Jesus the First Missionary: Reaching the Unreached Worldwide

So I'm gonna give you one more reason to be serious about missions. That is that Jesus is sending and we must obey. In John chapter 20, Jesus wasn't suggesting, he was sending. Remember, it's called the great commission, not the great suggestion. Jesus said, as the father sent me, I am sending you. Of course, we don't obey that command out of duty or fear, but out of love. In John 14 verse 15, Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commands. And it's really that simple. [01:04:58] (33 seconds)  #SentNotSuggested

Think about that. In our culture, we spend more money on Halloween costumes for our pets than the church spends on supporting missionaries trying to reach the unreached. Are we okay with that? I'm not. People in unreached parts of the world go their entire life and never even meet a Christian. They have no one to tell them the good news. If hell is real and Jesus is the only way, then what are we gonna do about this? Well, we at Central Manor Church can do something. As we grow our mission focus, we can prioritize supporting ministry among the unreached. [01:01:31] (35 seconds)  #FundTheUnreached

You know, someone once said that sin is like cancer. If you had the cure for cancer, you'd wanna tell everybody. But think about it, sin is even worse than cancer. Cancer can only destroy your body, but sin can separate you from God for all eternity. We all have neighbors, friends, relatives who don't know Jesus. What will happen to them if they don't turn to Jesus and ask for his forgiveness? They may be the best neighbors and great friends, but the bible says we're all sinners. We all need a savior. [00:53:50] (31 seconds)  #WeAllNeedASavior

In John 20, Jesus was sending his disciples to continue his mission. They had absolutely no hope of success without the spirit. I believe many of you want to make a difference for Jesus. You want to be witnesses to people in your life and you want our church to reach people both here and around the world. But it's not going to happen without the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit. We need him to give us divine appointments with people. We need him to give us boldness, love and wisdom as we witness and we need him to work in types of people to bring them to Jesus. [00:45:58] (34 seconds)  #EmpoweredBySpirit

Now, that's controversial in our world today. We know that there are many great religious leaders throughout history. We can read about Moses in the old testament. We can learn about the Buddha or about Mohammed. Some people today think there are many ways to God. They think Jesus is just one of the great religious leaders, but he taught something different. He taught that he wasn't just a great man, a great prophet, or a great religious teacher. He claimed that he was the only son sent from the father to save the world. [00:55:03] (31 seconds)  #JesusIsTheOnlyWay

In John 14, Jesus was with his disciples just hours before he was arrested. The next day, he would go to the cross to fulfill his mission. So, he's gonna tell them stuff that's really important and he makes one of the most controversial and amazing claims in all in the whole bible. Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one can come to the father except through me. In other words, I am the way. I am the only way. No one can come to the father except through me. [00:54:34] (30 seconds)  #WayTruthLife

The second problem is even more is that it doesn't quite make total sense. Think about it. It's like saying, feed the hungry at all times. If necessary, use food. Well, how can you feed the hungry without giving them food? And how can you preach the gospel and share how someone can start a relationship with God through Jesus Christ unless you use words? We need both words and deeds. So the quote is good because it reminds us that we need to to love and meet physical needs, but we must also pray for boldness, wisdom, and opportunities to verbally tell people about the love of Jesus. [01:07:34] (38 seconds)  #BothWordsAndDeeds

A famous missionary Hudson Taylor, missionary to China in eighteen hundreds once said, that the great commission is not a command is not an option to be considered, but a command to be obeyed. In our world today, many churches are losing their focus on reaching the nations. It's good to be reminded of the great commission and think about it often. After all, shouldn't Jesus' last command be our first concern? When Christians talk about the great commission, they're usually referring to Matthew 28, but there's actually five great commission passages. Five times after Jesus rose from the dead did he give this mission to his apostles. [00:40:48] (41 seconds)  #GreatCommissionIsCommand