So today we're going to be looking at our second part of, second half of a message I started preaching last week.
I wasn't playing on it being two weeks, but that's what happens sometimes. Matthew 28 is where our text will start at. We're going to read verse 16 down to verse 20. So if you would join me as we look at Matthew 28 verse 16 through 20, this doesn't mean that we're concluding the Gospel of Matthew. We still got about a good year left in this Gospel. Matthew 28 verse 16 says, Verse 18, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power, could be also translated all authority, is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, could also be translated make disciples of 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. Father, we want to feel the weight of this text upon our hearts today, that it would be gripping to us. It would fasten itself to our minds. This would not be a normal service where we would just listen and go on with life and maybe be somewhat impacted, but we would be riveted by the truth that the world is dying and going to hell if they don't come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We are here to advance your kingdom, and I pray that our hearts would be brought to that reality, that we would come underneath that wonderful commission.
The greatest joy we can have is to tell other people the good news of Jesus Christ. And may we be faithful. May we be faithful to do this commission.
It is not your suggestion. It is a command. We accept that and we pray we would live it out faithfully as individuals and as a church. In Jesus' name, in God's people said, man, you may be seated. Again, this month we are casting a big vision, and I would say it's really an impossible vision without God. And as we launch our Eternal Impact Initiative, my prayer is that perspective would land on our hearts.
Perspective. That we would elevate what is really important to consider what really matters in light of eternity. To live now as we wish we would have lived when we come to that day and step on the other side of time. I want us to all feel the weight of eternity pressing down upon us. To hear the words of James when he says, what is your life? It's like a vapor.
It appears for a little time and it vanishes away. To hear Moses say in Psalms 90 verse 12, Lord, teach us to number our days that we may apply our heart to wisdom. To consider the words of David who said in Psalm 39 four, Lord, make me to know my end. I want to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how frail I am.
Last month I brought a tape measure out and just to give you a visual picture of how frail a 77 and a half year life is, which is the average length of a lifetime in America right now. God rebuked the nation of Israel because they lived only with a focus on the present. And God said in Deuteronomy 32 29, oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. And God is saying it's wise to look down the road, to consider what will be and what decisions you make now should be determined by what you see down the road.
Plan now in light of eternity. And in weighing out the options of how we should live, Jesus said in Matthew 6 19 and 20, lay not up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves can break through and still, but lay it for yourself treasure in heaven. And the idea that Jesus is giving is that you need to live for the eternal and not the temporary. Everything in the temporary is at best temporary and everything that you live for in the spiritual realm is at worst eternal. So live for the eternal, live for what lasts, live as a wise investor of your lifetime energy and resources.
Nothing wrong with putting resources aside in retirement to plan for the future, those are wise things, the Bible commends those things, but it is unwise to live only for the temporal to the neglect of the eternal. Later in Matthew 6, Jesus said you either serve God or money to stop focusing our pursuit on the things of this life, and he says rather in Matthew 6 33 seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things would be added to you. I pray that as a church we would live our lives in a way that would reflect the heart of Mary, who would sit at Jesus's feet and hear his words and she treasured him above all else and so he had her treasure that we would not fall into the distraction of Martha who allowed good things to keep her from the best to hear the words of CT stud who said, there's only one life to last and only those things done for Christ will be what last in your life to not be foolish like Esau who traded the blessing of God for a bowl of soup. To be like Moses who rejected the riches of Egypt for the service of God. This eternal impact initiative is calling us as a church to give our hearts to what Jesus gave his life for that we would live to know Christ and give to make him known that we would not be content with the knowledge of Christ and being saved ourselves, but we would be passionate to reach the lost world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is this is the burning zeal of why lighthouse exists. I had a pastor friend in a neighboring city who has a large church. He said every time I come to Xenia somebody from lighthouse is telling me the gospel. He said I really he said I'm burdened that my church would begin to have a heart like that. And I commend you for your burden to reach people he says I go to the gas station somebody's telling me about the gospel.
That's good. And if that ever falls away we fallen from the purpose for why we're even here. We exist to glorify God that's our chief motive but our chief mission is to carry out the Great Commission isn't it. It's not to be moral.
It's not to be happy. It's to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing better I can do for someone than to give them the greatest news that could save them from an eternity. What help does it give somebody to feed them if they're going to hell.
Feed the person but give them the greatest food right. On April 14 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg and the ship that not even God could sink went down into those cold frigid Atlantic waters. Tragically over 1500 people perished in those bitter waters. Only about a third of the passengers lived to tell the nightmarish story. Although the death toll was staggering there was another tragedy.
And it came to light later on. It was the fact that many more people could have been rescued. The Titanic was certified to offer lifeboat space to 1178 people. But of the 20 lifeboats lowered overboard only a few filled to capacity.
Later on they found that several were less than half full. For instance the first lifeboat lowered, boat number seven actually had room for 65 people they only had 28 people on board. Boat five had 24 spaces unfilled. Lifeboat nine left with 26 out of 65 spaces unfilled. Lifeboat one could accommodate 40 people it only had 12 on board.
In all only 711 passengers and crew were rescued. While 40% of the total lifeboat spaces remained unfilled. Meanwhile hundreds of people floated in the open water wearing life jackets near the 20 lifeboats. In the midst of the cries for help from the icy dark waters. Where fathers were crying out. Where mothers were drowning and freezing to death. And children and grandparents were floating helplessly pleading for help. Only one vessel came back to search for survivors.
Only one. The rest with room to spare remained at a safe distance as they observed the horrific scene. Comforting one another and praising God that they were saved. I fear that that can happen to Christians today. Are you content knowing you're saved?
Safe in the hand of God? And yet feel unburdened, no agony for the world around us that's drowning in desperate knees. Do we do we hear their cries?
One day we will. Are you more concerned about comfort or their lost condition? The mission of Lighthouse is not only to know Christ but to make him known. To be a lighthouse in this community that both warns of the peril of sin and hell and points people to Jesus Christ who alone can save. And I can tell you God's vehicle to reach this world is not the Red Cross.
Red Cross has done a lot of good things through the years. That's not who God's going to use to reach the world with the gospel. There is one entity that Jesus said he came to build. He did not come to build the government. He did not come to build hospitals which are great and necessary.
He did not come to build schools. He said, I came to build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The Church of Jesus Christ is what he came to build in the New Testament. You find that all of the work of God was established and carried out through the activity of the local churches. Jesus purchased the church in X 2028.
He says he purchased purchased it with his own blood when he was talking about marriage. He said, husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself word. Local New Testament churches.
Eighty five percent of the time Ekklesia, which is the compound word, Ekk out of and Kaleo, the call, the called out, assembled together. That that word is referring to local New Testament churches that assemble together. People say, why just believe in the universal church? Why believe there's a universal church, too? But tell me where they're gathered right now. I'm not the pastor of a universal church, I'm the pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church, and when you read the New Testament, they would start churches and set local pastors and elders up in local New Testament churches.
There is the universal church has to do with every believer that has ever lived from the days of Christ till now. It's not only the living, but it's the dead. Tell me where they're gathered. They will gather when the rapture happens and we come around the throne of God.
That's going to be a good day, isn't it? But it's the assembled ones gathered together. It's even translated as assembly often in the New Testament. And so it's the congregation, it's the gathering together. You can't do that as a worldwide church right now. It's what theologians call the church in prospect, and that's ecclesiology. It's the church in future.
It's the church that will be, in its spiritual sense, it exists, but not in practical, physical, tangible sense. So we have local New Testament churches. Just as we're the body of Christ, but yet we have individual local families, right?
You're not part of the family of God, but you also have a dad and a mom and children. And so there's a spiritual family, but there's also a physical family, but the church is a local New Testament group. And so when you read through the New Testament, you have, after the Gospels, you have the Book of Acts, which is the launch of the church, the Book of Romans, which is the constitution of the church and Christianity. And then you get into the 1st, 2nd Corinthians, and you have just letter after letter to New Testament churches.
And then you wrote to pastors, Titus and Timothy, and then Jesus came back and he wrote seven letters to seven New Testament churches in Revelation 2 and 3. If you want to know what Jesus' focus was, he was about the churches. In Revelation 2, when he shows up, he's standing in the midst of the churches, Revelation 1 and 2. That's where he's standing. He's not standing in the middle of government. He's not standing in the middle of the military. He's standing in the middle of the church.
That's where the activity goes on. So what I'm trying to say, and I think I'm preaching to the choir, but you just need to understand this. Your life should be invested in what Jesus gave his life for. We live in a day where there's many in the world who call themselves Christian, but somehow they want to belittle the church.
It's the craziest thing, and I think it's either they're deluded, they're unsaved, they're deceived, there's something off. If Jesus said, I died for the church, love your wife as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, how could we make little of what he gave his life for? Does that make sense? Are you guys awake this morning? Okay, there we go.
Just need to make sure there was some life there. So today I want to continue part two of last week's message, four ways in which we can make Christ known. And last week we looked at one of the ways as a church we can make him known, because this is why we exist, to know Christ, not only to know him, but also to make him known. How can we make him known? We saw four ways we can know him a couple weeks ago, and I want to look at four ways we can make him known.
And this is actually on page 15 of that little 44-page booklet that we passed out. And the first is through evangelism, by sharing the gospel with others. And if you come to Lighthouse, you will not only hear the gospel so you can know Christ, but you will be challenged to share the gospel with others. I don't want you leaving feeling comfortable if you're not serving God.
I want you leaving feeling compelled to serve him. Just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction, so a church that does not burn with a gospel passion is a contradiction. Evangelism is front and center because Christ is front and center. How can you be a church that is following Christ, who's the head of the church, and not be passionate about what he's passionate about?
It's impossible. Evangelism simply means the good news. Euangelion is the Greek word. It means the good news, and it's the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins, rose again, and will save. He came to seek and to save the lost. Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. His name shall be called Yeshua. It means salvation. This is why he came. He lived 33 years with an eternal purpose in mind.
He was focused on it, and we must be busy about his business. God is a saving God, and it's a tragedy how Jesus came to save, and for some reason, many Christians in churches don't recognize this as the most important message. I look back at my life growing up in some churches, and I don't remember some of them ever preaching the gospel and ever challenging us to share the gospel. If you're going to work tomorrow, you should look at your neighbors and co-workers and be convicted about, man, do they know Christ? That's what I want. I want you to wake up tonight at 2 in the morning and be riveted with that and, like, save John. Give me an opportunity to talk to John and Sally and Fred and those Michigan fans, obviously.
But you would be burdened that you would feel the weight and the reality that that is an eternal soul that needs Christ, that you would feel that. Are my neighbors saved? Are my co-workers? Are my children? Are my parents?
I'll just be quite frank and honest with you that I have been so shocked through the years, I sometimes wonder, have I not made it clear enough? There are people that have parents, and they don't even know if their parents are saved. There's people with kids, and they don't even know if their kids are saved. And I think it would be like this. Say there's an infection that's spread through, like, we've got COVID going on throughout these last several years. But imagine if there was something that got implanted into our water system that caused cancer into everyone. And somebody came out with a remedy that was able to cure that cancer that was 100% sure going to kill them.
And you found out about it, and you were able to get that. Would you be concerned about your neighbors and your parents making sure that they got that remedy? And you knew they would die if they didn't? I mean, would you be like, hey, I know I've been pretty busy lately. I was working overtime.
I have to run to Walmart, get some stuff at Lowe's, Home Depot, working on my grass this year, trying to get it to grow. I mean, and I think sometimes, do people not, either they don't believe it, they don't understand it, they don't hold it high enough. It should be like the number one thing that they want to make sure of. Every week I'm telling someone about Christ.
Sit down with a man this last week, and he's knew about the truth, and after talking with him, God had gotten so much a hold of his heart that the gospel brought him to his knees, and he wept in my office floor, calling out to Christ, reaching out to other people, hey, can I meet with you? Going after people. I want them to know it. I'm driven for this. We must be driven. Jesus said, if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men. So followers will be fishers.
If I'm not fishing for men, then I must not be. We can sing, we can pray, we can read the Bible. But if his burden is not somehow, if it's not capturing us, if it's not gripping us, we had, a few weeks ago, we had like four or five teenagers in our foundations class several weeks ago, because one of their peers was so burdened for the players on his team that he began witnessing, he was being a light to them, and kids were getting saved.
He had some other parents and even their grandparents getting saved, because a high school kid was burdened for his friends. We had a men's prayer breakfast at 7 a.m. yesterday morning. 7 a.m. We had a great turnout, man. Steve brought an incredible message.
It was just awesome. And it's so awesome to see some teenagers getting up, like a half dozen or more of them, to come because they want to be around men and want to learn the Word of God, and it's just so encouraging to me. And they have a burden for their friends and to tell their friends about Jesus. Friends, there's nothing more important.
If you can go to a church and you don't leave with a burden for the lost after a while, it's not about how good their music is. Y'all with me? It's not about, do they have a fog machine? Ain't nobody going to go to heaven with a fog machine, right?
It's not going to be how nice your carpet is. They got blue chairs in here and tan ones on the side. A church is this.
It's not about these things. Wouldn't it be good if somebody's like, hey, I've been looking for a church. What kind of church are you looking for? I'm looking for a church that's gripped by God. I'm looking for a church that's so riveted to bring Christ to their family and friends that I would leave broken for my lost world and friends. Wouldn't it be nice to hear somebody say that for once? And I'm amazed that people can sit in churches and be comfortable.
And if they challenge too much, they might leave. But you're here because you know you're going to get what you're going to get. But I do know this. I need my soul to preach this for me.
I need to hear this truth from the Word of God. I need to be broken for the lost. I need to be challenged. Complacency draws me to it. Because I'm American. It's so comfortable, isn't it? I'm in my office.
I can hit a button and my vehicle starts up and warms up. I love it. I mean, we live in a comforting world, don't we? We're a hot coffee, our lattes.
Everything's kind of soft and smooth for us. What we're challenged with is just nothing compared to what the old worlds used to be challenged with. They said the average man would burn 7,000 calories a day in the early 1900s to live. That's how hard the manual labor was. Honey, can you bring me the remote? I mean, this is the challenge. Ah, I left it across the room.
Don't I have an app on my phone? I can turn that thing on. I mean, this is the world we live in. It's embarrassing, isn't it? Do you think this has any effect on the comfort level we have as Christians? Do you think it might dampen our burden down a little bit?
I need to get past point number one. I preached it last week, but I'm just telling you, it's hard for me to get away from it. It's just so important for us. We must be evangelistic. Secondly, it's through discipleship. Discipleship, Greek mathetuo, it's the idea that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I am a learner of Jesus Christ.
It's a teacher-pupil relationship. God's desire for us as a student follower of Jesus Christ, as a mathetuo of Jesus Christ, mathetes of Christ, that we would be fully conformed to his image, that what's true of Jesus would be true in us. That's why the Bible says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ in Romans 13, 14. That's why the Bible says in Romans 8, 29, that whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.
He predestinated you to be saved, not just to be saved, but to be conformed to the image of his Son. 1 John 2, 6, that we should walk as he walked. Philippians 2, 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Paul said in Galatians 4, 19, my little children whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. This is the new man of Ephesians 4, 22 through 24. You put off the old man, renew your mind, put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. It's Ephesians 5, 1, be followers of God as dear children.
Followers is the Greek word mimitites, where we actually get the English word mimic from. Be mimics of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ loved us in Ephesians 5, 2. Ephesians 4, 11 and 12 says, God gave, it's talking about Christ, he ascended into heaven and he says, and he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Notice what he gave these gifted men to the church for. When I say gifted men, I mean men who were called to preach and proclaim the truth of God. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. What did he do that for? For the perfecting of the saints, the edifying of the saints, the building up of the body of Christ, the perfecting of saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God and to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of who? That we would be like Christ. So the work of God is to, Christ rose from the dead and he gave gifted men to the church that he had bestowed his grace upon to proclaim his word that they might be conformed to the image of Christ, the word of God through the preaching ministries, teaching ministries, and he gave pastors and teachers, it's actually a dual word, it's the idea that they're a pastor teacher.
They're a pastor teacher, they preach and teach and that that word would be a transforming power that would conform them to the image of Christ. If you want to go to counseling, this is the best counseling you're going to get in a week, the word of God. This is marital counseling, family counseling, children counseling. My family was so broken growing up, my parents getting ready to get a divorce, we got into a church, got to put their family back together, their marriage back together. Sometimes you need special counseling outside of church, I get that, I understand that, but this should be the first line of counseling that you get and it will sanctify your life if you allow the word of God to land on your heart. And so are you, discipleship isn't something that happens in a vacuum, it happens in the community of the body of Christ. And so how are you, I would ask this question, helping others grow in their walk with Christ.
You need to hear this. As a Christian, you are called by God to help others grow in their walk. But I can't help others grow if I'm not what? So we must be compelled to grow as Christians and it's the greatest thing in your life you invest your life into. I'm committed to this, I am not content with where I am, I want to continue to grow since September. I have set a goal, I set a goal to really make God's word, I want to memorize it more and God's allowed me to do that with an exerted effort and I'm just so thankful that he is helping me in so many different areas to grow and expand and learn and I'm challenging myself.
Every year I want to go further and deeper and it doesn't wear me down to do that, it gives me more energy to do that. It excites your soul. And so because I know that what God does in me has a big effect on everyone around me. And you need to feel that, like if you're casual about your Christian life, guess what you're going to do to everybody around you? You're going to cause some casual spirit to begin to flow up. If you're not burdened for the things of God, guess what?
Your husband and wife probably won't be either and your children and your family. I used to be excited for God. You used to be? Who moved, God or you? One preacher said the greatest blasphemy in the church today is lukewarmness because it says, God, I know you exist, you just don't excite me anymore. Have you lost your excitement and thrill of Christ?
Is he no longer exciting? I've memorized a chapter a week since September and it is the most thrilling thing I think I do in my mornings. It is so enjoyable, I have to stop myself to go to the next thing that I know I need to do. You say, well, you work for the church, I don't do any of that on church time. That's early hours before I start any work here. And so it's important to know that, and the reason I say that is because I feel like the pastor needs to be an example to the flock. Why would I tell you to learn and study and read and grow in the word of God if I'm not, right? And so we need to press forward and press ahead on that. I had a 70-some-year-old lady come up to me the other day and she memorized the entire Sermon on the Mount. I was like, man, I was thinking about doing that sometime, but that's a big old investment right there. I want to do that.
I was super encouraged and she's motivated me to jump on that once I get done with some of the goals that I have. I want you to see the instructions of Jesus in Matthew 28, 19. He said, go therefore and teach all nations.
I like the New King James better here. It says, make disciples of all nations. I love the King James Bible, but I believe that that translation on this text has been a hindrance to disciple-focused ministry. It's literally, go into all the world in Matthew 2-0, Greek verb, make disciples is the idea. Matthew is the word for disciple.
Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, of all ethnic groups, not just Jews, but Gentiles and all of them. Discipleship is God's plan to reach the world. You say, is discipleship different from evangelism?
Nope. Evangelism is the first step of discipleship. To be a disciple, you must be evangelized. Discipleship is not separate.
The word actually, mathetes, where we translate to disciple, is used 269 times for Christian, referring, I would say it this way, believers are called mathetes, 269 times in the New Testament, they're called Christians three times. The term the Bible gives to a believer is not a Christian, it is a disciple. For some reason, people say, well, there's evangelism and then discipleship. No, there's just discipleship.
It's what it is. You're a disciple and you go to disciple people and you're being discipled and it's discipling. It's Jesus followers making Jesus followers. And one reason that the church can die, and I think it hurt the church years ago, is they were focused on evangelism, they separated out discipleship.
No, it's one. You teach them the word of God, you bring them the gospel, you teach them, it just continues on. Discipleship continues with obedience. He says, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. If you're saved and not baptized, I can tell you, you need to get baptized. It's the first step after you trust in Christ. If you profess to be saved and not baptized, you need to come today and say, I need to get baptized, come to the foundations and we'll help you go through that process. You say, well, I'm not comfortable getting up in front of people. When did Christianity ever become comfortable?
Was that when it landed in America? Have you been so Americanized in your faith that we forget Christ comes with a cross? Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. If I don't get baptized, who do I love more, my own comfort or his command? And we think we're going to ever be a part of his discipleship ministry when I disobey him at the first line? I can tell you, if you're saved and you're not baptized, you need to ask God to forgive you of that sin. It is a sin to rebel against that. And I'm telling you that because the Bible says, go into all the world, make disciples of all men, baptizing them. I'm going to elevate the importance of that. So you'll never stand before God and say, well, my pastor just never really told me. I told you.
You'll be thankful one day that I'm like I am, I think. Discipleship involves teaching the believer to follow all the word of God. Matthew 28, 20, teaching them to observe, to observe, teach them to observe it.
Make sure they know the importance of observing just some of the things that they're comfortable with that I've suggested you. Is that what he says? Jesus doesn't make suggestions because he never guesses at anything. You understand what that means? Omniscience doesn't guess.
It knows. He always makes direct axioms, definitive truth statements. All things that I command you, teach them to observe them. We must teach the full counsel of God. People can't follow what they don't know. That's why we preach verse by verse. We go through the scriptures. That's why it's important to be in church.
The effectiveness of discipleship turns a church from being an addition church into a multiplication church. I don't have time to expound this. I'm going to have to do it in the second service.
It'll be online if you want to watch it later. But I'm captured. That's why you love coming to the early service.
I'm going to have time limit. I know. I know. You think it's because you're just that spiritual. I know you are, but I know you love Christ, but you know I'm... Time limit here. But discipleship turns addition into multiplication because instead of one person leading one person to Christ, when you disciple that person, now you have two people leading people to Christ and discipling them and it begins this multiplication effect. What's interesting, when you read through the book of Acts and you trace this, Acts 1-6, they were adding people and then after chapter 6, they began to multiply disciples. It says multitudes.
Multitudes keeps using that term. And the churches even began to multiply. Explosive growth in the early church. By the year 350 A.D., Christianity exploded from an estimated 1,040 A.D. to an estimated 33 million by the year 350 A.D. That's an average of 106,000 people saved a year over a 310-year period.
Just incredible. Jesus knew the plan to reach the world is by reaching people with the gospel and seeing them formed in the image of Christ. And if you just take one person and begin to disciple them, and I want to lead one person to Christ, disciple that person, and like think about it, if you could just duplicate yourself in one person, your faith in one person over the next year of this church, if everybody did that, it would double in size. But it takes time to disciple them.
It takes time to grow them up. It takes patience. It takes grace.
And you must invest in them. Let me give you a third way we can do this mission of knowing Christ and making Him known through church planting, not only by multiplying our faith and lives into individual lives of others, but also by duplicating the ministry of our church into other churches through church plants. God has called men to preach. Romans 10 13 says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how should they believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sinned?
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them to preach the gospel of peace. And so God calls men to preach. We see this in Galatians 1 15 and 16, where God said He called Paul from Paul's, the womb of his own mother.
He says to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen. God sends church planters and missionaries out through the local church. Acts 13, you can flip over there quickly with me, Acts 13, it says, Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon, that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Menion, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul. They're at this church at Antioch and it says, And as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away. So if Paul and Barnabas were faithfully serving in a local church at Antioch, the Bible tells us here that the Holy Ghost is the one who called them to preach. And it says that he also called them to a specific location in Acts 13 4.
So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed into Seleucian, from thence they sailed to Cyprus, and when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews. And so it's important to understand the church will start churches. If you ever had somebody say, I'm going to start a church in my house. That's not a biblical pattern. That's not right to do. Churches start churches just like women give birth to children.
And I'm thankful that our country is back to the understanding that there's only two genders. Paul and Barnabas were faithful in their local church when God called them and God called them to a specific location. Do you think some people at Antioch were like, man, does Paul and Barnabas have to go?
You know what I mean? I mean, if you're at Antioch, you're like, who would have been better the assistant pastors than Barnabas and Saul? Of course it was a sacrifice, but people in other cities were desperately in need of the gospel.
People were drowning in Salamis and Cyprus and Iconium and Derbe and Philippi and all over. Acts 13 through 28 chronicles three missionary journeys Paul takes as he travels the Roman world preaching the gospel. Nearly all the New Testament was written to these specific churches. Pastors were set up as they started churches. They would ordain pastors and ministers who would take those churches who would go on and duplicate themselves.
This is the vehicle God has chosen to carry out the Great Commission. Twenty-one years ago, my brother and I started a church in Chillicothe with eight people. It's grown up now to 600 or so people, and they launched three different churches or launched two churches and took one church over that was dying off. Circleville up in Chillicothe, we launched that church.
We launched Xenia here 15 years ago. And I can tell you, when we left Xenia or Chillicothe, it was tough. It was a sacrifice. People there were like, man, you know, Josh leaving and his wife, man, they're just involved in a lot of ministries. It's a big sacrifice.
There's always stuff going on. It was a step of faith. But we knew God was calling us. And some will say, you know, it's going to be hard for Braden to leave. It's a sacrifice for Lighthouse to send Braden out. You know, he's my right-hand guy.
It's not harder on anybody else than me. But who needs Braden more, Lighthouse or Huber Heights? Did God call us to be safe in our raft, to be safe when the world's drowning? Let's just make sure we're safe, we're good. Or should we send out other life rafts for those who need the gospel?
We need to launch life rafts. Luke 42 says this, when it was day, Jesus departed and went into a desert place, and the people sought him and came unto him and stayed him that he would not depart from them. Jesus, don't leave us. And you know what he said unto them? He said, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent. You know, when Eric left years ago, people were like, man, why does he got to go? You know, he's your right-hand man.
I think I'd be crippled by now losing all these. But I ask, are we not supposed to make sacrifices to reach the world? Do we need Eric more than the people of Honduras that are hearing the gospel this morning from him? Braden reached out to several churches in Huber Heights, five or six different churches, he called, that were theologically sound.
In fact, one of them, Charles Stanley, started years ago. Combined, they, out of those, I think it was six churches, they had to combine five to ten people saved out of those churches and five to ten baptized combined. So each church was reaching about one person a year in Huber Heights. I mean, as a church, like, what are you doing?
Are you just going there to look nice and encourage each other? According to a 2020 national census, there's 170,000 people in Greene County, 25,500 living in Zinnia. According to that national religious census in 2020, 40 percent of the population identified as affiliating with some religious group, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist. Of that 40 percent, 40.1 percent to be exact, 35 percent claimed some level of Christianity, evangelical, Protestant, Catholic. If we were to assume that 35 percent of the population was saved, which not everyone in those groups are clearly saved, it'd probably be less than half, but say 35 percent, that would mean 110,500 people in our county need the gospel. 16,575 in Zinnia alone, Huber Heights have 43,500 people, that's 28,275 people in Huber Heights that need the gospel. And out of the five or six churches that know the gospel, that should know to preach the gospel, they're each having about one person saved a year?
What should we do? We have to plant churches to multiply the effect, to continue to expand that. And lastly, through missions, we need to send and fund missionaries to reach the lost world. As I said, go into all the world, go into all the nations, the ethnes, the people groups of the world. They need the gospel.
This is essential to understand. The world is lost. The world is lost. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Romans 3, 23 tells us. And eternal judgment awaits those who don't know Christ.
Whosoever was not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire, Revelation 20, verse 15. Jesus made it very clear, the way to heaven is very narrow. Narrow is the way that leads to life.
He said, few find it, Matthew 7, 13. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many are on that path.
It is a narrow restricted way. There's one heading to heaven, narrow. There's another road leading to hell and it's very broad. People say, well, what about those people who are in other religions? Aren't they sincere?
Of course. Let me ask you, does sincerity equal truth? Can you be sincerely wrong? And does sincerity equal salvation? If people are just sincere in their religion and if that means they'll go to heaven, then sincerity equals salvation. I mean, an atheist is sincere. Do you think those Muslims who blew themselves fulfilling the sign fatwa and a jihad, do you think they're not sincere? Of course they're sincere.
They're desperate. Romans 10, 4, my brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. I bear them record, they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They're ignorant going about to establish their own righteousness. They've not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.
So the Jewish people who had the right Old Testament, believed in the right God, he said, still need to be saved. They're not going to heaven. Sometimes people say, well, what if somebody never hears the gospel?
Would they go to hell? If not hearing the gospel saved you, why would we ever tell them? The Bible tells us that everyone on the planet teaches us that everyone on the planet has a chance to be saved. Romans 1 18 through 20 teach that creation manifests the world that God is a creator God. Psalms 19 talks about this as well.
It says they are without excuse. Also Titus 2 11 says the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men. God's grace that brings salvation hath appeared to all men.
So first of all, everyone on the planet has a chance. God's grace extends to them. Secondly, those who seek the truth will find it.
If you're faithful with the information God has given to you, God will give you more information. In Acts 10, we see this with Cornelius. He believed in the right God. He gave alms to the poor. He was praying always, but he wasn't saved. But God saw that and sent Peter to bring the gospel to him.
Rahab the harlot, same thing. Naaman the Syrian, Jonah and the people of Nineveh. God will bring the gospel to those who are seeking with humility the truth. He will bring them the truth. Why are there so many religions?
Who's behind them? The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 20, the things that the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to devils, not to God. Allah is not another name for Yahweh. He is a devil. False gods, buddhas are demons.
They're at best the delusion of people and they're at worst demonic entities. That's what the Bible is clear about. What I'm trying to tell you, we have to send missionaries out because the world is lost and they need to be saved and they only can be saved through Jesus Christ.
That is true. If it wasn't true, we should be as quiet about Jesus as anything and never tell anyone again. Ignorance doesn't save, other religions don't save, Christ saves. That's why Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No man comes to the Father but by me. That's why we must be praying for missionaries, supporting missionaries, sending missionaries. That's why we're increasing our missions given 27% over the next two years.
We must be focused on this. This is not a suggestion from Christ, this is a command and we get one life to live and give and serve and then it's over. And so this Eternal Impact Initiative is all about investing in eternity.
Will you be a part of that? Will you be a part of praying for the lost, sharing the gospel with the lost, giving to reach the lost? The gospel torch that Christ lit with his life that he passed on to the New Testament apostles who passed down to the churches has now been handed to people like us 2,000 years later and what are we going to do with that torch?
I believe that our best days are in front of us. I believe that Lighthouse is going to be a church that sees thousands and thousands of more people come to Christ, baptized and discipled, dozens of church planters and missionaries sent out, God's kingdom expanded. We have just seen the beginning of what God could do. What would happen if everybody got on fire for the Lord at Lighthouse? If we became committed disciples and followers of Christ, if everybody said, you know what, I want to get plugged in, I want to begin to give and serve and if everybody took one of these little gospel tracts and passed them out to a friend and began to be burdened, what would happen? I can tell you what would happen. We would begin to live for the eternal and not the temporary.
We'd look back on our life and say, praise God, I live like that. Praise God the football game or the basketball or the soccer game or whatever other event goes on in life or extra hours at work or whatever stuff that Martha could be busy about is not cumbering our hearts but that we gave our life to what really matters. Today, if you're not saved, I will be down front, you can come to be saved. If you need to make a spiritual decision, if you need to be baptized, wherever your decision is, I encourage you to commit your life to Christ more fully. And during this invitation, these tables down front, we've encouraged you for the last several weeks to pray about these commitment cards and during this invitation, and the reason we're doing it during the invitation is because this is a time of worship. This is a time for us to say, you know what, this is my chance to be able to give, to be able to support the work of God, and this is a call of God upon our life to do that. And so we're going to be having a time of prayer. You can come and pray, but I'm excited. Me and my wife have prayed over this and I believe God's going to use these resources to advance His gospel not only here but in a church plant in Huber Heights, other church plants we have planned already in other areas, as well as the gospel expansion overseas. And so if you would stand with me this morning.
