Morris contracted a virus when he was in his, I think thirties, maybe 40 in Chicago in the cold one night and the virus went to his heart, it it caused him struggles with his heart until ten ten, fifteen years later, he had a stroke and then another stroke. And by the time we knew Steve, he was sitting in a wheelchair in between these, you know, in the aisle here. But did that stop Steve from witnessing? No.

There were people that came to this church because of Steve Morris. And he couldn't drive so he rode the bus. What did he do when he rode the bus? He carried tracks with him. What did he do while he rode the bus?

He witnessed to people on the bus of the grace and power of God. And he wasn't down in the mouth. He was almost always excited about being in church. He allowed those difficulties in life to make him a better witness for Jesus and to reach people otherwise he wouldn't have reached. Steve Altman had to have a kidney transplant.

He was eight years on dialysis before he got the kidney. A little while after COVID, he caught COVID. I not sure if it was the COVID or something else but he went to be with the Lord but I remember talking to Steve going to see him when he was in the hospital getting the kidney transplant. And he talked about the nurses that came and the doctors that came. And you know what Steve did?

There weren't many people that went in and out of that room who didn't hear about Jesus. He was a missionary to Tampa General Hospital. That's what he was. He was a missionary to the people that hooked him up to the dialysis machine before he got his kidney. That's what Steve was.

He wasn't a preacher. He wasn't a missionary, but he used what God gave him to be a witness. When he first started coming, he lived in Lexington Club, which is down up here Missouri Avenue. And he wanted to to minister to people in that big apartment complex where he was. And so he asked me if I would come and sing with him and do a bible study with him.

And I because of Steve, I had that opportunity for about two years before he moved out of there. So I remember David coming and playing trombone form over the summer, and we'd play guitar and trombone. It was interesting. We don't do trombone and guitar too often. But that was all because of Steve Altman.

So we can get depressed and despondent and we can gripe and complain, but remember what your savior went through for you and try to find a way to use the hard things and the difficult things as tools to minister for others because if you will look at it that way, you will find that you can and you can use them to make a difference as Paul did, as the Steves did. And then other tool, one more tool, the material blessings that God has given us are also meant to be what? Things that we board up so we can go on a whirlwind cruise around the world. I mentioned that because Kate had a customer that how long was his cruise? Three months.

He cruised all the way around the world, three months on a ship. So I expect that cost a pretty penny. And I don't think I would mind. I don't know, it might be kind of long to be three months on a ship. That might be fun kind of cruise around the world.

But you know something, there might be a better use for my money than cruising around the world. Because one day this world is what? This world is passing away and I can't take it with me. And I'm going to get another chance in the millennial kingdom to maybe see some of this world I haven't seen now. I'm going to get to see a new world when he makes it and it's going to be better than this one, I'm sure.

Material blessings that God gives us here, the Bible says, lay up for yourselves treasures where? In heaven and not merely on earth. In heaven where thieves do not break through nor steal, where rust just doesn't corrupt or moths. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You cannot serve God in what?

Mammon or money. Now you need money. Don't get me wrong. You need it for yourself and you need it for others and we need it. It it is important.

We need food, clothing, housing. Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. What that means is he's gonna he's gonna help you to make sure that you can provide for those those things, those necessities you need. But material blessings are not just luxuries to be spent upon our whims and our indulgences. They're tools.

They're tools. In one Corinthians sixteen:two, Paul says, Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered that there be no gatherings when I come. What was Paul talking about? He was talking about their material blessings, particularly money that he was going to take as an offering back to the churches in Jerusalem. Why?

Because the churches in Jerusalem were kind of in a bad spot. There was famine, there was persecution, and they needed some help. And so some of the churches in Macedonia said, hey, Paul, they helped us by sending us the gospel, we'll help them by sending some provision as the Philippians had done with Paul. They had they Philippians sent provision, money, food, I don't know what all to Paul on more than one occasion in his ministry to help him as we send support to these missionaries. The material blessings, the provision, the money that God gives us.

As Christians, we need to look at those things not simply as something for self indulgence, but also for something that is a tool to be used in the service of the Lord. A tool to be used to provide for our necessities. As I quoted Matthew six thirty three, God said, I if you'll put first the kingdom of God, I'll see all these things are added unto you. So Christ gives us, provides for us, God gives us opportunities to earn money. He he gives us opportunities for provision so that we can take care of our needs.

Are those important to him? Yes, they are. What's the tool that God gives so we can do that? He gives us work. He gives us provision.

He gives us money. There's nothing wrong with using that to provide for your needs because that's one of the reasons he's giving it to you. Number two, not only to provide for our necessities, but to provide for the needs of others. Acts two forty four and forty five. And all that believe were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need.

Now that's not communism. It's not communism for a couple of reasons. One, it wasn't the government. Two, it was not coerced. It was just Christians helping Christians.

That's what it was. Those who had shared with those who were in a bad spot, the Lord could help them because they're family, because money and provision is not just something to hoard for my own self indulgence, but it's also a tool to help to help others. Ephesians four twenty eight says, let him that stole, steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that, what? Needeth. So what does Paul say to the Ephesians?

Don't steal anymore. Now, you're a Christian, you know stealing's not the way to to make provision for yourself. Instead of stealing, do what? If at all possible, work. And as you work, don't forget others.

As God provides, also think about others because maybe there's some that can't work. Maybe there's some that are in bad straits. So don't steal, but work. And when you work, use it to provide for your own, but also think about and notice the needs of others. So God has given us that tool to help others.

Thirdly, to provide for us those things which glorify him in his service to him, in our service to others. When I think about when I've been looking for a vehicle on more than one occasion, one of the things I've looked for in a vehicle was a van or something with a little extra seating. So if I need to stop and pick up somebody, I can. Now, I mean, I'd like to have that red Corvette I talked about this morning, but I can't pick up very many people in a Corvette. I I don't know how much you know about Corvettes, but they only have two seats.

My Mazda out there has seven? Yeah. One, two, three, four, five. Yeah. Seven.

Eight if we kinda cram somebody in between two in the back. And we've used that because a vehicle isn't just for fun. A vehicle isn't just to impress people. Vehicle is a tool to get from one place to what? Another.

And in some cases, to help get others from one place to another, particularly to church. The Internet. Now, the Internet has its bad side, but the Internet can also be used as a tool for evangelism. And as we preach on Sunday morning here and Sunday night, our service is recorded and our service goes on to our website and our service goes on, I think, to YouTube and other people are watching these services that cannot be here. I got a a letter just this past week from somebody who didn't put their return address on it, says, I watched the livestream.

Thank you. Here's a gift for the church. It's a tool. Missionaries, the SPIITS missionaries to Brazil. They're here in The States, two of their kids are ill, please keep them in your prayers.

But you know he can teach others in Brazil while he's here. Because of what? Because of the Internet. He can do that. It's a tool.

Our homes are not just places to show off or place with a bed so we can sleep. Our homes can also be tools to bring other people and invite them in, get to know them. The money that God provides helps to provide for church ministry, helps to provide for literature and Bibles, helps to provide for the training of people in God's service, helps to provide for the sending of missionaries to take the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a tool. It's a tool to provide for your family.

It's a tool to help others. It's a tool to reach the world for who? For Jesus Christ. It's a tool for all of those things, but it is a tool and one which while we're using it for other things we need, we must not forget this mission that God has called us to, to use it for that reason as well. Second Corinthians nine, six, and seven.

I read this last week when I explained my pamphlet. Paul writes, but this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth the cheerful giver. What is Paul talking about in context? He's talking about this offering that he's taking back from Macedonia to Jerusalem for the needs of the saints. That's what he's talking about.

And as you lay aside weekly what the Lord lays on your heart, if you give little, then it amounts to little. If you give much, it amounts to much. Now much and little aren't don't mean, you know, a thousand dollars versus 10, but it's as God what? As God prospers, he says in first Corinthians 16. So $10 might be a lot of money to you.

And does that matter to God? Can he use it? He can. And he does. And each year, that goal gets a little bit more.

In the last ten years or nearly that, we've made that goal. We've been able to add missionaries. We've able to raise their support. And many more souls have been saved there and some here because God's people are willing to take what God has given them and to use it in reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. And that is worth it.

So what are the tools? I'm sure there's more. But the Holy Spirit, the sword of the spirit, the word of God, prayer, your personal talents and experiences and gifts, material blessings. Those are all tools to be used in his service. All tools that we might use to bring glory to God and if we're willing to share them, to bring people to Christ in our own personal witness and in helping others, our church, our missionaries.

In first Corinthians four twelve, it says this, it is required in stewards that a man be found, what? Faithful. It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. That is all God asks of us, is to be faithful stewards. What is a steward?

A steward is a servant who has been entrusted with something, had been trusted by his master or his employer to take a certain provision, oversee a certain property, take a certain amount of money, and oversee the implementation, protection, and use of that for the benefit of the master or the employer. That is a what a steward is. Are you a steward? Yes, you are. God has entrusted us with the gospel.

He's entrusted us with the word of God. He has entrusted us with the talents and gifts that he's given us. He's entrusted us with his spirit. He has entrusted us with the privilege of prayer. Are we going to be faithful stewards to take those tools and those privileges and use them in our life for the glory of God and to reach the lost for Jesus.

That is God's challenge. Let that be ours this evening. And let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for examples in scripture. Thank you Lord for the opportunity to take those things that you have given us, things that can be used for your glory, things that at times may seem like obstacles and trials and and not tools at all but Lord, give us a different mindset.

Help us to look at the world through the eyes of Christ. Help us to see lost souls that need a savior. Help us to find ways to take those experience and and take those provisions that you provided and and use them even better to reach the lost for Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, for those in our congregation that have a the heart of a missionary, the heart of a minister who sees a need and an opportunity to use what they have given to reach Jesus others for Jesus and are using that. And Lord, help us all to find ways even more to do that in service to you.

Provide for these missionaries represented by these flags up here that we support. Help us, Lord, to pray for them, to ask what you would have us do to help provide for them. And we thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to partner with them. Help us, Lord, to find our mission field next door to our house or in our workplace where we can use those tools to bring others to Christ also. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.