Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. We'll read verses 18 through 20 this morning. Matthew 28, and we'll read verses eighteen eighteen through 20 this morning. What is biblical missions?

I started preaching on this last Sunday morning and then Sunday night and ending in the service this morning. What is biblical missions? Well, it is the mission that we were given, the church, believers in Jesus Christ, way back here before Christ went back to heaven, given first to his disciples, but then also to us because we are disciples too. And as it was their joy to take the gospel to the people of their world, it is our joy to take the gospel to the people of our world, our privilege. And so in Matthew twenty eight eighteen, it says, and Jesus came and spake unto them saying, all power the word power there is exousia.

There's two words for power in Greek. This one means authority. Okay? All authority, that kind of 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 always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for your word.

Thank you, Lord, for the mission that you have given to us, entrusted to us. Lord, may we be faithful in fulfilling that mission as the church of Jesus Christ. Lord, thank you for what you did on the cross of Calvary. For, Lord, what you did made the way. You are the way of salvation, the only way.

And, Lord, so desperately people need to hear that you died for their sins on the cross, that you rose again from the dead, and that you invite them to be forgiven of their sins and receive your wonderful gift of eternal life if they will but trust in you. We pray, Lord, if there'd be one here today that is yet to do that, that today would be their day of salvation. And we pray that those of us who know you as savior would be challenged today in our service to you, in our fulfillment of the mission that you have given to us today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Jesus said all authority is given unto me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations. It is a command that God has given to us, his church. God has commanded his church to reproduce itself and to grow through missions. What is missions?

Missions is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Starting in Jerusalem, in your local area, your own community, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the what? Unto the uttermost part of the earth, which is our our theme for Missions Conference this year, unto the uttermost part of the earth. There are at least three key elements to making this happen. The first we talked about last Sunday morning was praying.

Praying. Prayer. Dare to care. Dare to care about your neighbor, your relative, and those on the other side of the world who are souls who need a savior and to pray. In John four thirty five, it says, say not ye there are yet four months to harvest, and and then cometh harvest.

Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Before Jesus sent out his disciples, he asked them to what? He asked them to pray, to care about the harvest, and to pray that God would send forth laborers into the harvest. The harvest of souls is ripe.

But how shall they believe in him who have not in whom they have not heard? And shall how shall they hear unless there be a preacher, a proclaimer, someone to what? To tell them. So pray that God will send others into his harvest. Dare to care.

And then last Sunday night, we talked about the element of going. Someone has to go. We need to go. It may just be to your relative. It may just be to your neighbor.

It may be to your coworker. It may be to your community. It may be that God will call you to another country and say, well, you know, God hasn't done that yet. Well, maybe he still will. You know God calls people after they retire to the mission field?

So maybe you shouldn't count yourself out quite yet, at least reaching out to that neighbor across the street. Dare to obey. God said, go ye into all the world and what? Preach the gospel. Now in some cases, that may just be taking a gospel track and there's some on the tables and handing it to somebody for them to read.

And maybe talking to your neighbor and telling them about what Jesus has done for you or important part of your life that he is may lead to a greater opportunity to share the gospel. But it starts with going. You have to purposefully reach out to others because the gospel is about others for whom Christ died. And if you haven't noticed, they're not all just pouring in through those doors back there. There there are thousands of cars that drive by this church every day.

We're sitting on a corner of a six lane road. They're not coming in those doors. We have to do what? We have to go out and bring them in. We have to go out and tell them.

Share them. Hand them a track. John twenty twenty one says, then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you as my father has sent me even so what? Send I you. In Mark sixteen fifteen, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Go is an imperative. What's an imperative? It's a command. And then finally, in Luke fourteen twenty three, 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. If they're not coming in here, we have to do what?

We have to go out there. And we don't have to need some big structured program to do that. We just need God's people reaching out to the people they know and the people that live beside them and the people they work with and telling them about Jesus and inviting them to come and to hear the good news of the gospel and supporting others who God has called to go to Uganda and Myanmar and The Philippines in Puerto Rico, in Uruguay. But we important part of biblical missions is going. Praying, going, and then this morning, giving.

Yes. Giving is an important part of biblical missions. Dare to trust. To trust in who? To trust the Lord.

That if you will give, if you will sow, you will reap. He will bring in the harvest. He will provide for you if you are willing to trust him and to give some of what he has provided for this extremely important mission that he has given to us, not just to reach the community around our church, but to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Back to second Corinthians nine, six and seven. It says, but this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall, what?

Reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth it in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful a cheerful giver. This verse we use as the basis for our Faith Promise Missions program as Paul lays out here in this verse. To give as we purpose in our heart is led by who?

Is led by God. And if you give as God shows you his will, as God lays it upon your heart, if you purpose to give, you can't go wrong when you're following the will of the Lord. Not the will of the pastor. Not the will of the person behind you in front of you. Not the amount that they give.

Matter of fact, God, Jesus saw with his disciples a widow lady. She had two mites, basically a penny or two. She threw it in the offering. And Jesus said to them, look, she has given more than what? Anyone else because she gave all she had to the Lord.

We tend to compare ourselves to other people. Stop doing that. Just start asking God what he would have you to do and allow him to lead in your service, in your giving, in every area of your life. If you ask for wisdom, God says he'll do what? He'll give it.

He will. He loveth a cheerful giver. First of all, I want us to see this morning the privilege that we have been given. As Paul asked the believers in Macedonia and Achaia and Asia to set aside weekly contributions to help believers and the ministry in Judea from whence the gospel had been brought to them. He now offers these churches, these believers who had come to know Christ through their mission, the opportunity to give to the ministry, ministers, and believers in other places that they could be blessed, encouraged, and empowered to reach more people for Jesus Christ.

That you're you're not giving in missions to the Pizaros. You're giving to a ministry of the gospel in Puerto Rico to reach people for Christ, to build a church there that will then reproduce itself in the lives of more believers to reach others and help them in Puerto Rico. We have that blessed opportunity, that wonderful privilege as these believers had to minister to believers and to those who would be reached through the gospel back in Jerusalem that had so blessed them. Today, we have the opportunity to do the same, to set aside weekly for the needs of other ministries and ministers, in this case, missionaries, to go to places and peoples we cannot go with the gospel message. I may never visit Uganda or Myanmar.

I may never visit The Philippines. I may never visit Uruguay. But yet, despite the fact we may never go to those places, we are ministering today in those places for the ministries of the Espanels and others whom we support. What a privilege we have been given to extend a helping hand and God's blessings to bring souls into the into the kingdom, to fulfill our great commission as the church of Jesus Christ, to invest in the lives and ministries of others from the provision that God has given to us to make an eternal investment. Laying up treasure where?

In heaven. To invest in something real and eternal that will be giving back to us not just for the next year or ten years or twenty years, but for what? For all eternity. You know, the only thing you will take to heaven when you go are the people whose lives you've touched with the gospel, with the word of God, with your testimony. They're the only ones that go with you.

Your house doesn't go. Your car doesn't go. None of those things go with you. But souls who came to the savior and Christians that were encouraged and helped and ministered to, they go with you. And they will be with you forever, where?

In heaven. Along with whatever other rewards are awaiting us there. It's an opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ for our fellow laborers in the gospel and those to whom they bring the words of life. Missions is love in action. Your giving of your love, the love that Jesus has given you, your sharing with others.

It is an opportunity to demonstrate our trust in the Lord, that the Lord can take care, that that the Lord can take the little that we have to give and multiply it for his purpose while also taking care of us. As he declared Matthew six thirty three, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be, what? Added unto you. Philippians four nineteen, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The Lord says, if you will give as I lead and God probably isn't going to ask you to give everything you have because then somebody's gonna have to take care of who?

You. Okay? But if you will give as he leads, he will take care of you. Notice neither of these verses promise us riches or fame or ease, but the blessing and care of our God in heaven who will be there to care for us. Look again at this passage.

But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man is according according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful gift. It's my hope you have this sort of memorized by the end of the service today, if you've noticed. Alright?

First, I'd like to look at the incorrect interpretations. We looked at the privilege of the mission. I would like us to take a moment and consider the incorrect interpretation of this passage. What is the incorrect interpretation? If you give money, you will reap what?

More money. Okay? That is the incorrect interpretation. If you think this pastor is gonna get up here and tell you this morning, if you give $10 to missions, God's gonna give you a 100 in return. You're not gonna hear that.

Not from me. Okay? Because that's not what this verse is promising. okay? It's not promising if you give money, you're gonna get more money back.

That's the incorrect interpretation. Some have attempted to persuade believers to give false to give falsely promising that God is bound to reward them with far greater material or financial yield if they give to their cause. But this is not the teaching of this passage or any passage in scripture. The sowing and reaping that God promises here to those who give is not in dollars or cents or even comfort, health, or ease. You might give a ton of money to missions and you still might get sick.

You still will likely face trials. God doesn't promise you you'll get rich or that life will get easy because you give. The reward for giving of ourselves, our time, our energy, our finances to further the work of the Lord is much greater in kind than the money that we might give. God's blessings are eternal. They're spiritual.

They're far more fulfilling and lasting than temporal gain or ease. The question is not just how much you sow, but the purpose for which you sow it. What is the harvest you are aiming for? Do you think the harvest you are aiming for by giving is to get rich? That is not what God is talking about here.

And I hope that is not your view of missions or giving to the church because that is not the harvest that God is talking about. We're not sowing money to get money. We are sowing of time and energy and, yes, finances for the glory of God and to change the lives of those for whom he died. If your goal is selfish, then you are not and and if your goal is selfish, then you are not sowing for the right reason. You will not likely see a harvest or at least the one you're expecting.

If it is out of compulsion, in other words, to please others and not from your heart, you're not likely to see the harvest. A praise from others is fleeting. But if it is from your heart, is if it out if it is out of a heart of love for the lost and others who have needs which you can help meet, if their blessing is your blessing, If their salvation and subsequent joy makes you joyful, then you will likely find a bountiful, bountiful harvest. This is where the prosperity preachers get it all wrong. Serving Christ, giving of ourselves to the Lord does not mean a life will be easy.

A matter of fact, the scriptures paint a different picture, a life of sacrifice and trials. It says that those who choose to serve Christ will likely face persecution. It says in second Timothy three twelve, yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. God does not promise an easy life. If you pray, you go, or you give.

What he promises is a bountiful what? A bountiful harvest. A bountiful harvest. The proper motivation, the correct interpretation of sowing and reaping is the reaping of re of riches in Jesus Christ, eternal, not temporal. These are the harvest.

They are found in the peace of God that passes what? All understanding. They are found in the joy of the Lord that is there in the good times and in the the hard times. They are found in a personal walk and fellowship with the Lord each day who affects our homes, our ministry, and our places of work with positive and uplifting things. They are found in deliverance from the bondage of sin and Satan and the lust of the flesh.

Victory in Jesus Christ. They are found in the love of the Lord and his daily care for us, including the promise that he will never, what, leave us nor forsake us. They are found in the opportunity and blessing of making a difference in the lives of others who we care about. Relatives, family, friends, neighbors, coworkers. You can make a difference.

Yes. You. You can make a difference in the life of the waiter or waitress that takes your order today just by showing them the love of Christ and handing them a track. You have the potential to make a difference in their life. You can make a difference in the life of somebody on the other side of the world by praying and giving to those God has called to go there to share the good news of the gospel with them.

And it is ultimately in the riches that we lay up in heaven. Eternal riches awaiting us there, riches even greater in abundance for those who look and live for his coming and not so much for the things of the earth. This is the very antithesis of prosperity gospel so called. Regard regarding missions, we are not sowing money. We are sowing the what?

The seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what we are sowing. We are sowing the love of God in the world. We are sowing goodwill towards those who are desperately in need. We do this by helping to send missionaries.

God has called to bring them the gospel and other blessings from the hand of the Lord and the word of God that they need. And you can be a part of that in reaching your neighbor and in reaching others on the other side of the world. As we are holding a service here today, they're holding services as well, and they're preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. How he came. He died on a cross for their sins.

He rose again, and he invites them to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And we can be a part of that. And we must. You don't give to missions or the church or to the needy to get rich. The harvest we are looking for is not temporal, material, or financial.

The harvest is spiritual. It's personal. It's eternal. If we invest, reinvest the blessings of God is poured into our lives and the lives of others, we will reap, meaning we will be blessed. We will find great joy and profound fulfillment in the harvest of souls for Jesus in their transformed lives as did the apostles.

Paul says this in one way or another several times in his epistles. What is his joy? What was John's joy as he wrote in first John? Here's their joy. What did Paul write?

For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? Paul said, my joy is found in you, in your salvation, but also in your discipleship and growth, your endurance, and you fulfilling that mission as well and reproducing in the life. It is the joy of your pastor to see God working in your life, to see souls saved, and you gain confidence to be a testimony and a witness to others and to bring them into the fold. So in conclusion today, three questions.

What would God have you to give? You don't have to tell anybody but who? God. Between you and him. What would God have you to give, particularly for the missions ministry of Missouri Avenue Baptist Church?

To whom would God have you to go? To whom would God have you to go? Not just them, but but you. And for whom would God have you to pray? For whom?

For what missionaries? For what souls who need a savior? Questions I ask today not because it makes for a good invitation, but because they are questions which need what? Answers from the child of God in fulfilling the great commission God has given to us. How about you today?

Would you give it some serious consideration? Dare to ask the Lord today, Lord, what would you have me to give? Lord, to whom would you have me to go? Lord, whom or for whom would you have me to pray? Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for Jesus Christ, our savior, what he did for us on the cross. Lord, we pray if there's one here today that is yet to receive Jesus Christ as savior, we pray that they would come at the first verse of this invitation that we might meet them and show them how they can be saved and on their way to heaven and know it. And we pray, Lord, for your people that we would be willing to answer the question the questions, Lord, in regards to our responsibility and our privilege in international missions today.

And, Lord, that we would be willing to have a conversation to you even right now, Lord, before we leave this place. And that you would guide us, direct us, and answer our prayers in regard to this need. Bless these missionaries, Lord. Give them souls for their labor even this day in the places to where you have called them. And, Lord, help us to guide us in partnering with them to reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Jesus' name, do pray. Amen.