Amen. Wish we could have that, you know, like, once a month, but I don't know that they can get down here all that often. Mark chapter 16. We'll continue second part of the message from this morning. David and Zach did play Bob Jones in the band for how many years?

Were you all the same year? Three years? Yeah. Three years. So we have plenty of videos stored somewhere on our computers with Zach on them, as well as David.

That is when they scanned the camera over to where they were. It seemed like they always had the we got to see Emily a lot because she was right in the middle playing flute but they didn't like the trombones but every now and then, they got over there where he could see em. So, alright. What is biblical missions? Biblical missions means praying, it also means going.

With the praying, there also must be going. Okay? Mark 16 and verse 15, a verse that you should have memorized, but if you don't, it's not hard. It's kind of a short verse. And he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

It's kind of fitting that one of the last songs I played was all creatures of our all creatures of our God and king that we sang together this evening because that does really go along with this verse. So, I didn't plan it that way. I don't think David knew what I was preaching on ahead of time. So, that that worked out pretty good. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Also, John twenty twenty one this evening says, then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you. As my father hath sent me, so send I you. The theme of our missions conference coming up is to the uttermost part of the earth, but the theme last year at missions conference is on the crosses on the side still and on a thing in the back, and that is so send I you. The Lord has sent us. Sent us to do what?

To to go. Okay? Let's go ahead and open the prayer once more. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for this day. Thank you for your word.

Thank you for the mission that you have given us, for the spirit that you have given to empower us, for the word that you have given us as a powerful tool. The gospel of Jesus Christ to change hearts and lives and to bring glory to our Lord and savior who gave his life for us. Lord, may you be magnified in the service this evening. May you touch our hearts and challenge us by your word and your spirit. We pray in Jesus name, amen.

When Jesus says in Mark sixteen fifteen, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. In John twenty twenty one, when Jesus says, as the father has sent me, so send I you. Who is Jesus talking to? Well, he's talking to his disciples, okay? The founders, leaders of his church, which we are members of today.

Not just members of Missouri Avenue Baptist Church, but members of the body of Christ, the family of God. And God has given us a mission as part of that body. God has given us a mission as Missouri Avenue Baptist Church, the same as he gave to them. So when Christ declares to his disciples their responsibility responsibility to spread the good news of salvation, he is also talking to us. He's also talking to Missouri Avenue Baptist Church.

He's also talking to you who are a child of God. The same burden they were given to carry, we must also carry. The same mission they were given to carry out today is ours as well. The same privilege they were afforded as ambassadors of the king to a lost world in their day is the same privilege that you have today to be the ambassadors of Jesus Christ. The church is not exempt and neither are its members.

We are sent to the people of our day as they were sent to the people of theirs. We can't go back and minister to the people of their day, and they can't minister to the people of our day. They had their mission and their day to their world, and we have ours today. And it is just as much needed today as it ever was. And it is just as much the same mission that God has given to us.

So what exactly has Missouri Avenue Baptist Church been tasked with doing by our king, our Lord, and our savior? Well, we have been tasked with praying, we talked about this morning. Pray therefore the what? The the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. To care and to pray.

And number two, this evening, to go. Missions must involve going. That is the mission, to go and to preach the gospel. The word go entails the idea of traverse or travel or journey. It implies a willful planned action taking with taken with a definite goal or intent.

Again, it is a willful planned action taken with a definite goal or intent. When he says go, it's an imperative. We are he has commanded us to go with a plan of action and a goal to meet. Just like if you were going to the store. If you went to the store, you would be going with a purpose.

Right? You I would hope so. You're not just I mean, I know some people that just love to go to the store for no reason. I I don't understand that. That makes no sense to me.

I like shopping but if I don't come back with something when I go shopping, then it was a complete waste of that time. So, you go to the store, you go to the store to get something. There is a plan and a purpose and a goal in going. There is a a plan and a purpose in going to work. There is a reason.

You have a purpose. You you have a goal to to make something, to do, to accomplish something. Vacation. You go on vacation for a reason. You're going to a place.

You're the reason may be a little different than the purpose, the goal of going to work. But it is a planned journey with a a goal in mind. Even war is going. It is a planned action with a definite goal. We are in a battle for the souls of men and women and boys and girls.

And we have been blessed and privileged with being given the mission to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. But that by necessity means going. We can't just wait for them to to come to us. We must go forth to them with a purpose and a plan. I'm afraid all too often, we're just content to wait for them to walk in the doors.

And most of the time, that doesn't happen. Most of the people that walk in the doors of the church are already saved. Now, not everyone, and we try to preach the gospel every week and in some fashion and form because there may be somebody today in this service tonight or may have been in this service this morning that walked in here that didn't know Jesus Christ as their savior. But most of them aren't walking in the doors of the church. We have to do what?

We have to go. We have to go reach them in our our neighborhood, at our place of work. We have to send missionaries to go reach them on the other side of the world. They have to do the same thing there. We can't just wait for them to show up.

Jesus knew that. That's why he said, go. Go to do what? To preach the gospel that people might be saved and our God glorified. Go ye therefore and preach the gospel to every creature.

Preach the gospel. What's the word preach mean? It means to proclaim or to herald. Like a town crier, an announcer at an an activity. Somebody says, okay, now it's time to do this.

If you wanna do this, you now need to come over here. If you wanna meet this person, then you need to come over here at this time and you get to meet this person. Well, we have a person to introduce them to. Who is that person? That person's Jesus Christ.

And we have been privileged and commanded to go and to proclaim. There is a person they need to meet. A very important person. A person who is unlike any other. A person who is God and man together.

A person who died for their sins and rose again. A person who from heaven today invites them to come and be saved. Jesus Christ. God has commanded us to go and to preach, to proclaim. It is part of our mission.

In Luke fourteen twenty three, it says, and the Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. Go out and what? Find them and what? Bring them in, okay? Not just physically into the church but but into the household of faith through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But it requires going and and opening your mouth. Romans ten thirteen and fourteen, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him and whom they have believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a what? A preacher.

Well, that that means an ordained minister, right? No. It doesn't. That's not what that word means. It doesn't say ordained minister.

There's a different word for that. This is kerusso. It means a proclaimer. And that can be anybody who knows the Lord Jesus Christ. So people, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord in faith shall be saved.

But how how are they going to call upon him whom they have not believed and how are they going to believe in him of whom they have not heard? Somebody needs to what? This means tell them. And for some reason, Jesus chose us. He went back to heaven.

He is interceding in behalf of all those who come to him in faith. But it it is our responsibility to pray, that God would send forth laborers into his harvest, but also to what? But also to go. To go and to proclaim the good news. How am I going to know what to do unless I get the message?

They need the message. One time we were having a youth activity, and I was supposed to go pick somebody up and somebody called and told somebody, hey, so and so needs a ride. You need to pick them up. Well, they didn't get picked up and they didn't get to come to the activity because the person who took the message didn't do what? Didn't bother to tell me that I needed to go pick them up.

So guess what? They didn't get there. How are we to know if somebody doesn't tell us? Important part of evangelism, important part of missions, whether it be in the neighborhood surrounding the church or your house or on the other side of the world, is somebody has to go and give them the what? The message.

Somebody has to be the messenger. It necessitates going. Going, proclaiming the gospel, the good news, the good tidings. Have have you ever been bursting at the seams to tell someone about good news? You ever had good news to tell?

I remember David was taking the ACT And he wanted to get a scholarship to college and he had taken it the first time and he hadn't done well enough. So so he worked hard and he took it again. And we were playing David, do you remember what we were doing when you found out that you've got high enough on the ACT? We were on the tennis court. We were playing tennis on the tennis court down the street from the house.

Now, do you remember? Now, he still doesn't remember. Anyway, I remember. He got on his phone that he had got and so he we stopped playing tennis and he had to call his mother and let her know that he had he had gotten the scholar because that's what he needed. The one thing he lacked was to get high enough on his ACT.

And he got it, and he got the scholarship, and he was thrilled, and we were even more thrilled. That was good good news. He couldn't wait. Maybe the good news is she said, yes. Maybe the good news is we're going to have a baby.

Whatever the good news may be, have you ever been bursting at the seams to to go and say, hey, listen, this happened. Well, that is that is the gospel. As as wonderful as David getting the scholarship or or she's saying yes to your proposal or or having a baby, the gospel's even better. It is wonderful, news. One, that we should be bursting at the seams to tell.

Now, sometimes, it's a little difficult to tell some people. We don't maybe know quite know how to say it and we have to practice. We have to learn. We have to try and some of us may be better at it than others. That's okay.

But it's our responsibility as a church to go and to proclaim the what? The good news. To see that it is proclaimed. And it should be in the heart of every child of God to do that because it is indeed good news. Jesus has come.

He paid the price for your sin and mine. He is risen from the dead. And he offers salvation, forgiveness, and everlasting life to all who will believe, that is in faith to humbly choose him as Lord and savior from their sin. Colossians 15, Paul wrote, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you by also which also you have received and wherein you stand by which also you are saved, how that Christ died for our sins according to scripture, that he was buried and they rose again the third day according to the scripture. Paul said, I I couldn't wait to get there and tell you the good news.

You can be saved, Jew and Gentile alike. Jesus has come and he is risen again from the grave. It is it is good news. Romans ten nine and thirteen, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That is the message that we have been given and is a good one and is an important one. Not only will God save you from sin and hell, he will change your life in ways that you cannot imagine. He is a good God. He sent his son to die for you. He wants to walk with you.

He wants to to to answer your prayers. He wants to give you joy and peace that passes all understanding, and he wants to give you eternal life and take you home to be with him someday. To be with you forever. Go ye therefore and preach the gospel. You take away the gospel and you don't have missions, not biblical missions.

I mentioned that this morning. I kinda got ahead of myself in this morning's message. A few verses, I'll just read through a mark Matthew nine thirty five. Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. Notice what's in red on each one of these verse passages we look at.

Luke four eighteen, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised. Jesus was also quoting from Isaiah 61 there. Acts eight twenty five, and they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans, the disciples after Christ's ascension. Acts twenty twenty four, but none of these things move me, neither count on my life dear unto myself that I might finish my course with joy.

The ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus Christ to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Romans one sixteen, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In first Corinthians one seventeen, for Christ sent me not to baptize but to what? To preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Paul said he didn't he didn't call me to come baptize you, but he came called me commanded me to come and tell you the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yes, Christians should be baptized, but you're not saved by being dunked in water. You're being saved by trusting in Jesus, the good news. And missions is taking that good news, declaring it to those who need it. It isn't going to feed the poor, to educate the ignorant, to build homes for the homeless, or plant crops for the starving, to bring medical help for the sick. All of these are laudable activities.

Which missionaries are apt to include in their ministry? But without the gospel, they fall short of biblical missions. Yes. Jesus healed Todd and helped people in many ways, but it was all pointing to one thing, their need of a savior. And he is the savior that they needed.

And he still is today. They need to hear that. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel Into all the what? The world. So not only are we to go when we are go'd to preach, but we are it tells us where we are to go.

Where are we to go? Into all the the world. Every part. Not limited to any one location. For God didn't so love South America or North America or Israel.

He loved the what? The world. And what he means by that is the people all over the the world. He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And it's to all the world that the church has been tasked with spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to every nation, to every nation, all peoples, not just certain groups like the Jews or whatever group, But every group, because Jesus died for all of them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to all nations, we're told in Matthew 28.

First Timothy two four says, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth? Acts seventeen thirty, and the times of this ignorance God winked on but now commanded all men everywhere to repent. And so the disciples left Jerusalem. Jesus had to give them a little push. But they left Jerusalem, and they went into all Judea, and then Samaria, and unto the what?

The uttermost part of the earth. And we send missionaries to all different places up there on that map in the back corner with the gospel of Jesus Christ because everyone needs to hear. All peoples, every person, every creature, every single person that we can get to with the gospel, they need to hear. Second Peter three nine tells us, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That little word any means anyone, any person.

God isn't desirous that anyone is left out, but that all should be saved. Now they have to receive the Lord Jesus as savior. They have to believe in him. But in order for them to believe and receive, they must first what? They must first hear.

And the people in Africa are not coming in the doors of our church. And the people in Asia are not coming in the doors of our church. A matter of fact, the people three streets down, most of them, are not coming in the doors of our church, which means we need to have a plan to do what? To go and to take them and to take them, the gospel, to every creature because every person in every house on that street matters to who? Matters to God.

Every person. Beginning in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and under to the uttermost part of the earth. Beginning locally, and then state, region, country, and the uttermost part of the earth. This globe, this this what's the exercise ball up here? That represents the globe.

Okay? The lines were a little bit more distinct on it when it was first made a couple years ago. But but it needs to start locally. God doesn't call people to be missionaries who aren't being used of God to reach people where they are. And reaching people where they are is something that we all can do.

If it's not more than handing them a track, and we keep tracks on these tables and by the way, praise the Lord, I have put thousands of those tracks out on these tables over the past twenty years. Thousands and thousands of them. We got keep having to print more. That is a wonderful thing because I assume you're not taking them home and keeping a collection. I hope you're handing them out because it's one way that you can go and declare the good news of the gospel.

You can hand it to somebody that you have twenty seconds to talk to at the drive up window or or the bank teller or the waiter or waitress or the person that you're paying at Home Depot. You don't have time and they'll probably get in trouble if you try to talk to them for thirty minutes, but you can hand them a track. Even if you have a hard time, you don't know what to say to your neighbor, you can start by doing what? By handing them a track. You can start by just talking to them.

Maybe about the weather to begin with, But you gotta get your foot in the the door. You gotta get to know people, and they need to know you. Talking about what Jesus is doing in your life. Witnessing doesn't always mean you have to go through the Romans Road. It starts with, well, what did you do this weekend?

Well, you know, I went fishing. Well, what did you do? Well, I went to church. That's how it that's how it starts, but we have to go and be willing. With a plan to our neighborhood, to our nation, and to and to the world.

We have a a plan in our church. This missions conference is mainly about the plan to reach the world for Jesus Christ. We have 10 missionaries, I think, at the moment we support. They're all listed on that board back there and there's pins at where they are. We have a missionary of the week each week in the bulletin.

And we support them with our finances. We also, I hope, support them with our prayers. Maybe send them an email every now and encourage them. That means a great deal to them. The Lord has called them to go, and we have a plan to partner with them to reach places where we personally may never go, but where God has led them, And we are privileged to support them.

Supporting missionaries to go to those places and do what we should be doing here, but doing it there. By giving, by praying. What is your plan? In some measure, your plan needs to include going, taking a track and handing it to someone, talking to that neighbor, to that relative, to that coworker, praying for that missionary, giving so they can go where you cannot have a plan. It is commanded of us as children of the Lord, as ambassadors for Jesus Christ, as Missouri Avenue Baptist Church, to have a plan to take the good news of Jesus to the world.

What is your what is your plan? Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you, Lord, for doing the hard part. You came to Earth. You died on the cross for our sins.

All you've asked us to do is to be who we are, children of God and witnesses of Jesus Christ, and to tell others what we have seen and heard and what we know, and the good news of the gospel that you have recorded and given to us. Lord, forgive us for being complacent about that mission so often. Lord, give us a burden. Open our eyes and give us a heart of compassion. Lord, we do pray that you would send forth laborers into the field, that you would send them from here, that you would send them from other churches.

That, Lord, you might send us to our neighbor, to our friend, to our coworker, and give us a burden to support those who've been called to other places, that we can fulfill the great commission that you have given to us. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen.