Success in ministry is not talented people. doing great things for God. It's very ordinary people. following the leadership of the Holy Spirit as he does great things through them. Oh, that's all the book of Acts really is.
It's just stories of ordinary people stepping out in obedience as they're led by the Spirit. Thanks for joining us today for the Summit Life podcast with JD Greer. Before we dive into today's teaching, let me share how you can get quick access to more gospel-centered resources. Did you know we have a weekly newsletter packed with free content? Every Tuesday, we'll send you the latest from Pastor JD.
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Head over to jdgreer.com now and sign up. Today, Pastor J.D. Greer helps us consider how God might be calling each of us to take the gospel forward. It won't look the same for everyone, but the worth of Jesus compels us to share his truth wherever he's placed us. Let's join Pastor J.D.
in the book of Acts. Good morning, Summit Church, at all of our campuses in the triangle, Acts chapter 6. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, Acts chapter 6. Years ago, I heard a true story about a man named Larry Walters who lived in Orange County, California. The story goes that one afternoon, Larry went out to the Army and Navy, Army and Navy surplus store.
He bought 42 used Army weather balloons and he attached them to a lawn chair that he had secured to the top of his fiancée's house. Then, with the help of a few of his friends, he climbed into the chair along with a peanut butter sandwich, a six-pack of beer, and a fully loaded BB gun. And then he had his friends untie the rope. His idea was that he would lazily sort of saunter up into the atmosphere to the right altitude, at which point he would use his BB gun to shoot out some of the balloons, which would level him off. Then he could enjoy his snacks from a spectacular view.
And then when it was time to come down, he would take his gun, his BB gun, and he would shoot out a few more of the balloons and just gradually descend back down to the earth. What could possibly go wrong with that plant? Two and a half hours later. two point five hours after they untied the rope, the Los Angeles International Airport reported an unidentified flying object in the skies above LAX at sixteen thousand two hundred and forty seven feet. Lawn Chair Larry, as he came to be known, now three miles into the sky and over 100 miles from his original launch site.
A 737 pilot who got a glimpse of Larry on his way into LAX said. I'm not sure how to report this. I just passed a guy at 16,000 feet. In a lawn chair. And I think he might have a gun.
What Larry had not anticipated was how fast he would ascend when they untied the rope. His friends said that when they undid the rope, he did not lazily saunter up into the sky as he had expected. He said it looked like he had been fired out of a cannon. Immediately, he'd taken out his BB gun to pop some of the balloons, like he had planned on doing, but his hands were shaking so badly that he, after shooting 13 of them, he dropped the gun. At that point, all he had was the peanut butter sandwich and the beer.
So we broke open the six-pack and chugged down four of the beers, at which point he passed out. From that point on, Earth's atmosphere and the laws of gravity made the rest of the decisions in that faithful journey. Rescue teams were not quite sure what to do. I mean, how could they bring Larry down without toppling the chair? Eventually, Larry's makeshift aircraft began to descend on its own, and his journey ended when he got tangled up in some power lines just east of the LAX airport.
Larry was unconscious when rescue teams found him, but remarkably, he came out of the ordeal otherwise unharmed. On the ground, after being revived back to consciousness, Larry was issued. Get this, my favorite part of the story. He was issued a $4,000 ticket by local police for the obstruction of airport traffic and just otherwise being a public nuisance. A local journalist then asked him three questions.
Here they were: Question number one: Larry, were you scared? And Larry said. Yes, yes, I was terrified. Question number two: Larry, would you do it again? To which Larry said, No, no, I would not do this.
By the way, that's how we know he wasn't from Alamance County. Right? You ought to be like, I ain't scared. Let's go. Right?
Question number three. They said, Larry, why did you do it? Why did you do it? And Larry said, I love these words. They're not funny, but they're great words.
He said, I just got tired of always sitting around.
Now, I know you hear that. You say, Pastor, is that story true? I mean of course, I read it on the internet. It's gotta be true, right? No, for real.
I am sure that some parts of that story have grown with internet legend, but most everything that I just shared with you is verified fact. But I share that story because we sense that there's some bigger purpose that we're supposed to be a part of. And we genuinely want to know what it is. We want to know what our role is. We want to make a difference in the world.
We want to do something with our lives that matters. But we're not quite sure what to do. Maybe you're a college student trying to figure out what career path you're supposed to take. Or maybe, like me, you're in your mid-30s and you're trying to figure out what to do with the second half of your career. But because you can't figure out what exactly it is, like Larry, he just turned to entertainment.
or toys or golf. to fill up your time. And I want to talk with you today about discovering the purpose that God has for you. in his global mission. Today, I want to walk us through the story of the first gospel expansion in history.
And I want to show you how God used. An ordinary person. Much like Larry Walters. Much like you. As the tip of his gospel spear.
The man's name was Stephen. And as I'm going to show you in just a minute, Stephen's story marks the pivotal point in the book of Acts. It's a very unique story. And I believe it is given to us as the example. of how God intends to use so-called ordinary people.
to bring his power. to the world. Let me give you the context. Stephen was not an apostle. A lot of people get that wrong, but Stephen was not one of the 12.
He was just an ordinary guy. And yet Stephen's story marks the turning point of the book of Acts. You see, up until this moment, as far as we know, the gospel movement had yet to leave the borders of Jerusalem. Even though Jesus had clearly told his apostles that what he wanted was for his gospel to be carried from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Now, to be sure, those first five chapters of Acts have been an exciting ride. With the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost and everybody speaking in tongues and the 3,000 spontaneous baptisms in one day, and people getting struck dead and the offering and whatnot. I mean, it has been a full five chapters, but bottom line, Is that in Acts 6, all the Christians are still in Jerusalem? They're all meeting in small groups. They're holding hands, singing kumbaya, discussing Peter's latest sermon.
That all changes with the story of Stephen. Stephen's story, chapter 6, verse 1, starts with a good old-fashioned church conflict.
Some things never change about church and conflict is one of them and that's what starts chapter six.
Some of the Hellenistic widows in the early church, Hellenistic means Greek culture widows. They complained that they were being neglected in favor of the Jewish widows. There was a little Jewish privilege going on. And so the apostles appointed seven men to deal with the problem. It's the earliest version of what we now call deacons.
They did that so that they could focus more, so that the apostles could focus on the more important task of vision and word, preaching the word and prayer. Stephen was one of the seven men appointed to deal with this problem so that the apostles can get back to the important work of ministry. What you should hear from all that is that Stephen's job, in one sense, was not that important. He was not considered to be one of the theological leaders in the early church. Stephen did not write any books.
He did not get asked to preach any sermons. He did not sit on any advisory councils. He was just a table waiter, just a table waiter. He was the meals on wheels of the early church. He served chicken and shrimp to local widows.
And yet And yet, Acts 6:7 tells us that Stephen executed that task so well, and his service was so full of the Spirit that it got the attention of many in the unbelieving community. including many of the Jewish priests. Who, seeing this generosity on display, began to turn in large numbers to faith in Christ.
Well, that got the attention of the Sanhedrin. The ruling class of Jews who begin to try to discredit Stephen. They don't want all these Jewish priests converting to faith in Jesus.
So they're like, who is this guy? What does he know? I love verse 10. And yet they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which this. Ordinary, untrained laymen who had never been to seminary, they could not resist him with all their training.
They couldn't resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. In Acts 7, they drag Stephen before the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, where Stephen proceeds to give the longest recorded sermon in the book of Acts. He basically gives an overview of Israel's history, accusing the Sanhedrin of turning their religion into an idol. He's like, You guys are super religious and you love this temple, but you don't actually know God at all. He then brings his sermon to a climax by saying, you're just like.
Your wicked forefathers. They killed all the prophets. You killed the Son of God himself. I should also mention it is the least seeker-friendly sermon in the New Testament. Verse 54, now when they'd heard these things, they were enraged.
And they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God. And Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Verse 56, and then he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Now, when they heard that, they cried out with a loud voice. And they stop their ears and they rush together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul, Saul, of course, who would one day become the apostle Paul. Verse 58, as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus.
Receive my spirit. And then falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Now, unfortunately, when Stephen Langton The 13th century Archbishop of Canterbury added chapter divisions into your Bibles. He put one right here at the end of verse 60. You see, up until the 13th century, all the books in your Bible were just one flowing text. They added chapter divisions later to help us navigate the text. But I would argue that this is a terrible place for a chapter division.
Because the first few verses of chapter eight. or actually the conclusion to Stephen's story. Let me show you. Acts 8 verse 1. There arose on that day.
What day? the day of Stephen's martyrdom. On that day, there arose a great persecution against all the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Those are important words.
Except the apostles. Those are really important words. If you underline stuff in your Bible, underline those three. Except the apostles. Verse 4, and those who were scattered.
Went about preaching the word. Y'all, there it is. The first time the gospel leaves the borders of Jerusalem. And I want you to note. There's not a single apostle involved in that moment.
That is very significant. You see, let me explain something. Acts 1.8 is the key verse of the book of Acts. It's the book's outline, so to speak. It's where Jesus tells his disciples right before he ascends to heaven, he's like, You will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem.
Judea and Samaria, and then the uttermost parts of the earth. That's the plot line of what's going to happen in Acts. Luke's repetition of those places in chapter eight, verse one. We say, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. Signals that Stephen's story marks the pivotal moment for when that plot line moves forward.
And again, I want you to let this sink in. In that pivotal transition moment, the most important moment in the book of Acts. Where the gospel spreads around the world, not a single apostle is involved. Stephen is an ordinary Christian. And he shows you what ordinary Christians in the church are supposed to look like.
and what will happen in the world when they do.
So if you're taking notes, here's what I want you to write down. Five convictions. Of those who transformed the world that you see in Stephen. Let me give you a little advanced warning. These are not deep.
They're very simple. But each one of these is for you. Conviction number one. God wants to use Me. I don't think I can convey to you how significant it is.
That the first time the gospel leaves Jerusalem, it's because of the work of an ordinary Christian, not an apostle. It's significant because it establishes the pattern. for how the gospel will advance through the rest of Christian history. Stephen Neal, who's one of the previous generation's most noted church historians, said in his classic book, The History of Christian Missions. He said, the only thing that is more remarkable.
Then the rapidity, the speed. of the spread of the gospel in the first century. was its anonymity. The only thing more amazing than how quickly it happened is how anonymous it was. By the end of the first century, he says, there were three great church planting centers that had been established in the ancient world.
Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. What all three have in common, he says, is that we don't have any idea who planted the churches in any one of those places. No apostle planted any of those churches. In fact, Acts 11 records the story of the founding of the church in Antioch. And all it says, let me just actually read it to you, chapter 11, verse 19.
Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen, see the connection? Travel to Antioch. And the hand of the Lord was with. Them. And a great number turned to the Lord.
Them. I love that. Them. Luke doesn't even mention their names. You wanna know why?
Because nobody knew who they were. They were nobodies. Like Stephen. In a movie, these guys would have been bystanders number three, four, and five in the credits. Crowd people.
And yet these ordinary dudes. These unnamed them planted a church that would become one of the most significant church planting centers in the world, a church center that would one day send out the Apostle Paul as a missionary.
So here is my question for you. What if you are part of this generation's Fim. What if God gave you your skill? Your job. To put you into places so that, like Stephen and the them of Acts 11.
You can make disciples wherever he puts you. God was sovereign in this persecution. He's also sovereign in the job and the skill that he bestowed upon you. In his latter years, right before he died, Billy Graham kept saying that he was convinced that the next great awakening would happen in the marketplace. Not in the stadium anymore, but in the marketplace.
That means he puts you into a job, into a place, into a school, into a dorm, into a neighborhood to make gospel impact there. In fact, I can't help but think of one of our elders, a noted medical doctor. In fact, he is rated by the AMA as the top neurosurgeon in the country. who gets sent every year by the local university that he works for. He gets sent to put on a training in Southeast Asia.
for Muslim and Buddhist doctors over there. And he says, he told me, he said, I open up every class every year. With my testimony of how I came to Jesus. And an explanation of how the gospel now shapes my view of medicine. I asked him, I said, I mean.
That's awesome, but is your university okay with that? I mean, they're not exactly Christian. In fact, if anything, they're kind of on the other team, to be honest with you. He just smiled and said, with a twinkle in his eye, because he's a humble guy, he said, yeah. He said, but I'm really good at what I do.
He said, I've been doing it a long time. They can't stop me. I think of that great verse, Proverbs 22, 29. Do you see a man skillful in what he does? I tell you, he will stand before kings.
Yeah, and when you stand there, you can tell them about Jesus. It's your skill, it's your ability that takes you places, that enables you to make disciples there. That's what Stephen's doing, that's what the people in Antioch are doing. That's the future of missions.
So here's the question: What if you stopped thinking about me as the one in ministry that you support, and you started to see yourselves as the ones in ministry that I support? I say that because Ephesians 4:11 says that God put pastors in the church. To equip the saints for the work of the ministry. That means you do the ministry, I do the equipping. It means when I accepted the call to be a pastor, I left the ministry.
You do the ministry. I support you. The second conviction that goes along with that first one, the first one's God wants to use me. Here's the second one. The Holy Spirit fills me.
The most distinctive thing that Luke points out about Stephen is that he was filled with the Spirit. It was not his talent or his intelligence. Or even his Bible knowledge that created the situation, Stephen simply yielded himself. To be used powerfully by the Spirit. Y'all, I've said this multiple times already this year.
Success in ministry. is not talented people doing great things for God. It's very ordinary people. Like Stephen. following the leadership of the Holy Spirit as he does great things through them.
Y'all, that's all the book of Acts really is. It's just stories of ordinary people stepping out in obedience as they're led by the Spirit. We'll return for the conclusion of today's teaching in just a moment. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we're reflecting on how God has moved powerfully throughout the summit life in 2025. God continues to use this ministry to multiply the gospel because of the generous donations from those who've stood with us before, helping people go deeper into the gospel and carry it wider into the world.
And as the year comes to a close, we're praying for God to multiply the gospel even more through new broadcasts, new resources, and new believers coming to faith. Would you prayerfully consider joining us in this mission? Your gift this December will not only plant churches and send disciples, it will also send a Bible to someone behind bars, putting God's word into the hands of men and women hungry for hope. Every Bible sent is a seed of transformation waiting to take root. Your gift will help the gospel go places most of us will never go.
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People are being equipped to take the gospel to their neighbors and to the nations. What started with a handful of disciples 2,000 years ago continues today, and you make that possible.
So thank you. Y'all might know that I spoke at our student camp this summer. Loved it. By far my favorite week of the year. My first calling was as a youth pastor, and I'm still a youth pastor at heart.
In fact, let me just tell you a little trade secret here.
Okay, growing up. My favorite week in church every year was the week that the youth pastor spoke in church. It was the only time the sermon made any sense to me.
So, when y'all called me as a pastor 20, you know, what, 22 years ago. I just thought, well. I'm just going to be the youth pastor. I'm going to preach like the youth pastor every single week.
So every week I just try and talk with the eighth graders. And the more I do that, the more y'all are like, nah, somebody finally talking to me in a level. I didn't understand. Yeah, okay, I get it. I'm with you.
A few years ago, I did a middle school cam. And the last night at camp, I preached on David and Goliath. My final challenge to those middle school students was that they should obey God and whatever God had called them to do when they got home. And I told them that if they did, they'd be a champion, they'd be a champion like David.
Well, a few days after I got home. I got this letter in the mail from a middle schooler named Laura Beth, who was at the camp. She told me how much my message on that last night had impacted her, and she believed the Holy Spirit was leading her to tell the kids in her neighborhood about Jesus. She asked me if I'd pray for her. I wrote her back immediately, and I told her, Of course, I'll be praying for you.
And I was so proud of her, and that God's Spirit was going to go with her, and it was going to be awesome.
Well a few days later this Second letter came in the mail. Ah, she just won't edit it. I'm just going to read it to you. All right. She said, dear JD, letter number two.
I really don't think I'm going to be a champion for God. I told the kids in my neighborhood about Jesus, and they just didn't believe me. They laughed at me and I felt like a jerk, a fool and a stupid coward. I didn't know what to do. What really made me look like an idiot was when I cried, got on my bike, and left.
And every time I think about it, I feel so bad, and I don't want to ever go back up there again or see any of those people again. When you wrote back to me, I felt like all of this was going to okay. It didn't. Laura Beth. I wrote her back immediately.
And I'm like, no, no, no, Laura Beth. Hey, the wind is in your obedience. You don't control when the giant falls. You just sling the rocks, and God controls that. You're a champion for God because you obeyed him.
Letter number three comes in the mail. Dear JD I read the scriptures that you said on your letter in 1 Samuel was talking about David and Goliath. David defeated Goliath with no armor because he knew he was protected by God.
Well, when I went up to those people, I didn't feel it. Before I went up there, I asked God to help me. I asked for Him to give me the strength, the courage, and the power to witness to these people. I felt it, JD, in my body that God was working inside of me. But JD, I went up there and I lost it.
I lost all of that feeling inside of me, and then I freaked out. When you said, keep tossing the rocks and let the giant fall when God chooses, never give up. Are you telling me to go back up to those people again? I don't think so, JD. I mean, if I try to go to another person to witness, I'll probably just mess that up too.
The lesson that was in your letter. We go and people laugh, but we don't care because the power comes from God. JD, like I said, I didn't feel it, and I don't think I can witness to anybody ever again. I'm sorry, JD, I'm a loser. I sat down and write it back.
I really did. I got like a paragraph in, but it took me like three days to write the letter. Before I could get the letter off. Letter number four comes in the nail, okay? Dear JD, it is a miracle.
All caps, exclamation points, emojis. You will not believe what happened to me. JD, I don't know what just happened to me 30 minutes ago, but I know God had to do something to do with it. JD, the people that I witnessed to came to me, and I didn't even know why they were at my house, but one of them said something like, Lord Beth, I want to tell you first that I'm sorry I laughed at you because you were trying to talk to us about your God. But when you got into that part about hell and stuff, it kind of freaked me out.
So I kind of want to know about this God.
So I said, Great. And I ran upstairs to get my Bible and I showed them Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And I explained that once you accept Christ as your personal Savior, he'll never kick you out of heaven. If you steal, drugs, kill, any of that stuff that is bad and wrong, but you ask him for forgiveness, he will forgive you. But you just can't do whatever you want that is bad, like the examples I've given you, and then say, I'm sorry, God, forgive me, amen.
And then do the same thing the next day. Let's say you just lied to somebody and don't confess. When you're in heaven, you're going to come before God and he's going to say, why did you do that? And you won't get an award. But if you do get an award, you're going to kneel down and place it at Jesus' feet.
And I went on and then I saw that she was crying. and tears were running down her face and I knew that she needed somebody.
So I hugged her and she said, Laura Beth, I want God to save me.
So we said a prayer, and I made sure that she understood what I just said to her, and she did. JD, I owe you one, man. If you didn't get me back on track with God, I don't know where I would be right now, and that girl wouldn't be saved a day. P.S., thank you, JD. You are the best friend I've ever had, and I don't think I could ever ask for a better one.
Laura Beth, isn't that amazing? Yeah.
So I will say it again. Success in ministry is not talented people doing great things for God. It's ordinary people like Stephen and Laura Beth. And you. Following the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
What that means is is that you gotta learn how to follow the Holy Spirit. You know how to do that? Do you know what it's like to be led by the Spirit and where you go and what you say? I would say that for many of us, we have no idea what that means. It's like Leonard Ravenhill used to say the Holy Spirit could totally depart from the church, and a lot of us would have no idea he was even gone.
Y'all listen to this. The Holy Spirit shows up 59 times in the book of Acts. 59. You can count them. In 36 of the 59, he is speaking.
I get it, y'all. Acts was a unique moment in Christian history. The apostles were a one-of-a-kind class, and they were writing the Bible. That's unique. But on the other hand, you cannot convince me that the only book we have in the New Testament.
That shows us what it looks like to walk in the spirit, the book of Acts. You cannot convince me that that book is filled with a bunch of stories of people with whom you and I have nothing in common. John Newton, who was a Puritan, not some over-the-top Pentecostal, by the way. John Newton, he wrote Amazing Race. He said, how could it be?
That the leading of the Holy Spirit, which was so essential to the success of the early church. has become irrelevant in ours. Yo, honest question. When was the last time? That you asked the Spirit what he wanted from your life.
What opportunities he wants you to be involved in? What relationships he wants you to pursue? Have you asked the Holy Spirit, high school or college student? What do you want you to do on your campus? Have you asked him what he wants you to do with your life in the world?
Have you asked him, retiree? What do you want you to do with your retirement? That leads me to number three. I'll start with the needs right in front of me. That's where Steven started, right?
What Stephen did was nothing glorious or grand. He just ministered to the needs of the widows in his community. And I think there's something instructive in there for us. You want to know where to start? Start with the needs God has placed right in front of you.
Missions, you see, missions is not something we go on special trips to do. Missions is just an extension of what we do right here in the triangle. We always say there's no transformation by aviation. In other words, if you're not winning people to Jesus here, why would we spend several thousand dollars to send you over there to not do over there what you're not doing here? Instead, what we say is: the light that shines the farthest also shines the brightest at home.
And until it shines brightly at home, it really shouldn't be sent far away. Missions is just an extension of what we do here.
So start with the needs right in front of you. I heard a story from our church recently that I just love so much. At our Briar Creek campus, a couple of the volunteers in our women's discipleship ministry reached out to Bethesda Elementary, which is one of the closest public schools in their area, to see if there was anything they could do to help. One of them was named Julie Schroeder. She's on our kids team.
The other was Renee Hill. Renee is 73 years old. Renee heard that 90% or so of the school population at Bethesda, which is right there near the Briar Creek campus, are on free or reduced lunch.
So she approached the principal and just said, hey, how can we help? The principal said, well, you know. You could sub for some of our classes over lunch so the teachers could get one break during the day. And so she showed up, her and Julie did, and they showed up and they did that. And they started inviting other women to join them and to do the same.
From there, y'all just kept building. They started hosting lunches for the staff several times a year. They began coordinating donations for things that the teachers said they needed. They were given more and more opportunities to serve the teachers and the kids there. The ministry has grown over there so much that somebody reached out to have Renee come to speak at the leadership conference for the entire Durham public school system.
about how to better support and love our local schools. And of course, what Renee told them about is that the reason we do any of this stuff starts and ends with Jesus. That is Acts 6 and 7. She's gotten the attention of the unbelieving community, and she now uses that moment to tell them about Jesus. Hopefully, the story won't end with them being stoned.
But the point is, you start with the needs right in front of you. Conviction number four. As Jesus was to me.
So I will be to others. Verse 59 might be my favorite part of this whole story. Because verse 59 gives you a window. into Stephen's soul. Showing you what Stephen was thinking about at the very moment of his death.
Verse 59, as they were stoning Stephen. He called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit. Do not hold this sin against them.
Where have you heard those phrases before? Don't they sound identical? to what Jesus said when he died? Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You see, it seems that in Stephen's dying moments, He was thinking.
about what Jesus had prayed from the cross for him. And now he is praying those very things for others. Get that in Stephen's dying moments. He is attempting to do for others what he had seen Jesus do for him. Because see, that's what it means to follow Jesus.
It means you begin to look at your life as a sacrifice for others, like Jesus sacrificed himself for you. Let me ask you a question. Where would you, just a thought experiment? Where would you be without Jesus? Where would you be had Jesus just chosen not to come and die for you?
Because he didn't have to do that. Where would you be with no Jesus? Here's one answer. You'd be at the exact same place that millions of people are in the world without you. Because, see, people have to hear about Jesus to be saved by him.
Romans 10: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing only by the Word of God. And how can they hear unless people are sent? It's like Martin Luther said, it wouldn't matter if Jesus died a thousand times if nobody ever heard about it. Gospel means good news. But it's only good news for somebody.
If it gets to them in time. You see, that demands something of us some at church, doesn't it? Have you wrestled with the obligations that you owe? to the gospel. This is a map depicting where the gospel is preached.
Around the world. Anywhere that the gospel is preached in a lot of places, it's lit up based on how much is there. We can praise God for what He's doing around the world, right? But what about? These places, the red boxes, because it's what we call the 1040 window, which is.
the part of the globe where the most unreached people live. places like right here. That's Yemen right there. Northern Yemen, which has a population of nearly 10 million people. That, by the way, is the same population as all of North Carolina.
Guess how many believers are in that entire nation of 10 million? 20 or 30, they say. Are they less valuable than the people here? This region has 2.8 billion people with little to no access to the gospel. 2.8 billion.
By the way, please do not turn that number into a statistic. It's not a number. Joseph Stalin, who I typically don't quote during sermons, but Joseph Stalin.
So the death of one is a tragedy. The death of a million is just a statistic. That is a chilling statement coming from him. But I want you to think about it in terms of the gospel. I want you just to imagine somebody you love, a parent, a child, a friend.
That person's an individual to you. They're not a statistic. They're an individual with individual hurts and needs and fears. I could not bear the thought of one of my kids spending eternity apart from God. Every person in the middle of that 1040 window is a person just like each of my kids.
Each one of them made in the image of God, just like one of my kids is. Each one who knows what it's like to be afraid. To be lonely? For whom going to hell would be every bit the tragedy that it would be for one of my kids. That demands something of us some at church.
If Jesus sacrificed himself to save us, then we should sacrifice ourselves to save them. Let me say something to our high school and college students. Your generation is a cause-driven generation. I love that about you. It's one of the best things about your generation.
You go into your adult lives with a desire for justice. You want to extend human rights and you want to end suffering and eradicate poverty and save the turtles from plastic straws. And most of those are good and worthy, and some more important than the others. You understand. That the worst kind of suffering is eternal suffering.
Right? The greatest tragedy is people dying without Jesus. John Piper says that believers should give their lives to end all suffering. We care about all of it. but most of all eternal suffering.
Make no mistake about it. The Bible presents the fact that so many people in the world don't have access to the gospel. It presents it as a matter of justice for Christians. And that's just not me being dramatic. Paul said it this way in Romans 1:14.
I'm under obligation. In other words, it's a matter of justice for me. To get the gospel to those who haven't heard, it's not fair, he says, for me to have received the grace of the gospel and not do everything I can to get it to those who haven't heard it yet. Why did I get to hear the gospel? He asked.
Was it because I was more worthy than other people? I was less of a sinner than they were. No. God gave the gospel to me and to my family as a gift of grace. And with that gift comes the obligation to get it to those who have not heard it yet.
I talk to so many Christians. Who just very complacently Feel called to stay. I'm not your judge. Because you just answered me this. If we are all listening to the Holy Spirit.
Why would God leave so many of us here? in a place of so much access. When there's so many over there. with no access at all. Think for a minute, if you will, of all the ways that somebody can Access the gospel here.
You can hear it in podcasts, on radio stations, TV programs, campus groups, books, magazines. There are churches on just about every corner. There are over a thousand churches in the triangle. There are Christians in almost every neighborhood. And of course, there's so much more we need to do here, but in these unreached people groups right there, None of that exists.
None of it.
So again, why would God leave so many of us here in a place of so much access when there's so many over there with no access at all? Honestly, is God that bad at math? Why would he keep so many in a place where there is so much and send so few? to places where there's so little. It cannot be that he's not calling.
It has to be that we're not listening. And maybe we're not listening. Because we're afraid the price to get the job done is more than we want to pay. You see, every time we come into worship, we say things like: Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe.
If he be God and died for me, then there's not anything I should not be willing to do for him. Which leads me to conviction number five, the final one. Jesus is worth it. Let's return one final time to Acts 7. As they begin to hurl stones at Stephen, he lifts up his eyes and he says, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man.
Standing. At the right hand of God. Scholars point out here that Jesus standing is odd. Because everywhere else in the New Testament, we see Jesus at the right hand of God, we see him. Sitting.
It's actually an important theological symbol. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, showing that his work in salvation is done.
So the question you're supposed to ask is, why is he standing here?
Well, it's obvious, isn't it? He's standing to welcome home his son. You see, in that moment, the world has risen up against Stephen, and they're calling him a fool, a traitor. A bigot. Telling him that his life is a waste.
And it's almost as if Jesus can't contain himself. As they rise up to stone him, Jesus rises up at that very moment. Can you imagine? Jesus standing for you. He stands to say, Well done, good and faithful servant, well done.
They call you heretic, I call you son. They kill you with stones. I welcome you home. And the world recedes from Stephen's sight. I imagine that he can barely feel the stones hitting his body anymore because all he sees is Jesus.
At some point, you're going to have to decide. What success looks like for you in life. Because all of us are going to come to this moment. Yours probably will not be this dramatic. But all of us are going to pass into eternity just like Stephen did.
Here's the question: what's going to be waiting there for you? I know for me, it's not going to be somebody with a list of my accomplishments. It's not going to be my fans. It's not going to be my friends. It's not going to be my critics.
It's not going to be books that praise me. It won't be books that criticize me. It's just going to be Jesus.
So I told you my mom and dad taught me two phrases when I was young that totally shaped my life. Phrase number one: only one life to live will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Phrase number two. JD, there are only two things in life.
that truly lasts forever. One is the Word of God. The other are the souls of people. Make sure you build your life on both of those. One day.
Earth is going to recede from my sight. And then I'll see him. In our Hebrews 11 series, we learn that faith is living today in a way that you know one day you'll be glad you did. There's nothing or no one else that is worthy. of me living my life for.
Nobody's ever loved me or given his life for me like Jesus. Nobody has ever been so faithful. Only one has conquered the grave, which is my greatest enemy. Only one deserves the title, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That means one deserves the title of King of JD and Lord of JD.
For he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He's the head of the body of the church. He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything Paul says he should be preeminent. Jesus is the only one worthy. of my life.
For from you are all things, and to you are all things. And you deserve the glory. Five convictions that shape. Those that change the world.
Some may they be true of us. God wants to use me. The Holy Spirit fills me. I'll start with the needs right in front of me, as Jesus was to me, so I will be to others. And Jesus is worth it.
So here's my question. How's God calling you to apply this? For some of you, it might be to... Literally today go tell somebody about Jesus like Lorabeth. My best friend Lorbeth.
Or to get involved. Like Renee. in serving our community. As we wrap up today's message, let me ask you. Who's your one?
Who's the one you will pursue with this good news? Who's the one you'll come alongside and mentor or disciple in their walk with the Lord? Remember, no books, no bundles, no shipping boxes, just Bibles. This December, we're inviting you to help send scripture into 11 correctional facilities we partner with across the country. It's our most gospel-focused, high-impact initiative of the year, and the people receiving these Bibles are desperate for hope.
Your gift helps meet them with truth and love. You won't get a resource in the mail this month because your donation becomes the resource. This Christmas, give the gift that doesn't fade. A Bible in the hands of someone who may never have received one otherwise, make a donation today at jdgreer.com. Thanks for hanging out with us.
We'll see you next time. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.
