The Church's Marching Orders

Good evening to you again from Beacon Baptist Church.

Thank you for tuning in to our live stream service. It is the Lord's Day and we rejoice in our Savior. We rejoice in His person. We rejoice in His finished work on Calvary that secures our right standing with the Father. Tonight I would want to begin our service with a hymn that is, well the title of my message tonight as I preach it will be The Church's Marching Orders. And with that thought in mind, listen to the words of Lead On, O King Eternal. Lead on, O King Eternal, the day of March has come.

Henceforth in fields of conquest, thy tents shall be our home. Through days of preparation, thy grace has made us strong. And now, O King Eternal, we lift our battle song. Lead on, O King Eternal, till sin's fierce war shall cease, and holiness shall whisper the sweet amen of peace. For not with swords loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums, with deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes. Lead on, O King Eternal, we follow not with fears. For gladness breaks like morning, where ere thy face appears. Thy cross is lifted o'er us, we journey in its light. The crown awaits the conquest. Lead on, O God of might. A wonderful hymn for the Christian church.

It has inspired worshipers for generations. As we go to prayer tonight, let me remind you of a few prayer requests. We were informed this morning of the death of Dr. Alan Cairns. We need to pray for his family and those who knew him and loved him and are affected by his home going.

The same concerning the family of Ben Vestal and his departure to be with the Lord. Bonnie Coy's sister had surgery this past week. She fell down some stairs, had some facial surgery. Thank you for praying for her and pray for her and her spiritual needs.

Alice Marley fell and fractured her pelvis. Please uphold her in prayer. Drew Guthrie is dealing with cancer that's been rediscovered.

She consults with the doctors and they determine a plan of action for her. Thank you for praying for our daughter Abigail. Webster Ross has come into the world and Abigail and Webster are home. I was able to drive out on Friday with Carly and see him. What a delight to rejoice with Dan and Abby and this wonderful gift from God. Webster is healthy. He weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces when he was born.

He dropped a few ounces as he's come home. He's healthy and we're thanking God for him. Join me as we look to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you that we can quiet our hearts again before you and around your throne of grace, that there is such a place in this universe, a place where we can come and receive grace to help in time of need.

How good a God you are to make provisions for our lives, for providing your son to meet the deepest need of our lives. We needed to be saved. We needed to be made right with you. We needed to be redeemed.

We needed to be reconciled to you. We needed our sins dealt with and we thank you, our God, that you have dealt with our sins in punishing them in your son that you might forgive us and maintain your holiness and your justice. Lord, we thank you that we can intercede for others and for the family of Dr. Alan Cairns, for the family of Ben Vestal and others who have known sorrow in recent weeks. We ask you to draw near to them and encourage their hearts and fill their hearts with peace and joy and consolation. Father, thank you again that you have not only made provisions for your children in this life, but in the life to come for all eternity. We thank you, God, for the prospect for all of your children that one day we will be with you forever and ever and ever. We pray that you be with Margie Persons and she is recovering from surgery.

And please, Father, have mercy upon her and draw her to yourself in salvation. We pray for Alice Marley, that you would bring healing to her as she has fallen and fractured her pelvis. And then for Drew Guthrie, this dear sister, Lord, please minister to her, give wisdom to the doctors, console her during this long battle that she has been engaged in with cancer. Be with Mary Shaw as she recovers from shoulder surgery. Thank you for being with John Spencer this past week as he had knee replacement surgery. Be with Art Pope as he continues to struggle with COPD.

Be with Brooke Faust as she is dealing with injuries suffered in a car accident or at work in her life and situation and circumstances. Lord, we again pray for our country that you would cause peace to prevail, that there would be a smooth transition of power in government. We thank you, God, that you order these things, that you have ordained in eternity past what would transpire in this time in human history that affects the United States of America. Lord, give us faith to trust you and to submit to your sovereign rule. Lord, thank you for rewarding those who are men of faith and of righteousness, who are promoting good in our culture.

Thank you for allowing them to be elected to serve in government places. Again, Lord, we ask you to meet with us as the people of God as we consider your word tonight, instruct us and encourage us and build us up in the most holy faith, and receive our worship and our praise as we offer to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Well, tonight I want to speak to you about the church's marching orders. You say, well, that's interesting.

What do you mean by that? Well, we are in missions month, and before I get into the passage that I want to read to you, we are engaged heavily in the work of missions, both locally and then abroad. And one of the families that we have partnered with is the Sniders. We thank you for supporting this work. The Sniders are engaged in the work of the gospel in...

Mine is going blank. Yeah, Papua New Guinea. And they've produced a short video. It's very insightful and inspiring. So at this time, we would direct your attention to the monitor as we preview this missionary update with Paul and Trish Schneider. I just thank you for the opportunity of giving you an overview and an update as far as the ministry in the Quarawai tribe.

I am recording this from the HeartCry office here in Radford, Virginia. As you know from our previous updates, we moved up to Radford a few weeks ago. We feel settled here, and we are working with HeartCry in the areas of Asia while I heal up. And I thank you for your prayers for my family and I as we transitioned to Radford a few weeks ago. We are very thankful for the opportunity to continue to serve in the area that God has given me to do in regarding missions while we are in the States. I'd ask you to pray for the Lord's will in the future as to when we go back. We are still desiring that, but we're not sure as far as my health what that looks like. But I am thankful that you are always praying for us.

My wife and I were talking about this the other night. We feel very loved. We're always receiving emails and encouragement from you, and so we thank you for that. What I'd like to do for a few minutes, I thank you for the opportunity of allowing me to give an overview for your November missions month. So what I would like to do is talk about some of the work that's been going on recently and give you some new news regarding the heart crime missionaries working there and the Korowai. So as you know, I think it was a couple years ago that during the November missions month, I spoke to you regarding the Korowai tribe and I introduced them to you through some video, and you were given an overview. But if you remember, the Korowai tribe are in the lowlands of Papua Indonesia. We've been serving there now for a decade, and we have seen fruit that the Holy Spirit has done through the efforts there. And the Korowai tribe, it's almost as if it's just beginning still after ten years of work. The church has been planted in our village that we live in, in Deniwage. We are ministering to another 12 villages in the northern region. The Korowai tribe are a tribe of about 4,000 people, and they are animistic.

They worship rocks, they worship trees, they worship an evil spirit called scythe. And when we went in there ten years ago, things were just beginning through some of the efforts of the Lani men, the Lani Christians that now HeartCry supports and trains. And so we've been very thankful to partner with them over the years and see people come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Even after ten years, even though it feels still new, there's a lot of work to be done. With what we've been able to see over the last decade, even through the hardships, every hardship is worth it because we now have a handful of believers that are learning biblical truths that are serving their own people. I think of guys like Waihu that you see on our updates.

I think of guys like Idris and his wife Tabitha. They are serving their own people now. So I'd ask you to pray for this handful of believers that we've not only served their people, but that we've been able to train over the last five years. We started the salvation history training when I first got there, and we were able to teach these men and their wives throughout the years salvation history from Genesis to Revelation so that they could take those stories, they could take the gospel stories to their own people, to their respective villages.

And they're still doing that today. Because of your efforts, these guys are still moving forward in their faith and teaching their own people. I'd also like you to pray for Jimmy and Perrin and Yusen Epi-Wea, the HeartCry missionaries that are serving with us. We've been a team for so many years now.

They're like family. I'd like you to pray for Waihu Ta'amo. We're praying that Waihu, he is my translator, my helper. He's like a son to us. I'd like to ask you to pray for him that he would become the first Northern Korowai pastor.

We are in the process of training him, and he's finishing up some biblical studies on the coast to return next year. I also want to update you on Jimmy and Perrin. There's some things that have transpired over the last several months, and there's some conflict within the village.

In fact, it's become violent as of late due to someone dying and also due to the area of a pig being killed. A lot of conflict in the village right now, and I'm encouraging them to stay faithful in the midst of such persecution. So please pray that God would use this evil for good and that Jimmy and Perrin would glorify God in the midst of so much suffering. I'd also ask you to pray for Yusuea.

He's been sick for so many months with his kidneys. There seems to be an improvement, and he wants to return to the village next week with Jimmy. Perrin has been in the village for several months alone, so please pray that Jimmy and Yusuea, these heart-cry missionaries, can get back into the village and start the work of shepherding the church again and overseeing the ministry there. God has been so faithful for how he's kept the believers and how he's built his church, and we know from Scripture that we are assured of victory, and we also have the responsibility to pray for these men and to do what we must in order for these believers to grow in their faith.

So please pray for the team that we work with, and you'll be seeing those on the updates as I send those out every month. We're thankful for the translation that has been done. The book that was recorded that I did with my translator, Waihu, it was a five-year project, and it took day after day more days. Most days were sweat rolling down my arms and concentrating on one word for a week, trying to find the exact word that the Lord wanted to use there, but it took five years to complete that project, and now today we have that published, The Salvation History Catechisms in the Northern Korowai Language, and that's also been put on solar speakers as well. So we're very thankful for what God has done through those efforts. Please pray that God would use that solar recorders, the solar recorders with The Salvation History Catechisms to open the eyes and the hearts of the people in the Northern Korowai, and this is the Northern Korowai dialect, and I just want to say this could not happen without you.

And this is not about Paul and Patricia Snyder in Indonesia. This is about the broad local church. We are an extension of your efforts.

You are sending us to complete a task, and that task is to make Christ known, and one of those ways is by translation and giving them the good news through the catechisms so that they can listen and learn each day. One final thing. With the COVID, things are still progressing. The Donnie Evangelists, the Donnie HeartCry men and women are still there. They're continuing to serve amidst much suffering. Please pray for them, and I thank you so much for all your support and prayers through these years, and we will talk to you soon. God bless. Well, I hope you've been encouraged by that update from Paul Snyder and a little bit better way of knowing how to pray and to be informed with what God is doing even while they're stateside. And the Gospel is running and affecting the lives of people, and we rejoice in lives that have been changed and native men who have embraced the truth and are carrying it to their own people.

So bless God for these advancements. Now tonight, because it is Missions Month, because we are focusing on the work of the Gospel and our mission outreach, I want to take a fresh look at the Great Commission. Let me read from Matthew chapter 28, beginning at verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.

When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Amen. Understanding the Great Commission is integral to the Church understanding its marching orders. You see, missions is not a New Testament idea. God is a missionary God with a heart for all the nations. You recall when he called Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. He said to him, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

It was God's intention to bless the world, bless the Gentile world, bless the Jewish nation first, but that all the families of the earth might be blessed through this man Abraham. Listen to these words from Psalm 67. God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us.

Why? That your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. O, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let all the peoples praise you. Then the earth shall yield her increase. God, our own God, shall bless us and shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. You see, God has a heart for the nations.

And because God has a heart for the nations, we should have a heart for the nations as well. You know, when you familiarize yourself with the Old Testament, you see evidences of lives being changed outside the Jewish nation. There was Rahab, the harlot, who became a follower of Jehovah. There was Ruth, the Moabitess. And it's wonderful to see how the reputation of the God of Israel was enhanced on the international stage through the godly influence of outstanding Hebrews.

Let me recall several for you. Joseph, Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt. Daniel became the Prime Minister of Babylon.

Esther became the Queen of Persia. As you trace the growth of the church through the book of Acts, the church experienced extraordinary missionary success. An indicator of that success can be seen in an incident that took place shortly after Paul and Silas arrived in the northern Greek city of Thessalonica. These two missionaries were dragged before the authorities by an angry crowd who accused them of what? Of turning the world upside down by their preaching of the gospel. Acts chapter 17 and verse 6. And in just one generation, the gospel went from the extremities of the empire to the very heart of Rome. There were even those in Caesar's household who had become followers of the Lord Jesus.

Paul speaks of them in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 22. So tonight I'd like to walk you through some aspects of the Great Commission. I think it's good for us to revisit this.

Don't let familiarity distract you or hinder you from learning and following this evening. Indeed I think at times go back to the basics and be reminded of those things that are foundational to who we are as a church and who God has called us to be as we recommit ourselves to the marching orders of King Jesus. So the Great Commission. Number one, I want you to think with me about the priority of the Great Commission. The priority of the Great Commission. And the priority of the Great Commission is seen in a number of things but the first thing I want to draw to your attention is the last words uttered by our risen Lord while He was on the earth relate to the Great Commission.

It's recorded in four places. Mark chapter 16, Matthew chapter 28 where we're focused here tonight, Luke chapter 24 verses 46 to 49 and then the opening chapter of the book of Acts. Lest we misunderstand, the Great Commission is not the afterthought of a plan that went awry. It's not as if Jesus said it's time for me to leave and now I'm going to give this to you guys. I want you to finish up what I started.

I didn't have time to finish it. No, this has been the purpose and plan of God from eternity past. We have these words in Acts chapter 1 and verse 1. The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.

The book of Acts is a continuation of or it's a record of the continuation of the work that the church would do as Jesus left the earth. The Great Commission is a continuation of what Jesus began both to do and to teach. So there is the priority of the Great Commission. It's not just a commission, it is the Great Commission. And as I said earlier, these are the last words recorded by the risen Christ before he left this earth.

And if they are the last things he had to say, they are perhaps some of the most important words he had to say. They are the marching orders for the church. So number one, the priority of the Great Commission. Number two, think with me about the mandate of the Great Commission. The mandate of the Great Commission. Back to Matthew chapter 28, we have these words, And Jesus came and spoke to them.

Who? The eleven disciples who had gone away into Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had appointed for them. Jesus came and spoke to them saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. That is the mandate. That is the commandment. That is the injunction. It's a mandate from our Lord.

Not a suggestion, not something to think about or consider, but a mandate. And behind that mandate is all authority. All the authority of the Lord Jesus. He says all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. That's absolute and universal authority. Granted to the Lord Jesus Christ by his Father as a reward for his obedience.

In the incarnation and in his death in Calvary. The mandate of the Great Commission. And that's why we cannot relegate the Great Commission to a sideline of the church, something we just dabbled in a little bit. It's got to be at the heart of who we are as a church if we're going to honor the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a mandate that we have. Think with me number three about the core message of the Great Commission. Or perhaps maybe a better way of saying it is the central activity of the Great Commission.

And what is that? Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Now there's been an awful lot of ink spilled over this matter.

But in my opinion it's very clear. There are a number of action words in the Great Commission. We have the word go, we have the word baptize, we have the word teach, we have the verb make disciples. And the challenge is to understand how they're related to each other.

Here's how I believe they're related to each other. The main verb in the Greek is make disciples. There are three participles that modify the main verb. We make disciples by doing three things, by going, by baptizing, and by teaching. But the emphasis isn't on the going, the emphasis isn't on the baptizing, the emphasis isn't on the teaching. The emphasis is on making disciples. And the way we go about making disciples is these three activities of going and baptizing and teaching. All things whatsoever have been committed to us.

I had a discussion with a man some time back and he was arguing with me about this. And he said the emphasis of the Great Commission is on the word go. And so I said to him, I said well defend that from the scriptures. And this is what he said to me.

We talked a bit about some of the things that I've already mentioned to you. And he observed with me that the Great Commission is the last words of the Lord Jesus before he left this earth. And he agreed with me that the book of Acts is a continuation of all that Jesus, a record of the continuation of all that Jesus both taught and did through his church. And then he went to the book of Acts and he said after you get past Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, he says just turn the pages of your Bible if you have a red lettered Bible, he says where do you find red ink again? So we did that and we came to Acts chapter 9. And that's the account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. And he drew my attention to these verses.

Acts chapter 9, here are the words of again the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul said, Saul says what do you want me to do? Then the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.

So he said, did you see that? Arise and go. Ananias was dispatched to go and have a ministry to the Apostle Paul. So the Lord said, verse 11, to him arise and go to the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold he is praying. And then verse 15, but the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles.

Well, that's an interesting observation. And I certainly don't want to minimize the emphasis on initiative and going. But that is not the heart of the Great Commission. We had a ministry here for years and years that was headed up by Gerald Counts and Jerry Gerald. And it was called Go Ye. And Go Ye was a visitation ministry. One day a week the men would gather and disperse into the community with an emphasis of taking the gospel. Now I have no problem with the ministry being called Go Ye, but we don't want to miss the point that the heart of the Great Commission is making disciples.

Yes, we must go in order to reach the lost, to reach the nations. And yes, we need to make converts and as converts are made we need to incorporate them into the local church by baptizing them. And then we need to make disciples of them by doing what? Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever has been commanded by our Savior to us.

So the core activity of the Great Commission is what? It's making disciples. It's not making converts. It's not necessarily planting churches, although planting churches is a means to the end of making disciples. But the core of the Great Commission is making disciples and that's why when God is pleased to birth people into the kingdom of God and they become members of a local church. For instance, let's talk about Zimbabwe, one area in the world where we are heavily invested in the work of the gospel and are fulfilling the mandate of the Great Commission. Making disciples there.

Not just seeing people converted but making disciples. So we go and we do what? We carry on training conferences. Why are we doing that? Because we're interested in making disciples. We're training pastors.

And pastors then are able to shepherd and care for the converts in their churches and see people grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone said, well, are disciples making disciples? Are disciples born or are they made?

That's a good question to think through. Are disciples born or are they made? And I believe the biblical answer to that question is yes and yes.

They're born from above. Disciples are born into the kingdom of God through the new birth, through regeneration. But they need to be made disciples.

They need to be trained how to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. So the core activity, the core message of the Great Commission is to make disciples. And as we're doing that, as we're making disciples, it seems to me that there are two things that have to be crystal clear in our minds. Because if they're not, then things become hazy and fuzzy and we miss the concentration of our efforts. And what are they? Well, it's like taking a coin and coins that are struck have a pattern embedded upon them.

They bear an image and every single one of those coins bears that image, both on the one side and on the other. So it would be good for us for a minute just to think about discipleship, making disciples in this way. There are two sides of this, two emphases. There is number one, sound doctrine. And there is number two, godly lifestyle. All disciples of Christ are to be conformed to these two patterns.

They're to bear this image like a coin. Sound doctrine. Think with me and listen to 2 Timothy 1 and verse 13. Paul's writing to Timothy and he says, What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. There is a pattern, there is a system of sound doctrine that is part of making disciples.

And then godly lifestyle, not either or but both and. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 17. Paul there is writing and he says, Listen with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. So it's not just sound doctrine, it's godly lifestyle. That's what we're looking for in the making of disciples. Those who have been trained in sound doctrine and that sound doctrine translates into godly living.

There is a relationship between how we live and what we believe. And it has to be both. So, we're talking about the great commission. Aspects of the great commission.

Number 4. Let's think for a moment about the recipients of the great commission. The recipients of the great commission.

Who received this great commission? Who is it intended for? Some say, well, it's for the apostles, it's for these eleven. There in Matthew chapter 28. It's for those who were gathered there in Acts chapter 1. Well, it certainly includes them, but it's not for them only.

You say, well, on what basis do you say that? Listen to the language of verse 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. If the great commission was confined to the apostles, to those who walk with Jesus, then this promise of His abiding presence to the end of the age makes no sense. The promise of His abiding presence to the end of the age is attached to the great commission. So the great commission is binding on churches, how long? Until Christ returns in judgment of this world, the second coming. We're under the mandate of the great commission as long as Jesus tarries His coming.

And who is it? It's the church. It is the church's responsibility. It's not for individual Christians. Individual Christians aren't to baptize other Christians. Baptizing of Christians is incorporation into the local church.

Coming into the local church is how we bring ourselves under the authority of God-appointed pastors and teachers and grow up in the most holy faith. So this is the church. The recipient of the great commission is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ through all the ages. Think with me about the sphere of the great commission.

The sphere of the great commission. And that's pretty obvious. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Our missions program has an emphasis on local missions. There's an aspect of that. And there is emphasis that moves out from there into the most remotest parts of the earth.

We heard about the Kawai there in Papua New Guinea, a tribal people. As you look at the book of Acts where Jesus gives the mandate there, He says to them, in Acts chapter 1, And that one verse gives us a bit of an outline to the development of the book of Acts and the spread of the gospel. You know persecution came upon the church. And the church was dispersed from Jerusalem. The focus initially was in Jerusalem. But because of persecution, there was a scattering. And the gospel went to areas of Judea and Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth. So the sphere of the great commission of all the nations and to the ends of the earth. Number six, the enabling of the great commission. The enabling of the great commission.

You say, well why do we need an enablement? Well because these men and you and I are feeble and frail and doubting and timid and fearful. I find it interesting that we're told there in verse 16, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted. Some doubted. Well what did they doubt? I don't think they doubted the resurrection because they had visibly all seen Him.

So I don't think it was that. But they had doubts and they had misgivings. The same is true in Mark's account. Mark says in Mark chapter 16 verse 14 where we have Mark's account of the great commission. It says verse 14, Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. So here are men, the eleven, that initially were going to receive this great commission mandate and they were men of unbelief and hardness of heart and they doubted.

Wow. And in Luke chapter 24 where we have another record, Luke's account of the commissioning, of the great commission. Just in a few verses before they were commissioned, it says in verse 38 of Luke 24, And He said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.

Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. And when He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy and marveled, He said to them, Have you any food here? And again, these are not men of great courage, these are men who are fearful and doubting and so the enabling of the great commission. They need enabling.

They need help outside themselves. And that's exactly what God provides for them. Verse 8 of Acts chapter 1, But you shall receive power.

Dunamis, that Greek word from which we get the word, dynamite. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. So that power, that enabling power, the Holy Spirit is given for the purpose of carrying out this great commission mandate. We have that same Holy Spirit indwelling us.

We have access to the same power source, so there is no excuse. Yes, we're like them, we're doubting, we're fearful. We're lacking courage and fortitude.

There is opposition, there is persecution, there is all kinds of difficulties to overcome. But we have the enabling of the great commission. So what have we seen? We've seen, number one, the priority of the great commission. The mandate of the great commission, the central activity of the great commission, the recipients of the great commission, the sphere of the great commission, the enabling of the great commission and then finally, the promise attached to the great commission. And what is that promise? The promise is, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

The promise of His abiding presence. The one who by His incarnation is Emmanuel, God with us, will not forsake us as we engage in the worldwide endeavor of gospel work in making disciples. So for our purposes tonight, it's good, I think, to just step back, go to the main text, think about the Great Commission, have it clarified in our minds, reassess our commitment to it, to think about it in these terms. We believe it's a priority. It is a priority in our church.

It's not left to a mission society, a group of women in the church. It's something embraced by the entire church. It's a priority to us. We've taken seriously that this is a mandate. This is a command from our Lord.

This is something we're to be engaged in. For how long? Till the end of the age. Until He comes. So the work is never done.

There's no coasting. And that's why we're committed to those ministries that that emphasize and are committed to the same things we're committed to. Making disciples.

I think of equipping nationals worldwide. Dr. Bill Hill, who's the director of that ministry. What's the heartbeat of that ministry? It's making disciples.

That's the central focus of our commitment to Zimbabwe. Making disciples. And we understand that in order to do that, we need the enabling Spirit of God to motivate us, to push us out of our comfort zones, and to grow and be stretched and to be more involved in the work of the Great Commission. And then with this wonderful promise that He'll be with us to the end of the age as we give ourselves to this wonderful task.

And it'll be worth it all when we see Jesus. Listen to the words of this hymn. For my sake and the Gospels go.

For my sake and the Gospels go and tell redemption's story. His heralds answer, be it so, and thine Lord all the glory. They preach His birth, His life, His cross, the love of His atonement, for whom they count the world but loss, His rising, His enthronement. Hark, hark, the trump of jubilee proclaims to every nation from pole to pole by land and sea glad tidings of salvation. As nearer draws the day of doom, while still the battle rages, the heavenly day spring through the gloom breaks on the night of ages. Still on and on the anthems spread of Hallelujah voices. In concert with the holy dead, the warrior church rejoices.

Their snow-white robes are washed in blood, the golden harps are ringing. Earth and the paradise of God, one triumph song, are singing. He comes whose advent trumpet drowns, the last of time's evangelists. Emmanuel, crowned with many crowns, the Lord of saints and angels.

Oh, life, light, love, the great I Am, triune, who changes never. The throne of God and of the Lamb is thine and thine forever. Shall we pray? Father, how I thank you for the Spirit of God that indwells us, that allows us to be changed more and more into your likeness, that we might be engaged in the very things that you're committed to. We thank you for Beacon Baptist Church, for the way you have led and guided through the years, and our commitment to worldwide missions. We pray, O God, that we would never grow weary or tired in this work, that you would encourage us in this work, that we would understand that we're still under the mandate of our Savior King, Jesus. We ask our God that you'll bless the efforts of the Sniders, as we've heard of their work again tonight, of the Kauai, of these hard-cry missionaries and all that they're facing, and the obstacles, and the unrest in the villages. We pray, O God, that you'll give them wisdom, that you will cause the gospel to penetrate deeper and deeper into the villages. Sustain these men, provide for these men, encourage these men, build these men up in the most holy faith. We thank you for the training that these disciples have received on the history of salvation, and as they have it in story form, and they go from village to village, Lord, would you accompany that work with your power?

And would eyes be opened, and hearts be opened, and people birthed into the kingdom of God? Thank you, our Father, for these servants of yours who have obeyed you and gone, sustain them, strengthen them, help them to regain their strength, that they may return to the field that you have called them to. We thank you, Father, again for this Lord's day and our consideration of your word. We pray, our Father, that would be peace to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. And amen.