All of us are called. Two ministry. The call to leverage your life for the Great Commission was included in the call to follow Jesus. Jesus said Matthew 4, 19, follow me and I will make you a fisher of men, which means when you accepted Jesus, you also accepted the call to missions. The question is no longer if, the question now is only where and how.
Welcome back to the Summit Life podcast with Pastor J.D. Greer. I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. Today, Pastor J.D. challenges us to lift our eyes and see the whole world.
God is calling many of us to follow him to the most unreached parts of the planet. Is it difficult? Yes. Is it dangerous? Yes.
Is he worthy of it? Absolutely. Our message today is part of a short, powerful teaching series from the 20th anniversary celebration of the Summit Church.
Now, before we get started, I wanted to share a bit about who we are. Here at Summit Life, we believe God is doing something bigger than any one church, program, or voice. From the very beginning, this ministry has existed for one purpose, to help disciples make disciples. Because the gospel doesn't move forward by addition alone, it truly moves forward through multiplication. All throughout history, we see it.
Ordinary believers equipped with the truth of God's word, sharing it faithfully with others, churches planting churches, leaders raising up leaders, and the gospel spreading farther than any one person could have accomplished on their own. That's why Summit Life exists. to serve as a megaphone for that multiplying work. Through radio programs, podcasts, YouTube, and trusted resources, we are equipping disciples with gospel-centered teaching that helps fuel what God is already doing. You may never preach a sermon or plant a church, but when you listen, learn, share, and pray, you are part of that movement.
And when you support Summit Life financially, you're also helping multiply gospel impact far beyond what any one of us could do alone. If you believe the gospel is meant to be shared and multiplied, we'd love for you to partner with us today. Call 866-335-5220 or visit jdgreer.com. When I was a missionary in Southeast Asia, sometimes I used to get on my motorcycle and just go out driving for the afternoon. Picture Tom Cruise and Top Gunn, just a much less cooler version.
And I could drive for literally hours. and encounter village after village after village where there was nobody. Nobody in these villages that had ever even heard about Jesus. There were no churches. No one there had ever met a Christian.
No one had ever seen a Bible. No one had ever, or probably would ever. encounter somebody who would tell them about Jesus. And here's the thing. To get the gospel to those places is hard.
It means putting yourself in unfamiliar places, places far away from what you know and your friends and your family.
Sometimes these are dangerous places. Today, I want to talk about God's call on some of your lives. to get the gospel to places like that.
So, if you got your Bible, I want you to take it out and open it to Romans chapter 15. Romans 15, where Paul discusses his own personal call. I think I was inspired to this, not planning on it, but after our 20th anniversary celebration last weekend, I want you to get out a pen if you have one with you. And I want to give you this morning the two factors that go into discerning the call of God on your life. Because God has one for you.
1 Corinthians 12 tells us that. A specially appointed gifting and ministry. Just for you. Every believer's got one. Here in Romans 15, Paul is going to discuss his personal calling.
Look at verse 15 there in Romans 15. But on some points, Paul says, I've written to you very boldly. Because of the grace given to me by God. A special grace given to me to be a minister of Christ Jesus. To the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering, my offering of the Gentiles, may be acceptable.
Verse 17: In Christ Jesus, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. Verse 18, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. And bringing the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed. Verse 19: from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum. I have fulfilled.
I have finished the ministry of the gospel of Christ. And thus, I make it my personal ambition, my unique contribution to the kingdom of God. To preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on somebody else's foundation. Because as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see. And those who have never heard will understand a quote from Isaiah 52, 15.
Verse 22, this is the reason. That I've so often been hindered coming from you, even though I wanted to come. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions. Nothing left for me to do. I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain.
A place that in those days had yet to be penetrated with the gospel. The first thing that I want you to notice in these verses is the extremely personal way that Paul talks about His ministry, did you see it? I tried to emphasize it. Verse 15, the grace given to me. Specially to me by God for ministry.
Verse 16, my offering, verse 17, my work for God. Verse 18, what Christ has accomplished through me. Verse 19, I have fulfilled the ministry given to me. Verse 20, my personal ambition. Paul felt like something personal had been given to him.
Something unique given to him. There were lots of things to do in the kingdom of God. But Paul's specific commission was to preach Christ in places where Christ's name had never been heard. The gospel, of course, is that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. That somebody has to personally receive it for that to become theirs, and they can't receive it if they've never heard about it.
And Paul discerned that his calling was to get that message to those who had never heard it before. Look at what he said in verse 19. He says from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. I have Finished. That's what the word fulfilled there means.
I've... Finish the ministry of the gospel of Christ. Verse 23, I no longer have any room for work in these regions anymore. In case you're unfamiliar with this, let me put it up on a map here for you. From Jerusalem to Illyricum, you see how big of a region that is?
That region contained thirty-seven major cities. Plus hundreds of smaller villages. It had a combined population of over 500,000 people. Y'all, there were at most a dozen churches there. with a combined total of probably about 500 members in those churches.
500 believers Out of half of a million, and Paul says. My work here is done. How on earth could he say that? How can he say the work here is finished? 500 out of 500,000, and the work is done?
Were all those Christians spiritually mature? Were all the justice issues there addressed? Hardly. I mean, Rome itself was so anti-gospel that Paul would eventually be executed there for following Jesus. And Paul says, my work for Jesus in Rome is done.
Rome had all kinds of justice issues. But Paul was called to take Christ to places where he'd never been named. And so he looked at it and said, my work here is finished. That calling to take Christ where he'd never been named became for Paul a compass for decisions that he made. And so he said to these Romans, he's like, hey, I wanted to be there before, but I couldn't come, but now I can.
Because you're actually en route to Spain, and they've never heard in Spain, and God told me to take Christ where he's never been heard. And since I'm on my way to Spain, I can stop by and see you for a few minutes. Factor number one in discerning the call of God on your life, this, write it down. Number one, where is the Spirit of God moving? In my life.
Where's the Spirit of God moving in my life, in my life uniquely? I often explain to college students or college students that there is a widespread myth in the church. I always call it the Cheerios myth of seeking God's will for your life. The myth goes like this. The myth is that calling Calling into ministry is a sacred privilege reserved for a select few super Christians conveyed through a mystical manifestation.
Like You're staring at your Cheerios one morning and they suddenly spell out. Pastor. Sunday school teacher. Missionary. And this is just how God calls you into his service if that's what he wants for you.
And if you don't have an experience like that, well, you're just not called.
So just be a good person, right? Stay married to your spouse, go to church, pay attention, pay your tithes. That myth is untrue.
Now sure, Summon, if God ever spells out something to you in your Cheerios, by all means, you should pay attention. But I will tell you, I have stared at my Cheerios for years, and all it's ever spelled out is ooh over and over and over again. If that's how God calls, I've never experienced a call. That's the myth. Here is the truth.
All of us are called. Two ministry. The call to leverage your life for the Great Commission was included in the call to follow Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 4, 19, follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men, which means when you accepted Jesus, you also accepted the call to missions. In Matthew 28, verse 18, Jesus' last words to all of us who are his disciples were: go.
Go and make disciples of all the nations, which means if you are a disciple, you are called. The question we say is no longer if you're called. The question now is only where and how. A lot of Christians, I point this out because a lot of Christians are sitting around waiting on a still small voice when they already have a really straightforward verse. If you've accepted Jesus, you've accepted the call to mission because the call to engage in the great commission was included in the call to follow Jesus.
Question is no longer if, the question now is only where and how.
So we teach that here and I believe it. But in saying that, what I don't want us to lose is that the Spirit of God does reveal to us in dynamic and sometimes mystical ways what part of the mission. What part of that mission belongs to each of us? You see, there is simply no way for one person to be responsible for everything in the mission of God. Early in my Christian life, and this, I don't know if it has to do with my personality or if it had to do with the kind of sermons I was hearing.
But early in my Christian life, I thought I was responsible for everything. I would hear a message about some good work in the kingdom, poverty relief, ministering to the homeless, taking care of foster children, overseas missions, teaching, apologetics, leading public worship, mercy work. And I thought I was supposed to give myself to all of those things. There's just no way for any one person to be able to take on all those things as a life calling.
So at the summit church, we often say this, not everything that comes from heaven has your name on it. It may indeed come from heaven. And you should thus be aware of it. You should be supportive of it. You should be a part of a church that is doing it, but it's just not for you personally to focus on.
Not everything that comes from heaven has your name on, but hear this: something does have your name on it. And you got to figure out what that is and get after it. You say, well, JD, how am I supposed to know what that thing is? Tacoma Macherios, where do I look for it? You typically find out, like Paul did, through prayer, through engagement in ministry, and through involvement in a local church.
As you're doing those things, God just starts to put something on your heart, heart here in what we're doing, and it just begins to grow and it grows. I always use the example of Nehemiah here, whose heart in the Old Testament. His heart just grew heavier and heavier for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. In chapter two of his book, Nehemiah tells us that he thought about it all the time. He couldn't get it out of his mind.
He wept over it. It's where his heart went in prayer. It's what he dreamed about being a part of one day. That happens to you about something. And if it's not happening to you, it's because you're not listening, because God's got something for you.
One of the reasons, Summit, that we are fasting together right now is to give you greater sensitivity to what the Lord might be calling you to. to give God space to reveal to you what he wants from you. I mean, you guys realize that the point of fasting is not to make you more acceptable to God. Christians sometimes think that they're like, oh God, I mean, look at me. I'm so hungry now, I am suffering.
Now you got to pay attention to me. No. God has already made you fully acceptable to Him in Christ. In Christ, there's literally nothing that you could do, fasting or otherwise, to make yourself more acceptable to Him or to incline His heart more to hear your prayers. That got settled, thank God, at the finished cross of Christ in the empty tomb forever.
The purpose of fasting is not to make you more acceptable to God. The purpose of fasting is to make you more receptive to his spirit. You fast to be able to hear him better. to prove to yourself and to him. that you want his direction more than you want anything else in life.
And listen, right now, I'm telling you, if you're paying attention, God is moving on some of you for a particular ministry. He is putting a certain people, he's putting a certain place, people in a certain career field on your heart. Hey, I got a friend, um, who... Has adopted five kids. Four are from Ukraine, and one is from Kenya.
And he says, you have no trouble telling which is which. The four, he says, from Ukraine. He says, I adopted all at one time. I asked him, I was like, well, how did you come to that decision? He told me that he and his wife just were burdened, that those who had experienced the grace of the gospel should become like the gospel.
That they should seek to show the mercy that Jesus had shown to them. They should seek it. All Christians should do that. Should all Christians seek to show that to somebody else? But he said, my wife and I wondered how we specifically were supposed to do that.
I mean, he said there were so many needs in the world.
Well, he said, as my wife and I are praying about it, he said, I was reading Ephesians 1, where Paul explains that God has adopted believers into his family out of the orphanage of sin, so to speak. And then he said, I came a few chapters later to chapter 5, verse 1, where Paul says, be an imitator of God. He said, and I thought, what better way for me to imitate God than to adopt a child in need into my family?
Well, shortly after that, he goes on a mission trip to Ukraine. He wasn't planning on this, but he goes on a mission trip to Ukraine and while he's there, he visits an orphanage. The orphanage director tells him that somebody just the day before had brought in a set of four siblings. The kids were ages two through eight. They're about to be split up and placed in orphanages around the country because it's just nobody was going to be willing to take four kids all at once.
That was too huge of a responsibility. And my friend said, I watched as this worker brought the kids out in front of me, and what I saw were four scared little children all standing there holding hands. They thought they were being called in for some kind of discipline. He said, in that moment, in that moment, I heard the Spirit of God say, those are your kids. His wife wasn't even with him.
He called his wife and said, hey, I got some big news. I got some big news. And his wife was supportive.
Some of you ladies just looked over at your husband and said, you are never going on a summit mission trip. But he said, you know, I know I can't take care of all the orphans in the world, but God told me to take care of these four. Those are your kids. If you are listening to the Spirit of God, he's going to say that to you about something. Not everything that comes from heaven has your name on it, but something does, and it's your job to figure that out and get after it.
There's something about which you're supposed to say, this is my work for God. This is my offering, my ministry, my personal ambition, what Christ is accomplishing through me. Those are my kids. Maybe God's telling you to start a small group in your apartment complex. Maybe you've been watching the news and God has laid the refugee population on your heart, the nations that have come literally right into our back door.
Maybe you sense, like my friend did, that your family needs to take a step towards fostering or adopting. Maybe like Paul, God is calling you to break ground in a new place, a hard place, a place where Christ is not known. Factor number one in figuring out the call of God on your life is asking, where is the Spirit of God moving in my life? Factor number two, even more significantly. What is the Word of God saying?
to the church. I say even more significantly than factor one because I want you to see. That even more important to Paul in discerning his calling. Even more important than what the Spirit said to him was what the Word of God said to everybody. In verse 20, when Paul explains why he's doing what he's doing, taking Christ where he's never been named.
I want you to look at how he justifies it. My ambition. It's to preach the gospel where Christ has ever been named. Why? Because As it is written.
Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. In other words, the reason I am doing this is because this is what God said in the Bible has to happen.
Now here's why I belabor this. Do you remember how the Apostle Paul was called? It's kind of a famous story. Paul was on his way to Damascus when God knocked him down, blinded him with light, and appeared to him in a vision. And Jesus said, Paul, take my message to the Gentiles.
I feel like that's pretty clear. If that had ever happened to me... And I were asked to explain why I was doing what I was doing with my life. That's where I would start. Wouldn't you?
Jenny, why are you a pastor?
Well, One day I was riding my skateboard to class. Suddenly, a bright light knocked me on my rear end, and then Jesus appeared to me and said, JD, be a pastor. If that happened to me, that's where we would start in my discussion on why I'm doing what I'm doing. But, friend, read this whole chapter. Paul never even one time brings up that Damascus Road experience.
Instead, Paul anchors his personal calling. He justifies his personal calling by what God said in the Bible. Why does he do that? Because he's trying to show us that the most significant factor in determining the will of God in our lives is not what we feel. but what the Word of God says.
In fact, write this down. You will never properly discern what the Spirit of God is saying to you. Until you know what the Word of God says to everybody. Look at the verses right before this. Paul quotes from three other places in the Old Testament, not just Isaiah.
Verse 11, we didn't read these verses, but verse 11, for as it is written. Therefore. I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. That is a quote from Deuteronomy. Verse 10, again, it is said, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.
That's a quote from the Psalms. And again, he quotes a second time from Isaiah: the root of Jesse will come, in him will the Gentiles hope. Here is what is significant about that. The Jewish people divided the Old Testament into three major sections, the law. the Psalms and the Prophets.
Paul quotes a verse from all three of them to justify what he is doing. It's as if he is saying, hey, look, all the Old Testament is organized around this truth that people who have never heard must hear. If God organized his Bible around that theme, why would I not organize my life around it as well? You will never properly discern what the Spirit is saying to you until you know what the Word says to the whole church. You will never accurately interpret what he's doing in your life until you understand what he's doing on earth.
I belabor this because when it comes to the will of God, we Americans. Cannot help it. It's just the culture that we live in. We function like narcissists. It's all about me and my life, and reaching my potential, and finding my happiness.
We're all into Enneagrams and personality profiles and strength finders and whatever. I'm special. I'm unique. I'm a snowflake. All right, so what's my purpose?
How do I find fulfillment? Can those tools be useful? Yes, I am an Enneagram 8 ENTJ type D. I know I've taken all the tests. But before any of those things are relevant, you got to understand what God is doing in the world and then conform your life to that.
Christopher J. H. Wright says it this way: He says, We often ask, We often ask, where does God fit into the story of my life? When the real question is, where does my little life fit into the great story of God's mission? Paul says God's main purpose in the world from cover to cover in his Bible and then repeated by Jesus and the Great Commission as the marching orders for all of his disciples is that people who have never heard the gospel need a chance to hear.
The Joshua Project, which is a missions research agency. reports that today there are 7,000. 398. what they call unreached people groups. that make up 3.2 billion people on our planet.
Again, the gospel. Is that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world? But somebody has to personally receive that. for that salvation to become theirs. And unreached means that as it stands right now, currently, there is no legitimate way somebody there could hear the gospel before they die.
Nobody is there focused on reaching them. There are no churches there. Often, there's not even a copy of the Bible in their language. The vast majority of these unreached people groups live in what we call the 1040 window, which is between the 10th and the 40th parallels. Asia, North Africa, the Middle East.
I want you to get this. Less than 10% of missionary work. is done among those people groups. 90% of our efforts are focused on places where there are churches on literally every corner. 94% of all the money that is given in Jesus' name is spent on places where there are already lots of churches.
Now for sure we have needs here. But I want you to think for a minute of all the ways somebody this morning can access the gospel. This morning, you can you have to come this church. You can hear it on podcasts. You can hear it on radio stations, TV programs, books, magazines.
You don't like this church? There are literally churches on every corner. There's likely another Christian living in your neighborhood. In those unreached people groups, none of that exists. They will pass into eternity without so much as even the chance to hear the name of Jesus.
Going there does not mean westernizing them. It does not mean making them Americans. It's certainly not colonizing them with our broken and defunct culture. It means giving them the opportunity to hear that a savior died for their sins, so they wouldn't have to. This is the focal point of what God is doing on earth, and Paul recognizes that it's got to have a special place in the life of a believer.
Uh At Summit Life, our mission is simple but profound, to take people deeper into the gospel and to advance it wider across the world. With your support, we are able to meet people right where they are, whether it's in their homes, cars, or workplaces. As a media ministry, we share God's Word through a variety of platforms. Our nationwide radio programs deliver powerful, gospel-centered teaching each day. Our regional TV broadcasts that bring hope and inspiration into living rooms.
Our Bible teaching podcasts offer in-depth, accessible teaching on the go, while our question-driven podcasts address real-life questions with biblical wisdom. And our rapidly growing digital ministry uses online platforms to spread the gospel worldwide. Your giving makes this possible. Each donation extends our reach, one listener, one household at a time. Together, we can take people deeper into the gospel and advance the gospel wider in the world.
Yeah. Join us today as a monthly gospel partner. Your ongoing gift supports our radio, TV, and digital ministries plus print resources. As a thank you, we'll send you Pastor J.D.'s signature book, Gospel. This book cuts through religious superficiality, revealing the revolutionary truth of God's acceptance of us in Christ.
It introduces a gospel prayer to help you experience new depths of passion for God and fresh obedience to his calling. Become a gospel partner today. Visit jdgreer.com or call 866-335-5220. Together, let's bring God's healing and truth to the world. I hear a lot of people today object to international missions because, oh, there's just so much work here.
What business we got going over there when there's so much to do here? And I agree, there's a lot of work left to do here. But I want you to remember that Paul looked at this huge swath of people from Jerusalem to Illyricum with over half a million population and less than 500 believers with half a dozen brand new churches and said, the work here is done. I got to take Christ where he's never been named. That has got to be the church's priority.
So some of you are like, well JD, why are you still here? Mr. Don, I don't want to contradict what I said before. I know that God has not called every single one of us to focus our lives on this. But surely in a church this size.
With what we hear and experience week by week, surely God is moving on some of you for this. Yo, listen, I am so grateful. for every one of you who feels called to engage in ministries around here. to reach people in your profession. I'm grateful for every single one of you who steps forward to help us plant a new campus or to go on one of our new North American church plants.
I am so grateful for that. But why? Why are there so few? That are willing to go where Christ has never been named and to preach his gospel in those places. Why are there so few that step forward to go to the hard places, the unreached places?
Why? Why would God leave so many of us here? In a place of so much access to the gospel when there are so many over there with no access at all. If we were really listening to God, would he be doing what we are experiencing? Would he leave so many of us here?
Is God that bad at math? to leave so many where there is so much when there are so few where there is nothing at all. Why are there so few men? Women still outnumber men going to these places four to one. Yo, listen, I know it's not easy.
And that's probably the big reasons. It's sometimes lonely, it's often hard. A lot of times it's dangerous. I know that from experience. For many of the places you go, people don't even want you there.
So, why would you do that with your life? Why would you go take the gospel to a place where people aren't even really receptive to it? Here's why, because life is short. And you and I are going to blink, and life is going to be over. And we're going to be standing in eternity wondering what we did with our lives.
Life is not about 70 or 80 years of finding your perfect life and your dreams and your places you've always wanted to live. Only one life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last. That's why. You say, well. I mean, the work sounds impossible.
I don't know how to persuade. I don't try to persuade people to turn to Jesus. I can barely function in my own culture, much less go in somebody else's. Yeah, I get that. And again, I feel that from experience.
But what you will find is that the word of God does the work. All you do is sew it. It's amazing to sit back and watch the word do the work. I heard an illustration of this. A pastor friend of mine told this story a few weeks ago that I thought illustrated this better than I'd ever heard it.
He shared with me that there was a missionary from his church. that had gone to a city in Central Asia. And that missionary had given out New Testaments in that city. And he handed one to a guy on the street who commented when he got the New Testament on how amazing the paper was in this New Testament and how it would be just perfect for rolling cigarettes. And he said, could I have a copy?
And the missionary at first said, well, no, because he knew what the guy was going to use it for. He just told him. But then you start T1. I'll tell you what, I'll make you a deal. I will give you a copy of this New Testament, even knowing that you are going to use it, tear out the pages, and use the pages to roll cigarettes.
But you got to promise me one thing before I give it to you. And the guy said, all right, what's that? He said, you got to promise that before you use a page to roll a cigarette, that you're going to read what's written on that page. And the guy said, you would actually give it to me then? And the missionary said, well, yeah, I'll do that, but you got to promise me that.
So the guy makes a promise, missionary gives him the Bible. Missionary said he came back a month or so later and saw that same guy.
So he goes up to him and asks him, he said, have you kept your promise? And the guy said, well. I smoke my way through the Gospel of Matthew. He said, Then I smoked my way through the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke. And I started to smoke my way through the Gospel of John.
He said, but then I came to chapter 3 and read verse 16 and it all just made sense. For God so loved the world, he loved me. There was a God who was seeking me, and so I stopped. Smoking the Bible, but kept reading it. And he said, if you'll help me, I want to know more about him and I want to give him my life.
Now for the record. I would not advocate that method of evangelism. That's not the takeaway here. I'm just telling you that the word of God has power. God doesn't need your ability in a hostile world.
He just needs your availability. The word does the work.
So I will say it again. Is there anybody listening to me who feels your heart? Stir. When we talk about those who've never heard. To our college students, I often say, one of the greatest things about your generation, and I mean this.
One of the greatest things about your generation is that you are a cause-driven generation. You know, it's not just about money. You want to eradicate poverty. You want to extend human rights. You want to end global warming.
You want to save the turtles from plastic straws and many of those things. are good and worthy causes. And I commend you. I genuinely do. But you understand that for the follower of Jesus who actually believes the Bible, one cause supersedes all of them.
And that cause is advocated on every page of every genre of this book. And that is the Lord is not willing that any should perish. He wants all to come to repentance. And he wants people who have never heard to have the chance to hear and respond. It's like John Piper says: relieving any type of suffering is a good and worthy goal.
And Christians of Jesus should care about all of them. But the worst kind of suffering. The kind that deserves our most earnest attention is eternal suffering. That is the greatest and most pressing of all the causes. Is there anybody here?
Who senses I? I'm supposed to take him where he's never been named. I need you to understand the Spirit of God. has given the Summit Church a unique calling. to take Christ to unreached places.
It's clear. It's clear that God has given us that call. He's called all churches to this, of course. But you heard last weekend that God has written this into our story from the beginning. Which is not true of every church.
That started with Sam James, who stood on the stage with me last weekend, who is 90 years old this year, who planted this church that we're a part of. He planted it en route to Vietnam in 1962. I want you to think for a minute about Vietnam. in 1962. I know most of you were not alive then, but in 1962, Vietnam was one of the most unreached, arguably the most dangerous place in the world for an American.
And that is where our founding pastor went. He preached only one message I told you at our church after it was organized, Isaiah 54, 2, and 3, and told that church that God had called them to expand their borders to bring in the nations. That was a word of prophecy. And then he left that afternoon and served in Vietnam for 54 years. That is the legacy you and I have received.
Then there is my own calling. I often say that my calling to ministry did not begin as a call to the pastorate. My calling to ministry started as a call to the mission field. And here's the thing: God never released his call on me to the unreached mission field, he just redirected it. He showed me that how I'm supposed to fulfill that is as one who sins.
Some of you realize that what we've experienced here in this area goes so, so far beyond just good leadership. You get that right? Currently. We have 300 of our members. serving in 65 different cities around the world outside of the United States.
We have six times the number of missionaries as the International Mission Board's second partner. For the last five years, we have averaged sending 25 long-term missionaries, which means for us two years or more that you commit to, 25 long-term missionaries every year. I need you to understand that a healthy sitting church would be ecstatic to see 25 people go in their lifetime. I do not share those things with you to congratulate you or to pull off some kind of humble brag about our great leadership accomplishments. I know it's not about our great leadership.
You know how I know that? Because I've had some other amazing ideas that I tried to lead in the same ways and y'all haven't gone along with it.
So I am safe to say it's not my great leadership. Same leadership, different results. The only explanation for our success in this area is that God has called us to it. And faithful is he who called it, who also has done it. All your promises are yes and amen.
Also, share this with you because I want you to recognize this as a legitimate gifting of God. See, Paul told Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him to the laying on of hands. This is clearly a gift that we have received. That means we got to stir it up. Listen, you understand this?
This is one of the most important principles of the Christian life. The Christian life is not figuring out. you know, like what needs there are in the world and coming out with a plan and asking God to bless it. Christian ministry is figuring out what God is doing. And then joining him in it.
Well, when we look at what God is doing in the summit church, this is clearly something special that God is doing here. One more thing I want to say on this. If we got 300 of our people who are living in nations across the globe, that requires something of us in terms of care. We who sinned. have a responsibility to care for those who were sent.
It's all here. I often use the example of William Carey, who told the English Baptist churches that sent him out mid-18th century. He said to them, I will dangle for you. on the end of that rope for you in India. But you got to promise to hold securely to the other end.
There are some of us that are called the dangle on the end of this rope. In one of these places, and a bunch of others of us are called to hold this insecurely. And those who stand on this end of the rope have to be every bit as committed. That's those who dangle on the other end.
So let me use those two. Points to make this. The Spirit of God is moving. What's the Word of God saying? Here's my question: What should we, the people of the Summit Church, therefore?
be doing. Give you just a couple of three things here. Number one, we need to be devoting ourselves to prayer. If you are not called to go over there yourself, you're called to hold this end of the rope. to stay and support those who do.
Most of all, that means praying. I think it was Andrew Murray. At least I always give him credit for this quote. He said something like this: The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history. I'm going to also mention here an app I use every day.
called the Joshua, by the Joshua Project, called the Unreached People of the Day app. Every day it gives me an unreached people group to pray for. You know why I do this every day? Because my heart, like yours, is wired to forget the nations. I need to keep what God says is on his heart.
I need to keep it in front of mine.
So we need to be devoting ourselves to prayer. Number two, letter B, we need to be making ourselves available.
Some of you just need to take a step to get involved, maybe even to explore a calling.
So we should be devoting ourselves to prayer, making ourselves available. Here's the last thing: most of all, we should be listening. I'm going to say it again, surely in a church this size. God is going to move on some of you to go. Christianity has never been.
But one kind of people. One culture, Paul was sent out by a multi-ethnic church. to reach people of ethnicities different from his own. Over Christmas, I had our staff read the biography of Adam Iron Judson. It's called To the Golden Shore.
Written by a guy named Courtney Anderson. Far and away, my favorite book I have ever read. Except for the Bible. But other than that.
Some of the reasons that I love this book are personal to me, but I would recommend it to all of you. Also, had our team listen to a message that John Piper did about Adam Iron Judson. But Adonirm Judson is regarded by many to be the first board-appointed missionary who left from America. Technically, George Lyle preceded him, but Judson was the first board-appointed missionary. In the 1700s, Adam Judson left this new nation of America to take the gospel to Burma.
Judson was driven by Paul's words in Romans 15. I don't want to build on somebody else's foundation. I want to preach Christ where he's never been heard of.
Now there was plenty of need. in the United States. There's plenty of need in the American hemisphere, but Judson was captivated by a vision of those that had never heard. Places that didn't want missionaries. Places that were hostile to his presence, that threatened to imprison him and his family, or worse, if they didn't leave.
When Adam Judson first got to Asia, he landed first in India. Where he spent time with William Carey, the father of modern missions. Even William Carey told Judson not to go to Burma. He said all previous attempts have ended in martyrdom or disaster. Listen to this, and I'm mostly quoting from Dr.
Piper here. When Aden Iron Judson entered Burma in July of 1813, It was a hostile and utterly unreached place. Today it would have been considered a closed country with despotism and fierce war with its neighbors and social unrest and zero religious toleration. All the previous missionaries had either died or fled. But Adonaire and Judson went there with his 23-year-old wife of 17 months.
Where he worked for 38 years until his death at age 61, making only one trip home to New England during that entire time. The price Judson paid was immense. His beloved wife died there after a decade of disease.
So did his next two after that.
So did one of his kids. He was imprisoned and tortured. Adoniram and Judson was the seed that Jesus talked about in John 12 that fell into the ground and died. His suffering was immense. I do not want to sugarcoat that at all.
But the fruit, the fruit that God gave from that suffering seed was also immense. The Burma Baptist Convention, or today is the Myanmar Baptist Convention, which is Burma's new name. The Burma Baptist Convention contains 3,700 congregations and over 2 million believers. The fruit of this dead but now living seed. The astonishing fruit in Burma today grew in the soil of the suffering and the death of Adoniram Judson.
John Piper says, listen. My question is this. If Christ delays his return another 200 years. Which of you? Which of us will have suffered and died so that the triumphs of grace will be told about?
And one or two of those remaining 7,300 people groups who are today in the same condition that Judson's Burma was in 1813, who will today labor perseveringly so that in 200 years, there's going to be 2 million Christians among people who are today held captive by Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or communism. Who are going to give their lives so that some who are today lost with no chance to hear the gospel are going to be counted? Are gonna be counted in that vast throng around the throne that we see in Revelation 5 proclaiming in all languages and all tongues together, worthy are you, old Jesus, because you were slain for us. And by your blood, you ransomed us for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Summit, where are those?
Where are those in our midst who are moved to take Christ to these hard places, to the impossible places, to those places where Christ has never been heard of? Because if that's not happening here, we should close up shop because our chapter is over. God will take his hand from us and we'll have to watch as he moves it over to those faithful believers in Korea or South America or underground in China who praise God are taking the Great Commission seriously. A friend, I don't want his hand to leave us. I don't want his hand to leave us.
So here's what I want you to do. I want everybody at all of our campuses to stand. Stand with me if you would. Stand right now. I'm going to ask you where you are.
To bow your heads, and if you're comfortable with it, just open your hands. Just bow your heads and open your hands. I want you right now. To pray two things. Lord, will you raise up people from our midst who will go?
Will you raise up people from our midst who will go? Then you ready for this? In sincerity, I want you to say, Lord, is it me? Is it me? Acts 13:2 tells us it was in a prayer time, maybe like this one.
But God revealed to Paul he was supposed to be a missionary. God said to the church, Raise up Paul. I'm going to send him out. I'm not saying that's going to happen today or we're going to somebody's going to walk up to you and say, you're the guy. But I want you to ask and say, Lord, is it me?
Is it me? Will you put your yes on the table right now and say, God, if you tell me to go, I'll go. Hey, by the way. Just because you're not a college student anymore doesn't mean you stop asking this. Paul was 60.
when he wrote this. At 60, he was ready for his new assignment. You heard Sam James last weekend, didn't you? 90 years old. and just wishes he could go back to being young and do it all over again.
So ask God right now, are you calling me? Lord, is it me? As you think about today's teaching, we pray it continues to shape your week. If you're listening today and wondering what your next step might be, let me encourage you. It doesn't have to be complicated.
You can start by receiving, opening God's Word. Come back to Jesus. Let the gospel steady your heart and remind you of what's true. Then take a step toward growth through teaching, podcasts, devotionals, and resources designed to help you grow as a disciple. Stay connected to a local church where you can be known, encouraged, and sent.
And don't keep the hope to yourself. Share what God is doing in your life with someone who needs it. And if you're able, consider partnering with Summit Life. Your prayers and generosity help keep these resources available and help the gospel reach more people. Learn more and take your next step at jdgreer.com.
Thanks again for listening. We will see you next time. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.
