R1643 The Heart of a Missionary

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on the heart of a missionary. Each and every one of us are on mission for God and we have wonderful resources at our website that will help you be the best missionary possible. Join us at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. God takes everything. When you and I give our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ, God takes everything. In our earlier service this morning, a young 19-year-old young man by the name of Drake came and gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. God takes that moment right there. When Drake said, I give my heart to Jesus, God says, I got you. Now, human inclination, my human inclination is I want to be able to say, you know what? I'm going to give this money, but I need to know exactly what's going to happen and whether that's going to go there and this is going to go, God said, just give it.

Take your hands off it. Sometimes we say, listen, I'll go and serve. I want to go and serve and I'm going to do this, but I want you to know that if I do go and serve, I really hope that they got sweet tea there. Because if they don't have sweet tea there, I can't do anything unless I can have sweet tea.

I thought I heard several amens here. You know, we do that. That's us by nature. I do that.

You do that. We all do that. All of us, we all do that.

It's a human inclination to do that. I was sharing this morning with some of our folks and I said, you know, our inclination is we'll say, yes, Lord, and then, Lord, I'm going to do it as long as I can get all my ducks in a row. Well, I've gone through the scriptures several times. I cannot for the life of me find a duck in the Bible. And then Steve Skinner came up to me and he said, pastor, you're so wrong. There is a duck in the Bible. I said, where? He said, well, you know, King Saul came and got a spear and threw it at David and he ducked. Get out of here. You know, what can I say?

Jacob will use that later on. I get it. You know, I, there's only one duck as far as I'm concerned and she lives with me and she's the most beautiful thing I've ever been around. I want to show you something really amazing today.

Can I do that? I'm just sharing from my heart and I'm unpacking and I've got this all in my mind, all these students and these adults and all the sacrifice and all this giving and this mission, these missionaries, these people, I see you. But I tell you this, God sees us and I'm convinced today that there's someone here right now that God's waiting for you just to simply say yes. Give your life to Christ.

Say yes today. Give your heart to Jesus now. Some of you, God is just waiting for you to say yes, I will give.

I'll give financially. Some of you, God is just waiting to say, will you go? Will you serve? Will you do this? Will you get alongside? He's just waiting for you to say yes. Not what, just yes, I'll do it. God will define the what.

He always does. And some of you, I really believe it. I believe that there's someone here today, God is waiting for you to say yes, I'll just lay down my life. I'll give it all up for you.

I'll go. All right, turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 13. You're going to need to see this in your Bible. There are many illustrations in the Bible of God calling people out and setting them apart and sending them to places, not only in their home, in their backyard, but in their neighbor's yards.

Across the street, at the bridge, serving people, going to Georgia, headed down to Miami, going to Arab nations, going to the Middle East, the Far East, the Near East, going to Africa, going to India, going to Turkey. God tells us many reasons, gives us a lot of examples. In Acts chapter 13, we read about two such people that God set apart. Let me read it to you. It's a fantastic story.

You ready for this? Acts 13 and verse 1. In the church at Spartanburg, I'm sorry, I misread that. In the church at Antioch, in this occasion, there were prophets and teachers. Here are some of them. Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius of Cyrene, Meneon, and also Saul.

Now watch this. While they were worshiping the Lord, praying, fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me, Jesus. Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. So, after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and they sent them off. And the two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, watch how God got involved immediately, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus and when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. Oh, and by the way, John and all the others accompanied them and were with them and picked up paint brushes and carried tables and drove vans and encouraged and gave.

And God alongside with them. The North American Mission Board, I'm going to just quote you, I've got it on a piece of paper here. This is what the North American Mission Board calls a missionary.

Okay, you're ready for this. A person who in response to God's call and giftedness leaves his or her comfort zone and crosses cultural, geographical or other barriers in order to proclaim the gospel and live out the Christian witness in obedience to the Great Commission. What was the Great Commission? Jesus said, go into all the world. You go into all the world and go from where? From Jerusalem. It's right where you're at.

That's where he was speaking to Judea. That's Georgia, Alabama, New Mexico and Samaria. That's like getting out there toward Minnesota and Massachusetts and California and to the outermost parts of the world.

That's Mexico and the Caribbean and Canada and Europe and Asia. That's the world. A person who in response to God's call and gifting leaves his or her comfort zone. God's asking some of you to leave your comfort zone.

That's a tough deal. You ready to answer the call? To cross cultural, geographical or other barriers in order to proclaim the gospel and live out your Christian witness in obedience to the Great Commission. So let's take a quick look at these guys in the Bible here, these missionaries. Couple of things I want you to note about them. First of all, they were properly embedded. Now that word embedded means they were in the same house in the right house to all together.

And where was that? The Bible says they were in the church at Antioch. They were in the church. They were part of the church and what God is trying to tell us about the heart of a missionary is that the local body of Christ is fundamentally part of God's plan in what God wants to do to reach people like these boys and girls in Kentucky.

Isn't that fantastic? And it all comes out of the heart of the local gathering of the local church because I want to tell you something folks. Listen to this carefully. Listen to this carefully.

Nobody in this world, no politician, no prime minister, no president, no individual, no nobody in America today is ever going to be able to do for America, for us, for our people, for the nations of the world that God and his people are designed to do by God's design. This is God's way of bringing the good news, the gospel of this incredible change that we have in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes out of the heartbeat of you looking at us. You know what's so beautiful about going up to Kentucky? The thing that I love perhaps most of all is our young people go and serve in churches. And there are these beautiful little churches stuck away. Some of them, man, you turn the corner and there they are.

They situated next to rivers and lakes and on mountainsides and in valleys. There are just beautiful churches everywhere. You know, my friends, you can travel all across America today and you're going to find churches just like this, Spartanburg's full of them.

We see them everywhere. It's part of God's plan. And you know what God does when God's people gather? God calls God's people out from among the people to join arms with the people to do the work of God. Wow.

How about you? This is serious business. This is the greatest joy in the world. The church is God's plan. These missionaries were embedded in the local church, but not only that, they were seriously seeking.

Did you notice here in verse two, the Bible says while they were worshiping the Lord. You know, when I came in to the service, I come in through that entrance there because I'm coming from over the road and boy, I'm hurrying to get over here. I walk through that door and here's this incredible band of my friends. I look over here and I see Hannah and I see Chris and then I see Lindsay and I see the team. I'm telling you, and I just get caught up in this amazing time of worship. I listen to Jacob getting up here and welcoming everybody and talking about giving and thanking one another for being here. And then I walk out and I get up here and I stand here and I look out and I see God's people worshiping, seeking God's face.

Watch out, watch out. God's at work. Now, are we assuming that God won't call you out when you're watching a ball game?

I didn't say that. God calls people while worshiping under a tree. God will call you when you're at the beach. God will call you taking an overseas trip. God will call you and all that. But I'm just telling you something. God's plan with these missionaries, they were properly embedded. They were seriously seeking God's face. I cannot make you seek God right now.

Did you know that? I cannot stop your mind being distracted. I cannot stop you sitting here being preoccupied.

We all bring with us all of these things. There's somebody right now, I feel in my heart, there's somebody right now. You've got such a, your mind is so full of everything. You know, there's probably someone here today who's, your mind is full of hurt.

Your heart is full of hurt. You're preoccupied. Maybe you've got something coming up. Maybe you're leaving this afternoon, making me jealous because you're fixing to go down to the beach.

Maybe your car is packed and ready, but you can only get into your unit at four o'clock this afternoon, so there was no point in leaving until one o'clock. So you said, well, I might as well go to church. And you came, didn't you? Do you know what happened to me?

It's what happened to me. I mean, I was searching in all different places, married this beautiful lady who prayed for me and loved me and took me by the hand, and then I went back to church. God not only changed my life, but he asked me to say yes, and I did.

And saying yes to Jesus is the best thing any of us can do. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message with Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you that we are here to have an interactive conversation with you.

Perhaps the Lord has stirred your heart by some of those teachings of Dr. Wilton here in the book of Acts. You have questions, or perhaps you just need someone to talk with and pray with. We're here for you right now at 866-899-WORD. I encourage you to join us anytime, day or night. Dr. Wilton says we all need some 2 a.m. friends, and so we are ready to connect with you even at 2 a.m. on that phone number, 866-899-9673.

To listen, to pray, and to connect you with resources that will help you grow in your faith. You can do it online as well at www.tewonline.org. We are here to encourage you.

That's online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. They were seriously seeking. They were decidedly set apart. The Bible tells us right there in the second part of verse 2 when Saul and Barnabas said, We'll do it.

They set them apart. I don't know where these eight young people are going to go. We don't know anything beyond right now. We don't need to know.

But I'll tell you what, God is setting them apart. We're there. We're together. We're the undergirders. That's our job.

That's our responsibility. They were set apart. They were spiritually guided from that moment. Look at verse 4. The Bible says the two of them sent on their way by the Holy Spirit.

You know, I keep going back. I'm telling you this. In the earlier service, we baptized a wonderful man. We watched him being baptized at 9 o'clock this morning. And this man, I don't know a lot about him, but he's a wonderful man. But he has really gone through things and he's been struggling.

He's been struggling with addictions and with all kinds of things. He's turned his life over to Christ. And as he was baptized today, I looked up at him and I said to him, Hey, my friend, I just want to tell you this. If God before you, who can be against you?

So here are these two people. They said yes. They were embedded in the church. They were seriously seeking God. God's people got around them and laid their hands on them and set them apart. And God said, I've got it from now on.

If God before you, who can be against you? Somebody here needs that word right now because of what you're dealing with, right? You're dealing with something in your heart and it's tough. It's difficult.

It's arduous. It hurts. You don't know how you're going to cope with that marriage anymore. You don't know how you're going to overcome that sickness. You don't know how you can be reconciled to that person. You don't know how you're going to make the ends meet. You don't know which way to turn.

You don't know whether you should go to this place or that place. If God before you, who can be against you? The Holy Spirit said, I got it. You just lay your hands on them and send them off.

I got them. What does the Bible say? When they went off, they were singularly focused. You know, I love that verse. I'm looking for it here in verse five. They were singularly focused. The Bible says when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God. Bible says of these two, in their case, you know, they were embedded and they were seeking God's face in prayer and fasting and worship. And they were prayed over and they were sent out and the Spirit of God took control of them.

And when they arrived, wherever it was they need to go, they were just focused on the word of God. Don't reduce this comment to me now, okay? But I hope, I hope you understand that I'm trying to be very focused today on sharing with you that this Jesus not only loves you, this God of the Bible, but that he's got a great plan for you. And what he wants for you to do is to take on the heart of a missionary. Say yes.

It's what he's asking you to do. And you'll notice one more thing. They were wonderfully helped.

They were wonderfully helped. Right throughout all these stories, you're going to see us everywhere, everywhere. You know, guys, you look at, everybody look at me right now and I can't see half of you. So, you know, say, oh, do I have to look at you? Yeah, just look at me for a second. So I'm one person, I'm one man, right?

So I just happen to be privileged to be the pastor of this wonderful church. You look at me and you say, there it is. No. Let me tell you how this works. You know how this works? This is how this works. You're looking at God's plan here.

They were wonderfully helped. I want to tell you something. First of all, I want to thank you. You know, I might be the one up here doing the talking and I might be the leader. Guys, don't even think that for a minute.

It's us. We all do it. I want you to know that I have dedicated the rest of my life, literally. What life I've got left, I'm dedicating to raising up these young people we're talking about.

I'm investing there and you know how I'm going to do that? Don't raise your hands. So here's the question. Is there any person older than? Yeah, I better not get into ages here.

Is there any person older than 50? Who might say, I'll do it with you, pastor. I get it. Let me tell you something, folks. If the future of this church, this community, and our nation was resting on the shoulders of Seth, Phipps, Jacob, Koma, this team, these young people, I'm in. You got my money, my time, my influence, my help, my prayers. It actually doesn't matter to me. Watch this.

Watch this. The heart of a missionary? No, it's not about me. It's about us.

It's not about just those young people. It's about you and me. And I'm going to announce to you, the time has come, guys, and we're going to build. That's a powerful phrase, the time has come, and perhaps you've heard not just the pastor, Dr. Don Wilton, but the Lord has mentioned to you, the time has come for you to make a decision for Jesus Christ. Know that we're here to connect with you, to answer questions, to pray with you anytime at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org. Now you've heard this great teaching from Dr. Wilton. Open your heart now to what he wants to share next as he steps into the studio. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin, and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

God, this is exciting news. If you just prayed along with Dr. Don Wilton, giving your life to Jesus Christ or rededicating your life to Jesus, you need to know that all of us at The Encouraging Word are excited for you, but excited to walk along with you and beside you as you grow in your faith. We have wonderful resources Dr. Wilton has chosen specifically for you. If you'll call us, we'll give them to you at 866-899-WORD.

Again, we'd love to send these out within the next 48 hours if you'll call 866-899-9673 if you gave your life to Christ or rededicated your life to Jesus today. We would love to connect with you. You can do that on our website as well at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.

It's also the great place to find wonderful resources like this. Right now you may be driving in your car or sitting in the comforts of your own home. Perhaps you may be at work or listening to us in a prison cell. Wherever you are, I have an encouraging word for you today and that word is God is in control. He is sovereign over the universe. His plan for your life remains intact and He has not changed.

He is right there with you. This month, with your gift of support to the encouraging word, you will receive two powerful resources from Dr. Wilton. A Wonderful Hope, a message available on CD or DVD, and the life-changing DVD movie Risen. Both of these resources will empower you to stand strong in your faith and convictions in these not-so-normal days. Call us at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 and request Wonderful Hope and the bonus DVD movie Risen today. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. What a terrific day of teaching and there's more to come on the next edition of The Encouraging Word. Dr. Don talks about finding Zacchaeus. Perhaps you remember that story of Zacchaeus being a wee little man that climbed up in the tree to see Jesus. Oh, there is so much more for us to understand, maybe even about the tree we're sitting in. Looking at Jesus but not connecting with Jesus. Know that we're here for you. Between now and tomorrow we can connect on our phone line at 866-899-WORD or online at www.tewonline.org. The Encouraging Word