To Uganda for a two week trip, and I was able I was working with some of the translation work, and I was able to copy and paste their tran their rough draft translation of first Corinthians into a software program, hoping to do more of an inner linear between the Mahdi and English to greater facilitate an accurate check of their translation. And the process, I found that I could export it out to PDF in in more paragraph form. So I did that and I showed it to our lead translator, Zama David, and he got this big smile on his face and he said, just wanna sit down and read the entire book of first Corinthians right now. And it took me aback because here he was, the lead translator on the team. He spent hours and hours translating through first Corinthians.

He probably knows first Corinthians better than I do at this point. And here he wants to read the entire bible or the entire book through right then. And I kinda asked myself the question, do I value God's word that much? But it also encouraged me in the fact in the to realize that they do greatly desire to have God's word in their language and the impact that can have is tremendous in seeing churches started and seeing believers discipled and seeing people saved. And on the back on my table back there, I do have a flyer from Worldview Ministries that goes over our different projects and does lay out our translation philosophy as well as the impact that it can have in a people group when they can have God's word in their language for the first time and the impact they can have in a people group.

And you can even just look at the history of churches, church church planning and missions within the English speaking realm since the since Tyndale translated the scriptures into the English language and just see the explosion of missions amongst our own people group, sending missionaries out, seeing churches planted amongst our people once the bible is translated in our language. And that same thing can be replicated time and time again in other languages as we translate God's word into their language. The Lucones language that I helped start in 2021, have translated the book of books of Mark, James, first, second, third John, John. Last I heard, were working their way through Acts. And once that's completed, then they'll be moving on to the book of Luke.

In 2021, we did add three more translators to our team of two. And so now we're up to five, and they greatly accelerated their translation process with the three additional men. And so I was falling way behind. And in 2023, we had a young man from our school interned with the project, and he we gave him the task of check of checking some of our back translation work that I was behind behind on. He got us all caught up.

And so we are wrapping up the New Testament currently with the Mahdi translation. I currently have just received within the past month and a half the book of Matthew, and so I need to buckle down and start working on checking the back translation of Matthew and get that, my comments sent back to them to make any changes that are necessary. And then last I heard they were doing group checks through the final parts of Revelation. And once that's done, then they'll be sending that on to me, and then I'll be checking that. And then we'll be wrapping up final checking process of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and various other checks throughout the entire New Testament.

And Lord willing, end of this year, beginning of next year, we'll be able to have the the New Testament for the Mahdi translation printed, and then we'll have a dedication service and gets the New Testament distributed among the Mahdi people within the next year, Lord willing. That'll be an exciting thing. As soon as I wrap up deputation, I'll be moving over there. I got most of the details finished up that I need to accomplish before moving overseas. And so as soon as my my support's fully underwritten, then I can get my visa and tickets purchased.

I have actually started communication with the guy there in Uganda, and he's submitted my application for work permit underneath an NGO. And so the process started for residency in Uganda, and I'm thankful to be getting a head start on that because who knows how long it might take with the different bureaucracies in different countries. Sometimes it can be kinda slow. And so once I get over there, then I'll be teaching the Mahdi team Hebrew, and we'll be transitioning from the New Testament into the Old Testament. One thing I found found out within the last couple years was that Mahdi is tonal, has tone, five to seven tones like Mandarin Chinese.

And so it'll be an interesting first language to work with that working with a tonal language. And when I found that out, it made a lot of sense why I would someone asked, oh, what what church did you preach at? Which village were you at today? And I'd say Uduru. And they're like, give me a blank stare.

And it's like, oh, I now I realize I didn't put put the right intonation on it, right tone on it, whether it's Uderu or Uduru or what have you. There's so many different ways you can say that word with different tone intonations that I'm not sure exactly how to say it at this point. I'll have to work on that. But I do know a few words, and I'll be working on learning the language once I get over there. And I'm estimating that the Old Testament will take probably another eight years to translate, and then we'll see where God directs me after that point, whether it's another language there in Uganda or a surrounding country or maybe another part of the world.

We'll see what God does, opens what doors he opens up in the future in the within the next eight years. I have had people from South Sudan as well as in Uganda present their desire to have God's word translated into their language. And so there's a possibility of also of Juan there, working with the Mahdi translation, developing like an institute a training center where people who are interested in translating the bible into their language can come and I can teach them the Greek and the Hebrew, teach them translation philosophy and help to get them started, translating the bible into their language. Also, November '22, I was able to go to Cameroon and a missionary there invited me to come over and teach translation philosophy to his bible institute students, and they have are now working on translating the bible into the pidgin English there in Cameroon. And one of the young men encouraged, he's also working on translating the Bible, not only into Pidgin English, but also into his local tongue there in Cameroon.

So so it's neat to be a part of what God's doing and just to see the different projects going forward and see what God is doing and looking forward to being part of so much more in the future to come. And if you'll turn your bibles with me to Romans chapter 10, Paul here in this chapter lays out shows us his heart for for missions and also very clearly lays out what the gospel is and how it is central to missions and what the center of missions is and how we should go about it. And if you have further questions regarding what I'm doing or I or what might be the future might look like, I encourage you to catch me afterwards. I know we don't have a whole lot of time to take questions now, but I'll welcome any of those afterwards. And here in Romans chapter 10, Paul's been throughout the previous chapters, he's been laying out a doctrinal thesis for salvation and and how God has works in men's hearts to convict them of sin and how forgiveness of sins can make the difference in our lives.

And here in chapter 10 or chapter nine through 11, he begins to he's kind of steps aside and says, okay, so this is how salvation it comes about and the impact it can have in our lives. But this is true for us now, but what about Israel? How's Israel playing to this new plan that God's created with the church? And has God set Israel aside? Is he done with them?

And he begins to go into this theological thesis on what God's plan for Israel is. And in the middle of this thesis, he stops or pauses or maybe dives a little bit deeper into it and says here in verse one, brethren, heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

For Moses describe it righteousness righteousness which is of the law, to the man which that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. And I'm I'm struck by verse one as he begins here and says, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. And he lays clearly out, this is my burden. This is my constant prayer to God is for my people, for Israel to be saved. And being an Israelite, having grown up under the law, being a Jewish man, being trained under Gamaliel, one of the doctors of the law, being high up, a very high level Pharisee within the Jewish religion, Paul knew exactly where the Jewish people stood.

And and if you if we look were to look at Galatians chapter one, he mentions there in verse 14 how he was exceedingly zealous for the traditions of the fathers. And he knew exactly where they were, and he's says in verse two, how he he bears them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge. And if you were to go back to the intertestamental period of time when the Pharisees and Sadducees came into being after the Babylonian captivity, you have these religious sects rising up and in a desire for them to keep God's law. They added standards and rules to God's law to protect them from stepping across that boundary and breaking God's law. And you see them in Christ's time coming conflict with Christ over these these rules that they had set in place as Christ breaks their rules and but doesn't break God's law.

And they see they have a problem with this because they've exalted their laws and rules to the level of God's laws and rules. And they have gone about instead of seeking righteousness by faith, which is what God had established from the very beginning, They had taken the rules and laws that God had given them and said, this is how we earn righteousness is by keeping these laws. And we're going to even add to them to make sure that we're even more righteous and make sure that we don't break God's law. And they had established their own righteousness. And I think if we were to look across our world today, that same truth is a reality for every people group around our world today.

They have a zeal for God. Maybe it's not the God of the Bible, but their own God, their own deity, and they have gone about and established their own righteousness. And they have not they have not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God. Just back in January, there was a probably one of the the largest religious gatherings that happened there in India and occurred in India as 420,000,000 people gathered at the where their ganges and other river meet. And these people gathered there at this particular time of the year for the purpose of bathing themselves in the river this of this river so that they could have their sins forgiven and to escape the cycle of reincarnation.

They have a zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge. And they have established their own righteousness and they are seeking, they're desiring for their sins to be forgiven. And yet they do not realize that salvation has come through faith in Christ. And we continue on here in verse six as Paul lays out here, but the righteous which is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down from above.

Or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring Christ again from the dead. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart, that is the word of faith which we preach. And here, Paul is quoting from a passage there in Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 11 through 14.

As Moses has given the law of God to Israel, he's written it down for them, the first five books of the Old Testament. And he declares to Israel, for this commandment which I command thee this day is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that thou should say, who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us so we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that thou should say, who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us so we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and thine heart that thou mayest do it.

And up until this point when Moses gives the first five books of God's word to Israel in written form, there's no record that we have that God's word had been written down at any previous point in time. And so if you want to know what God's word was, what God's spoken to other people, you have had to go to that individual, whether it was Noah or Adam or or Shem or some other person that God had spoken to and said, what was God? What did God say to you? What was it like there in the ark? What was it like there in the Garden Of Eden?

What was it like when God came down in the cool of the day and walked with you and Eve? And what did he say to you? And that's how you would have known what God said or had him speak directly to you. And Shem died, lived long enough after the flood that he died when Abraham was 50 years old. And theoretically, Abraham could have gone and met Shem and said, what did God say to you?

But here now in Deuteronomy, God is shifting focus and he's he's working. He's chosen the Jewish people and he's working with them. He's given the law, laying the foundation for why he would have to come one day and die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins. And Moses says, you no longer have to go across the sea to say who is going to go across the sea bring God's word to us or go into heaven to bring God's word down to us. I've given you God's word.

It's here. It's in your heart and your mouth that you may do it. And and Paul here is taking that one step further now to us as believers in the church age and saying, you don't have to say who's going to bring Christ down from above or up again from the dead. He's living with inside you. As a believer, Christ indwells us and his word is given to us.

We have it right here so we can hear and do it. And yet I would submit to you that there are people all around our world today who are asking this very question. Who's going to go across the sea to bring God's word to us? Who's going to go up into heaven to bring God's word to us? Then we may hear it and do it.

A missionary told the story of as he was transitioning from one place within Western Papua New Guinea to another place, He had gone to this area. People the people there were headhunters, cannibals, and the natives were helping him build his hut there in that area. And as they were working, suddenly they disappeared in into the jungle. And he looked behind him and down the airstrip was coming a war party. And this war party races up to him, kidnaps him, drags him to the jungle, back to the river, to their boats, to their canoes, and they furiously paddle back to their village.

And if you you put yourself in the missionary's place and the fear that you'd be undergoing wondering, what's at the end of this trail for me? And the chief takes him into his hut and begins talking to him. Only The problem is that the missionary has only just gotten there. He doesn't know the language. And the chief stops and waits for the missionary to respond and gets very angry when the missionary doesn't.

And eventually, end up taking the missionary back to his place and he leaves because he's in terror of his life. And a few months later, he finally works up the courage to move back, finish building his house, moves his family in, begins learning the language. And early on in his ministry, there was two people that got saved, and one was the chief from a neighboring village. And the chief asked him to come to his village and share the gospel with his people. And they got there and the chief said, remember the last time you were here?

And he begins to and suddenly he's like, oh, not away. That was you? And he's like, yeah, was me. And he begins to tell the missionary the story of his father who was a young boy who was staying alongside the river of his next to his village with other people from his village as they heard this thumping noise reverberating down the jungle walls. And their terror wanted them to flee into the into the jungle, yet their curiosity held them there as finally around the bend in the river came a motorboat.

And this boat was a one armed man who told them, one day a white person's going to come and tell you how you can know how to die right. And Nottoway's father waited his entire life waiting for that white person to come to tell him how he can know how to die right. And as Nottoway's father was on his deathbed, he'd called Nadaway to him and said, Nadaway, you've been a good son to me. You've learned witchcraft. You've become chief of my stead, but don't follow me now.

Don't follow me to the great fire. And he died there screaming in fear of the demons. And Nadaway took that, his father's words, and took that and carried it on and was waiting for that, waiting to find a better way to die. And finally, this white person was had moved into a neighboring area that was dangerous for them to get to, but they are close enough that they could risk risk it. And that's why he captured that missionary was to ask him how he can know how to die right.

And if you were looking not away, dressed out, decked out with the nose bone and all the others paraphernalia of the head on in cannibal, you would not have said this man is looking to know how to die right. He's not interested in the gospel, and yet he was. And I think that same reality is true of so many people that live around us. People who are been scarred by the wreckage wreckage of sin, and they've been seeking for something. They've been filling it with all sorts of other things, seeking for some way to fill the emptiness inside, and they're desiring to know how they can know how to die right.

And that can only be found through Jesus Christ. And and what is salvation? We see that here in verse nine, that thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. For the heart man believeth under righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that is as simple as salvation as it gets. Recognizing that you're a sinner deserving of God's punishment in hell, realizing that there's no way that you can do enough good things or keep God's law well enough to earn a place in heaven, a stand of righteousness before God, and realizing that Jesus paid the penalty for you. And it only the only requirement for you to be with God in heaven is to depend on Christ for salvation and to call upon him.

And I like what it says there in verse 11, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. There's been times that I've gone to individuals and asked for something and been denied. And there's a shame that comes with that, realizing that I should've known better than ask that individual. They I should've known that they would've rejected. And there's a reject there's a shame that comes with rejection.

And yet he says, if you come to Christ for salvation, you will not be ashamed. God will not turn you away. And he says, why is that? It's because there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. It doesn't matter your nationality.

It doesn't matter what religion you're from. It doesn't matter what sins you've committed. It doesn't matter your family background or how bad you think you are or society thinks you are, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And it says here that he is rich unto all that call upon him. He doesn't just save you from your sins.

He doesn't deliver you from the penalty of sins, from the penalty of hellfire for for all eternity. He goes beyond that and and bestows upon you all the riches of being a joint heir with Christ. Amen. Everything that Christ has as a son of God, he gives you when you depend upon him for salvation. All the benefits, all the privileges that go along with that.

And that is just an incredible thing. And I think that this these same verses can also apply to us as believers as as the children of God, we can come to God with our requests and not be ashamed, not be turned away and rejected. And that he is rich and all that call upon him. Is there something in your life that you're afraid to call upon God for? Some need that you have in your life, but you've been hesitating to bring for God, maybe because you don't know if it's God's will.

He says he is rich unto all that call upon him. And God wants to do that in your life, and he wants to do that also in the lives of those who are lost. And Paul goes on into verse 14 and and verse 15 and really lays out, we have the glorious solution there in verse 13 and he goes step by step. How do we get from from that solution back to the starting point? And the starting point is found in verse 15.

But in verse 14, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? In order for someone to call upon Christ for salvation, they must first believe in him. Story is told of Charles Blondin who stretched a tightrope across Niagara Falls and did various stunts before a crowd an odd audience as he went back and forth and did various stunts. And the story goes, whether it's true or not, not sure. But he turned to the crowd and said, who believes I can carry a man in my wheelbarrow across this tightrope?

Of course, the crowd goes to step. Will you believe you can do it? And so he turns to one man and says, you, sir, you can do my wheelbarrow. And that man turned around and went the other direction as he believed he could do it, but was not willing to cast his dependence upon Charles Blond and to carry him across that tightrope. And if I could take the that very illustration and apply it to the lost, the lost stand on this side of eternity, weighed down by the burden of sin.

A burden that is too heavy for them to carry and between them and eternity is this tightrope. That if they try to work if you try to work your way to heaven to eternity on your own strength, that burden of sin is going to toss you right off that tightrope. And if you were to fall and manage to grab a hold of the tightrope and cling with your hands, you're not going to have the strength to hand over hand carry yourself across that rope. You need Christ to put you in your in his wheelbarrow, so to speak, and depend upon him to get you across that tight rope of sin into eternity, a thing that you can never accomplish in and of your own strength. But then beyond that, how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

Not Away was willing to believe, but he just didn't know who and how. Who had of how to do and in whom to call. He was waiting for to hear. And how shall they hear without a preacher? Someone needs to go so that those people who are lost can hear the gospel so that way they can believe and call upon Christ for salvation.

And how shall they preach except they be sent? I love what looking through this reading through the scriptures and seeing that God is a sending God. You'll look in the old testament and time after time you see him sending prophet and prophet, prophet after prophet to his people, declaring to them their sins and their need to turn to a righteous and holy God. And and he sent he he made that ultimate sacrifice and sent his son, Jesus Christ, to earth to pay the penalty for our sins. And while Christ was here on earth, he sent his disciples various times to share the good news there in Israel.

And then before and after his death, he commissioned his disciples as well as a church to go and tell the gospel to every creature throughout the world and to make disciples and baptize in the name of the father and son and holy spirit. And you as a member of the local church are by extension given that same commission to go and to share the gospel so that they can hear and believe and call upon Christ for salvation. And as a local church, you're also involved in the sending process as you partner with missionaries and send them forth as an extension of your local church and to minister in areas that you may never go or be able to reach in your lifetime, yet you can have an by extension of supporting them, an extension of your ministry in various parts of the world, and you can be involved in that sending process as well. And it's in verse 15, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. You know, the feet are are kind of a shameful shameful part of our body, and we like to cover them up.

And and yet when the feet, which is shameful thing, carry the gospel, they are now seen as beautiful. And that is a beautiful picture of what the gospel does for us. Sin is shameful and we like to cover it up. The world likes to cover up sin though. Oftentimes it seems like they like to glorify and extol it on the street corners and in broad daylight.

And yet sin is a shameful thing. And it brings shame into our lives as we commit that sin and we like to hide it. And yet when that sin, when we come in contact with the gospel and allow the gospel to change our lives, it makes something that is shameful and dirty and makes it beautiful. And we are all sin ridden people here. We are still sinners.

We still commit sin, but we if you're saved here today, you are now beautiful in the sight sight of God as your sins have been washed away and the gospel is able to make that which is shameful, beautiful in the sight of God. And even as we consider sharing the gospel in verse 16 through 17, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah saith, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Not everybody that we share the gospel with is going to be saved. And yet if those who are going to be saved are ever going to be able to have the opportunity to accept Christ, it is a requirement that we preach the gospel.

So that way they can hear the gospel and believe and call upon Christ for salvation. And that comes simply through and that faith comes through hearing the word of God. It's not our logical or well structured arguments for why they're a sinner and deserve God's punishment in hell, but rather a simple, the declaration of God's word, allowing this holy spirit to take the word of God and convince sinners of their sinfulness before God and their the justness of God's judgment upon them and realize and convincing them that they need Christ alone to save them. And it's a relief to me that I don't have to convince people. I can rely upon the holy spirit taking the word of God and convincing them of that truth and making that change in their lives.

So I have a couple so a couple questions in closing. What's your heart's desire? Do you have the same desire that Paul has had for his people even as you look around the people around you that you understand their social background, you understand their culture, their under maybe you grew up in a different church and you you were saved later in life and you understand how people think from that background. Is your heart's desire and prayer to God for your people to be saved like Paul's? And then are you actively going?

Are you sharing? Are you preaching the gospel to those around you? So that way they can hear and call upon Christ for salvation. Maybe there's someone here today that you don't know where you'll spend eternity. You haven't made that decision to depend on Christ alone for salvation.

Have will you today choose to no longer rely upon your own good works to get you to heaven, but depend on ask Christ to save you from your sin. And then it goes and then also tied in with bible translation. It's critical that God's people have God's word. You looked at the Old Testament and the New Testament, God gave his word in the language of the local peep of his people. And I like what William or Cameron Townsend said.

He was a he started working with bible translation, and he said that the the greatest missionary is the bible and the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner. And the bible translated in the local language has the ability to impact a people group in a way that we can we cannot even fathom. I'll close with this illustration or this story. Missionary told the story of a translation that was happening in Chad.

And Job was one of the translators on this translation team, and he he had a friend whose name was or who was a witch doctor, and he witnessed to his friend many times throughout the years. And his friend, the witch doctor, had always rejected the gospel. And as they ever working through this translation, as they translated the first few passages, though one Sunday, they had a dedication service to read the first passages of God's word translated into their language there in Chad. And Job's friend, the witch doctor, came to church that day and he heard that and he ended up being saved that day. And Job's friend said, I'm so happy that you got saved today, but what was different about today?

Why'd you choose to depend on Christ today? And Job's friend said that I can never believe that God who didn't speak my language truly loved me. And the reality is God does speak your language and he does truly love you. And it's just simply dependent upon us to share the gospel with those people and to get God's word into a language that can make all the difference in a man's life and a man like Job's friend. Let's close in prayer.

Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the power that has to change lives. I thank you that you have given us the gospel and that the gospel is so simple that anyone can depend upon you for salvation. Lord, I pray that you would give us a burden and desire for our people, that we would be faithful in sharing the gospel with them. I pray that you would use us to see people saved and to see them cycled and to go on for you.

I pray that you'd also help us as we seek to reach people around the world with the gospel. It's praised in Jesus' name. Amen.