The First Short-Term Mission Trip, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. When God opened my eyes to how many people in the world were without the gospel, it felt to me like I was standing beside a railroad tracks and on the railroad tracks was a little kid who was crippled. Couldn't get off the railroad tracks and here comes a train. At that point you don't ask God what his will is. You know what his will is. Pick the kid up.

Right? You don't have to find it. The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. And what you ought to be saying to God is this, here am I. Send me. Welcome to a new week of teaching here on Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovich. Okay, honesty time. Have you ever wanted to take a mission trip?

Maybe you just don't know where to begin or it could be that you're waiting for God to present the right opportunity. Well today Pastor J.D. explains what it takes to be sent. We're continuing our study in the book of Acts but after our program today we're going to take a break from this teaching series and don't worry we will return to it in a couple of months. You don't want to miss a single message so if you do need to catch up you can hear previous broadcasts online at jdgreer.com but first let's join Pastor J.D.

for today's message called The First Short Term Mission Trip. Verse 26, Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. And so he rose and went. And there passing through Gaza was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace who was queen of the Ethiopians who was in charge of all of her treasure.

This is one powerful dude. Eunuch means that he had been castrated because if you were going to work in the palace with the queen they wanted to make sure that you didn't get any frisky ideas so they took care of that. For whatever reason he had become curious about the God of the Jews. All right verse 28, And he was reading the prophet Isaiah and then the spirit said to Philip, now stop real quick, here's what I want to ask you. How did the spirit say that to Philip? We don't know. We don't know.

It does not tell us. But one of the things that you're going to find in Acts is that the Holy Spirit speaks to the church and not just the apostles. He speaks to guys like Philip.

Do you know and walk with the Holy Spirit that way? When's the last time you heard him speak to you? So he said go over and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, you understand what you're reading? And he said, well how can I unless someone guides me? And so he invited Philip to come up in there and sit with him. All right, here's what you should see. God calls Philip to walk 165 miles down to a nasty little town called Gaza because there he has been preparing one guy.

One guy. And if I could just say this really quickly to some of you, you're like the Ethiopian eunuch. And there have been things that have been happening in your life, questions that have been coming up in your heart and you're not even sure exactly why they're there. See the point though that I want to make, I want to make sure that those of you who are not believers, I want to make sure that you hear this, is you understand that none of this is random. That God has been seeking you the way he's been seeking the Ethiopian eunuch. All right, now the passage of the scripture that the eunuch was reading was this, like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before it shears a silence so he opens not his mouth and his humiliation justice was denied to him. That's a quotation from Isaiah 53, which was written about 800 years before Jesus was born. And it is a prophecy that the Messiah, the Messiah would stand before his executioners.

He would be accused of the most heinous crimes, yet he would remain silent. So Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, see here is water, what prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

See, salvation is very simple. Doesn't require ceremony, doesn't require church, doesn't require confirmation class, doesn't require a priest. Baptism, we describe like the wedding ring. It's about wearing this wedding ring does not make me married to Veronica, it just shows you that I am married.

All right, when you get baptized, you are saying to the world, I have decided to sit down and to repent and believe in the finished work of Christ. Verse 39, and when they came up out of the water, the spear of the Lord carried Philip away and the eunuch saw him no more. And the eunuch went on his way rejoicing, but Philip found himself at Azathos. First of all, what just happened to Philip?

I mean, can you believe this? This is pre-Star Trek teleportation, which is great for Philip because he didn't have to walk the 165 miles back to Jerusalem. But also consider this, this had to be a great platform from which the Ethiopian eunuch got to explain the gospel to the guys in the chariot, right? Because they hadn't heard the conversation because they'd been up there, but all of a sudden there's two guys in the water and then one guy flies away and the Ethiopian eunuch says, you want to know what just happened?

I can tell you what just happened. And so for 1100 miles, that's how long they had to go, this eunuch shares the gospel with these servants. Here's why I say that, the ancient historian Eusebius says that this eunuch and his band of servants went on to plant the very first church in Africa.

Isn't that great? Before there, listen, this is one white guy talking to some other white people, before there are even the first white Western European converts in Acts, we got a thriving church meeting in the capital of Africa. And here's why I tell you that, because every once in a while you hear some undereducated PhD at a secular university say that Christianity is a Western thing, but you can see that's not true.

It started in the Middle East, then it goes to Africa. We were late to the game. Here's the major point I'm trying to make in all this, God used an ordinary guy for his first international mission trip. God prepared Philip, God prepared eunuch, the eunuch, and then he brought the two together. The fact that it is a layman, not an apostle that first carries the gospel internationally, I would ask you again to consider, is that not an indication to us by the Holy Spirit of how he will spread the gospel around the world?

I've explained to you that before that one of the most curious things to me in the book of Acts is how Luke seems to go out of his way to make this point, that the cutting edge every time the gospel expands somewhere, Acts 8, Acts 11, Acts 13, it's always unnamed regular Christians who are going first. I say that because many of you have jobs. Many of you listening to me right now have jobs that naturally put you next to some of the most unreached people on the planet. You are the ones that get to go side to side with Ethiopian eunuchs. I've told you before, my dad, my father when he retired, was rehired by his company to go over and oversee some work going on in East Asia. And there my dad was able to rub shoulders with businessmen that I'm telling you, us, me, the Summit Church, we would never be able to get close to no matter how many English corners and internet cafes we start in that part of East Asia. Nothing wrong with those things.

We're going to keep starting them. But God gave him a platform. He was able to lead a couple of those businessmen to Christ. See, because God gave him a platform by means of other things besides apostolic kind of ministry.

And I want you to learn to take advantage of that. Because see, one of the challenges right now in international missions is how we can support all the missionaries that need to be supported. Our church gives a lot to a thing called the International Mission Board. It's the largest mission organization on the planet. Has about 4,700 missionaries, which is fantastic, right?

But they've been stymied at 4,700 for about five years. And so the answer to how to increase that number is that people say, well, you got to give more. And we do need to give more. We need to give more money so we can send more missionaries.

But here's my question. What if there's a way to go from 4,700 missionaries to 47,000 missionaries and not spend another dime? And the way that you do that is you take Phillips who are already naturally going and you equip them to carry the gospel as they go and you get IBM to pay for it. Or McDonald Douglas or one of these international places. One of our businessmen at our Cary campus has a job in a multinational company that takes him quite often over to places that are not far from where he's doing it in a couple weeks. He makes one of his stops going in to be a part of and to encourage this team there that's in East Asia. We have a young man from our church who got a law degree from one of the law schools here, very prestigious, could have worked just about anywhere he wanted. He chose to go get a job in a law firm in the Middle East because he knew that there he would be able to partner with one of our church planting teams over there.

That's not his preference for where he wants to live, but it's the place where he knows he can be most useful. I've told you before about the guy who's opened a sports marketing firm in a part of the Middle East, that there he's there now kind of supporting himself, not kind of, he's supporting himself, not just himself, he's supporting other people on the team and he's doing it in a way that is enabling us to get more people there without spending any more money. We have men in our church using their expertise in agriculture to help us develop farming projects in Kenya.

We have teachers who work in schools over there in Kenya. We have some who have used their gifts to teach missionary kids on the field. Did you know that today most of the countries in the world that are in the greatest need of a gospel presence are also those in the greatest need of business development? The Muslim world is a great example.

Twenty percent of the population of the world lives in Muslim countries, only four percent of the trade comes out of those countries. We're talking a huge opportunity for gospel-centered, God-loving business people to be able to develop things that we just cannot do. See, and what I want in this church, what I pray for is that some of you will look into your hands and you will see that God put a key into your hands and that key is some so-called secular skill and God says I put that in there to unlock the nations and I want you to take it and I want you to begin to use it. We want to equip you so that as God takes you these places you can go. We also want to send you on mission trips. Philip did not go specifically on business, you can't really read that into Acts 8.

He went because the Spirit of God sent him. So at the Summit Church we want to send a lot of trips to our day's version of Ethiopia. We put it, we send a lot of mission trips. Our kind of Ethiopia is what we call the 10-40 window.

I've explained this before, but the 10-40 window, 10th and 40th parallel, it's that little strip right there. You see it there in the western part of Africa, all the way over through the islands of Indonesia. It is where the majority of the unreached people on the planet live and we send a lot of mission trips to those places because there are Ethiopian eunuchs there.

I'm telling you, you are going to encounter people like the Ethiopian eunuch. Because when we talk about the unreached peoples in the world, I'm not thinking about a statistic, I'm thinking about him. See, I can stand up here and tell you that there are, according to according to missiologists, there are 1.4 billion, what they call unreached peoples, which means people that have no access to the Gospel. Not in their language, they don't have a Bible in their language, there's no way they could get it even if they wanted it. There are 3.06 unreached peoples, hear this, who have little access to the Gospel, which means it's highly unlikely they'll ever even hear it because while it may exist in their language, it's just not in a place where they're going to have access to it.

That's not a number. Those are individuals like the Ethiopian eunuch. They're individuals all over the world that God created in his image and that God cares as much about as I care about my children, if not a million times more. They are girls that are caught in the sex slave trade. They are orphans that do not have homes. They are people that are yearning for God and don't even know what to call him.

And God has created us, like Philip, to be able to be there to take the Gospel to them so that when he works in them, that we are there so that we can speak the words of life to them. Did you know that in China, listen to this, there is one Christian for every 700,000 people? One to 700,000. That's a tad bit old, so it might have changed now as the church is growing there, but one to 700,000.

Let me put that in perspective for you. In a five-mile radius of where I stand right now, there are 129 churches or Christian organizations. That breaks down to one Christian organization for every 300 people in Durham. One paid Christian worker for every 450 people. One to 700,000, one to 450. Is God really that bad at math?

I don't think so. I think what is happening is the ones that God has told to go. Many of them are content to stay. Now, I don't want to overwhelm you. Listen, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I'm just trying to open your eyes.

That's all I'm trying to do. There's a lot of positive things happening. Do you know that when Paul died, listen to this, when Paul the apostle died, there was one church for every 12 unreached people groups. Today, there are 680 churches for every one unreached people group. Can we not do this? 680 churches per one? Can we not do this?

Can we not get people into these places to be able to live out and to preach the gospel? I think that we can. And I want us to be a part of it.

I want us to do what we're supposed to do. Here's the problem. Listen, only five percent of the world's population lives in North America. Five percent. Yet, 91 percent of all paid Christian workers and 95 percent of every dollar given in Jesus' name goes to that five percent. I just can't see that as being the plan of God.

And I bring this back around to this. Some of you have never been on a short-term trip. You've never done anything to engage the nations.

I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I'm just trying to give you some perspective. Does not the lostness of the world demand that we do something about it?

If you lined up every of the 3.06 billion, if you line them up two feet apart in a single file line, they would wrap the globe 25 times the equator. Does not that demand a different perspective? We're not just trying to send you on exotic vacations. We're doing this because we believe the gospel and because we believe that God cares about the Ethiopian unit.

And so, yes, we will leave awesome things that are happening in Samaria. And we will go 165 miles on foot if that's what it takes because God has put somebody there. I'm going to ask many of you, it's not going to be all, but many of you to commit to the process of going on one of these trips. You may not have all your questions answered, but I just want you to commit to the process and see where it goes.

It might take you a couple years to make it happen, but you're going to start the process today. For others of you, God is stirring in you about something longer because maybe you've already been on a short-term trip. Now God's asking you for something more. Some churches, we've got a vision to plant a thousand churches by 2050 and to send out 5,000 people from our church in a midterm or long-term capacity. And some of you already know this involves you because the Spirit of God has been saying it to you.

And I just want you to come forward and say yes, or at least start the process and see where it leads. Some of you are called to stay here, but I think you should be just as sure that God has called you to stay as those who are called to go are sure of that. See, here's the issue. Many of you have always thought of missions as something that somebody else does. Here's a prayer that I prayed when I was a junior in college that revolutionized my life. Up until this point, I'd been a Christian for about three years. I'd always been like, God, if you tell me, you know, appear in the sky and tell me to go to a mission field, I'll go. When God opened my eyes to how many people in the world were without the gospel, I've told you this before.

It felt to me like I was standing beside a railroad tracks and on the railroad tracks was a little kid who was crippled, couldn't get off the railroad tracks and here comes a train. At that point, you don't ask God what his will is. You know what his will is.

Pick the kid up. We got 3.06 billion people in the world with no access to the gospel. And we're like, God, what's your will for my life? I want to find God's will. God's will is not lost, right?

You don't have to find it. The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And what you ought to be saying to God is this, here am I, send me. I'm not sure he'll send you.

That's up to him. And you don't want to go unless he sends you. But I'm saying there's something fundamentally wrong when we're like, God, here we are, send somebody else. It's gotta be Lord, here am I, send me. And then you follow God where he leads you.

And when he leads you to stay right here and work in one of these ministries here, then praise God, you do that with all your heart. But you need to come to a place where you give God a blank check and you say, here am I, send me. Have you ever given God that blank check? Blank checks are scary, aren't they? You ever give a blank check to somebody who's got to pay something for you and you kind of trust them?

You're like, could you call me as soon as you fill that out just so I can know? To give a blank check is scary because you don't know where they're going to cash it or how much you're going to write it for. If you give a blank check to God, I realize that's scary because God might cash it in Afghanistan. He might cash it in Southeast Asia. You don't know where he's going to cash it. But I would just encourage you to think about the one in whose hands you're placing that blank check and think that surely if you could trust him enough to save you from hell, you can trust him with the rest of your life.

And that's the one place that a blank check is always going to be safe. We want you to pray with, we want to pray with you and start this journey with you. College students, I got a special invitation for you.

I want you to come and spend your summer with us. We do this thing called City Project, another one called Second City. We've got partners through the church like Crew and Campus Hour.

They got great options too. Where you take a summer, you learn about ministry, you go on mission trips. We train you in theology and apologetics. Listen, I did this in my summer and not obviously here at this church but somewhere else.

Greatest decision I made in college, hands down. You're like, oh, but I get to get an internship and I need the job to make some money. Hey, Matthew 633, why don't you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and let him add all those things to you? Why not give God a summer to form you and give you a vision for the nations and then see where God takes you with that. Now real quick, before I give you a chance to act, let me just deal with, like I do with baptism. I know my time's gone, but let me just do this real quick. I got to deal with the objections that just popped up in your heart because I know what they are because I am one of you. All right, here are the objections. You're like, well, I'm not qualified.

I'm like, I'm an introvert. Well, you're exactly who should go because God doesn't call those that he's equipped. He equips those he's called. So when God calls Abraham, he sends him out to a place he doesn't know where he's going, completely incapable of accomplishing it, and then God equips him along the way. That's how God works. You got to take the step and then God will equip you. You say, well, I'm not comfortable with sharing my faith.

Hey, good news. We will train you leading up to this trip. We notice the most incredible transformation in people who go on mission trips.

I don't know what it is, Summit. I do not understand it, but there's something about going over there that you go over there and start doing over there, what you should be doing here. When you get back from there, you do hear what you learned to do there that you ought to have been doing here all along.

I don't know how that works, but it does. And so, yes, we will train you to share your faith. You say, oh, but there's so much need here.

I can't afford to go to the nations in the sense of time. Yes, there is a lot of need here. We're not going because the work here is done. We're going because God gave to every believer this desire to be a part of what God was doing globally. And so in the portfolio of the mission of your life, you ought to be involved here.

But every believer in every culture ought to have a vested interest in what God's doing around the world. You say, well, I can't take two weeks of vacation. That's why we have weekend trips and seven-day trips. And yes, I'm going to say that some of you ought to use part of your vacation.

Why not use part of your vacation for the glory of God? You say, well, I don't have the money. We will train you in raising support. We are experts at asking people for money.

All right. And I will tell you this. This is a great chance for you to watch God provide. In fact, we got a girl at our church. She only got saved here about three years ago.

Incredible story. She tried to commit suicide. She knew a girl in a business place that invited her to the church. I happened to give her a copy of my book, Gospel. She's in the hospital recovering from this traumatic event that she put herself through. The doctor says, hey, I've been to this church.

I've read that book. They have a conversation about it. Long story short, she becomes a Christian. Shortly thereafter, God says to her, I think I want to use you over in India. She says, I don't have any Christian friends yet. I mean, I'm just getting to know people at the church.

My parents aren't, I don't have any network to raise money from. And we're like, well, why don't we just give it a chance, see what God does. Cause God just does amazing stuff like that. Leading up to this trip to India, not only did she raise enough money to pay for herself, she paid for half of somebody else. Now this summer, she is going on her third trip to India because God took somebody that was completely outside and he gave them a vision for the rest of their life. I realized that not every Christian is going to be led to go longterm. I realized there are some of you that are in a place in life where you just can't go yourself.

But see, I want to challenge you to ask the question. I'll leave you with the story that my friend who is working over in Central Asia, who got a job offer here in the United States, a Christian offered him a job. It was a very great job. And the guy said this, he said, he said this to my friend, he said, Hey, I've got a hundred resumes on my desk of people who want this job, but I believe that you're the man that God has chosen for it.

My friend said, when I heard that, here's how I heard it. If I don't take this job in the United States, there are a hundred people in line ready to take the job. He looked at me and he said, JD, if I leave this spot here in Central Asia, there is no one on the planet in line to take this job.

Nobody. He said, so I will turn my back on where I am needed to stay where I am irreplaceable. God wants to use you. Doesn't the urgency of the gospel demand this of us to be available to be used by God? So where is the Lord calling you?

Whether it's across the room or across an ocean, do what you do well for the glory of God and do it somewhere strategic for the mission of God. So today is our last day in the book of Acts for a couple of months, but just to remind you, we will return to complete this teaching series in June. We're so grateful for your partnership. And we'd love to say thanks by sending you a copy of a new resource created, especially for our listeners. It's titled Scent, the book of Acts volume one. So as you read and study, you'll learn more about the book of acts and the history of the early church. But more importantly, you'll discover what it means to be sent. We'd love to send you a copy of volume one of the acts study guide to express our gratitude for your financial support. So give today and join our mission to put the gospel front and center. This book is yours when you give a gift of $25 or more by calling 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220.

Or it might be easier to give online at jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch, so glad you joined us today. And be sure to listen again next time as we kick off a new teaching series called Can't Believe.

We're looking at some of the most common barriers that hold people back from saving faith. That's Tuesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.