May 22, 2024 • 23 mins
Embark on a transformative exploration of faith, understanding, and divine love as we tackle the Christian imperative to love the stranger amidst society's tapestry of cultures. We're peeling back the layers on Deuteronomy 10:19 to reveal the profound connections between ancient wisdom and our contemporary challenge to welcome the Hispanic community flourishing within the United States. Witness the unveiling of a groundbreaking book that redefines the essence of a Christ-centered marriage, highlighting forgiveness and proactive love as its cornerstones. It's a profound reminder for every couple to reflect the love of Christ in their union. Through these discussions, our hearts are set ablaze with a renewed passion for outreach and inclusion, cementing our shared commitment to fostering grace and love within our personal lives and broader communities.
As we navigate the theological intricacies of evangelism, the question emerges: Are those unaware of the gospel truly lost? The spectrum of belief, from universalism to the doctrine of the elect, is scrutinized, balancing scriptural scripture with the Apostle Paul's fervent dedication to spreading the Good News. We're not just intellectualizing faith here; we're rallying a clarion call for action, inspiring you to share the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. Pivoting to the frosty frontiers of Russia, we dissect the complexities of missionary work in a landscape marked by youth, atheism, and societal tribulations. Echoing Melvin Hodges' vision, we underscore the creation of Indigenous Churches that resonate deeply with local culture and leadership, solidifying the foundations for a lasting spiritual legacy. Join us on this episode for an impassioned journey through the intersection of faith, mission, and human connection.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
W. Austin Gardner (00:01):
Well, I want to welcome you back to the World
Evangelism Podcast.
I'm your host, austin Gardner,and I'm excited to dive into the
Word of God, into somehistorical things and to discuss
missions with you today.
It's exciting to see what God'sdoing all around the world and
I honestly believe that this canand will make a difference in
(00:23):
your life.
I'd like to start off todaywith our Bible verse, and I'm
going to do things a little bitdifferently today, but I want to
start with our Bible verse and,at the same time, speak to all
senders and goers and youngpeople some things that you want
to consider.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy,chapter 10 and verse 19,.
(00:43):
The Bible says in Deuteronomy,chapter 10 and verse 19, love ye
.
Therefore, the stranger for youare strangers in the land of
Egypt.
That's a crazy verse, but youknow, when you're a missionary
and you're reading the Bible,you realize that God called on
his people to respect and treatthe stranger well.
That word stranger refers toresident aliens, like what we
(01:08):
would call in North Americaright now, illegal aliens, the
people that are here.
They're strangers.
They're not from our country.
They would be immigrants.
They would be sojourners,outsiders, pilgrims, foreigners
that have moved in and areliving amongst us, and God told
the Jewish people I want you totake care of them, and one of
(01:29):
the reasons that he used wasthey had been strangers in Egypt
.
They may have had permission togo there, but it wasn't their
country and they had been there.
So here's some lessons for usto learn.
Now you realize that right nowin the United States of America,
especially if you're anywherenear the size of a fairly good
(01:49):
citizenship, fairly goodpopulation, there are tons of
people from other places.
God has brought the Spanishworld right to us in America.
They are rapidly becoming thelargest minority if they've not
already become the largestminority in the United States.
They're growing, and what's ourattitude going to be?
(02:11):
How are we going to deal withthem?
Well, here's the truth that'sbeing taught in the Scriptures
we're supposed to loveforeigners, people that are
different from us, becausethat's what God's people always
do In the Old Testament.
It was never God's plan to beIsrael against everyone.
He told them you take care offoreigners that come into your
(02:33):
land.
And it's all through the Bible,in multiple passages of the
Scripture, that we are to loveforeigners.
That means our churches oughtto consider loving foreigners.
That goes along with what itsays in the New Testament.
You know God is love.
That goes along with what itsays in the New Testament when
it says for God so loved theworld that he gave his only
(02:57):
begotten son.
Too many of us may be like Jonah, who hated the people of
Nineveh and did not want to seethem get saved.
We may be like what goes on inthe days of William Carey, when
he stood up and said I reallyfeel like God would have us take
the gospel of the world.
And everybody said sit down andbe quiet, son.
If God wants to do somethingabout it, god will, and so I
(03:18):
would just like to ask you tothink about this.
Does God want you and yourchurch to reach out to those
people that are moving into yourcommunity from around the world
?
The community where I used towork as a pastor was filling up
with people from India.
People from Hispanic countriesare moving in at an alarming
(03:41):
rate.
Isn't it amazing?
When we didn't sendmissionaries, god brought them
to us.
I know you may be afraid if weever become friends with them
they may have more influenceover us than we have over them,
but that ought not be the way wethink it ought to be in our
heart and our minds that we wantto carry the gospel of them.
And you know, hold the fort,for I am coming is not the song
(04:04):
we ought to sing as a church.
We ought to be thinking aboutgoing to the world with the
gospel message of Jesus Christ.
We ought to be the WilliamCarey of our day, concerned
about others and what to do withthem.
So can I just give you somethoughts here?
We need to love the foreignerwithout limits.
We need to love them withoutlimits.
(04:25):
We need to have a caringcompassion for them.
We should have in our heartsthat we would evangelize the
whole world.
God brings the world to us andwe'll evangelize here, where we
are, and we'll evangelize aroundthe world.
You and I want to live like whowe are in Jesus Christ.
(04:47):
We want to live like who we arein Jesus Christ.
God loves the world.
God doesn't want anybody toperish, but all to come to
repentance, and so you and Iwant to have that attitude of
carrying the gospel.
Now, before I go to the nextsection, this is the book that's
just most recently come off thepress.
It is called the Ultimate Guideto Building a Healthy and
(05:10):
Fulfilling Marriage Strategiesfor Forgiveness, love and Grace.
And this really comes frompreaching I used to do as I
traveled around Peru.
I would show them husbands,love your wives even as Christ
loved the church, and so I wouldpreach wives even as Christ
loved the church, and so I wouldpreach on even as Christ loved
the church.
And how did he love them?
He loved us first.
(05:31):
We didn't wait on him to loveus.
He loved us first.
He loved us out of grace.
He came to love us because he'ssuch a loving God, and so I
take all every love Well, noteverything I can think of,
because there's more than Icould have gotten into one book
but I take many of these truthsand he forgives us, he offers
(05:53):
true forgiveness, and so weshould be forgiving.
If we're going to love likeChrist loved us, we will truly
forgive and we'll take all thethings he did as he forgave us,
and we'll apply that in ourmarriage.
We'll learn to love first likehe loved.
And so you don't wait on yourspouse to get right with God,
(06:14):
but you do the right thingbefore that, and then we
sacrifice.
That's what Jesus did, even asChrist did.
He gave his life for us.
He sacrificed himself on thecross of Calvary so that you
could be saved, and so I want tochallenge you to look at how to
love your spouse the same way.
He has a never-ending love forus, and you're supposed to have
(06:37):
a till-death-do-us-part love inyour marriage, and so let me see
if I can get you one more here.
So we're going to build a dreamrelationship based on following
the example of Jesus Christ.
This book you can get it onAmazon, and I hope you get the
Kindle version or get this bookversion.
I really believe that it can bea blessing to you and to your
(07:01):
church.
Now I'd like to talk to you aswe continue on.
I'd like to talk to you as wecontinue on.
I'd like to talk to you aboutthe next thing, and this is
heavy.
So all I can say to you isbrace yourself.
But are the lost really lost?
Are those that have never heardthe gospel really lost?
(07:24):
I was studying this week as Iprepared for this.
There's all kind of beliefs, youknow.
Some people believe that Godnever intended to save everybody
.
Some people believe God's goingto end up saving everybody.
I had a cousin tell me one time, when I was young, he said
those that have never heard willgo to heaven, and so in a lot
(07:46):
of ways it's better to not tellanybody new about Jesus.
But then I think from abiblical point of view it's
whosoever calls on the Lord,they shall be saved.
That's in Romans, chapter 10.
So I ask you a few questionsjust to help shock you into the
reality and the heaviness that'sover us as gospel preachers, to
(08:07):
get the gospel to the world.
Will everyone eventually besaved?
Will God just save everybody inthe end?
You know they call thatuniversalism.
I don't believe that.
I don't believe that.
I wish it were true, but Idon't believe.
That's what the scripturesteach us.
Some say he had never sentanybody to hell, they hadn't
(08:27):
heard the gospel.
But then the Bible says thatthey are without excuse, in
Romans, chapter 1 and verse 20,by seeing the creation and the
general revelation.
Some say that God only savesthe elect and the chosen ones,
but in Hebrews, chapter 2 andverse 9, he takes a death for
every man.
In 1 John 2, 2, he's apropitiation for our sins, but
(08:50):
not ours only, but the sins ofthe whole world In 1 Timothy 2,
3 and following.
It is good and acceptable inthe sight of God, our Savior, to
have all men to be saved and tocome to the knowledge of the
truth, and he gave himself aransom for all.
He came to this world to seekand save that which was lost.
(09:11):
And so if the gospel is hidden,it's hidden to those whose
minds are blinded.
Satan is covering their minds.
He doesn't want them to knowthe truth.
I reminds you that the Biblespeaks of a literal hell.
It was never prepared for man.
(09:34):
It was prepared for the deviland his angels, but the Bible
speaks of it.
The Bible speaks of the factthat once you get to the one
side, you can't go to the otherside.
There's a great gulf fixedbetween, and there's no way to
get from one to the other.
The Bible says there's only onename under heaven, given among
men, whereby we must be saved.
(09:55):
The Bible said no man couldcome to the Father but by Jesus
Christ.
The Bible says that all arecondemned already.
All are condemned already.
John 3, verse 18.
And so I would say to you thatI believe the Scriptures teach
(10:19):
that those that never hear willnot get another chance after
they die.
They will not all be saved,they'll go to hell.
But God has equipped the churchand given us a message and the
Holy Spirit, and we're to takethe gospel message of Jesus
Christ to the world.
I don't know how to challengeyou more strongly than that.
(10:41):
I don't know how to challengeyou more strongly than to say we
must take the gospel.
My missionary of the day is theApostle Paul.
You know I won't spend a lot oftime on him because I think you
know him well, but he wouldspend and be spent and he would
(11:03):
love, even though he wasloveless, because he wanted to
get the gospel to the world.
He literally took everythingJesus said like it was true.
You ever notice that?
He really believed what theBible said?
And he went crazy training men,writing books of the Bible,
preaching and carrying thegospel of Jesus Christ.
(11:24):
That's what we've got to do.
When I first started out in Peruas a missionary, the older
missionary asked me one time towrite a message and to teach it
to some young people about howPaul took the Great Commission
when it was given to him.
How did Paul hear it?
(11:44):
How did he respond to it?
What was Paul's feelings aboutthe Great Commission?
And I remember thinking as Iwent through that.
Paul thought the Lord meantevery bit of it, and you and I
are called to believe that hemeant every bit of it.
So would you help carry thegospel message of Jesus Christ
around the world?
I really want to challenge youto do that.
(12:08):
That brings me to the country ofthe world, russia.
Russia has 143,957 people.
Operationworldorg, as always,is the source of the majority of
the material I would share withyou, and I want you to know
that 18% of their people areunder the age of 15, so there's
(12:28):
a lot of people that can stillbe reached.
Actually, the country is anolder country.
Now.
They claim Christianity as oneof their main religions, but you
and I know that atheism tookover a great deal of the country
and very few of the people aretruly born again, believing God
(12:50):
for salvation through JesusChrist, and not their works and
not anything they do.
There is a great need to get thegospel message to Russia.
It's a difficult language, it'sa hard area of the world to
work, but the need is great.
There's a great deal of poverty, according to Operation Whirl,
(13:12):
and it is becoming one of theoldest countries in the world.
They are big on abortion, butthen, once you're born, you can
live a long time and abortion isrampant.
Alcoholism, drug addiction,suicide is ruining many family
lives.
Many, many diseases are there.
(13:36):
They desperately need thegospel message of Jesus Christ.
They need someone to carry thegospel to them and show them how
to be saved.
I'd like to say to you, if youhaven't gotten a hold of the
little booklet, are you Called?
I hope you will.
It'll help you check out andsee where you are on your growth
(13:57):
stage towards being what God'scalled you, to be Available to
you on Amazon.
I don't want to say much moreabout it because I've already
talked about the other book, butI truly believe, if you're
listening to this, you ought tobe sharing that booklet with
other people and helping youngpeople head that way.
Now, if you're going to be amissionary, you've got to
identify with the people.
We saw how Jesus did that lasttime.
(14:21):
I'd like to now talk to you justa little bit about the Apostle
Paul and how he did that,because if you're a missionary,
part of your job is to identifywith the people so you can work
well with them.
Paul said, though I be freefrom all men, I have made myself
servant of all.
He said I became a Jew to gainthe Jews.
(14:43):
And then he said I acted asunder the law to gain them that
are under the law.
He said I became weak to reachthose that are weak.
He said I made all things toall men that I might by all
means save some.
The apostle Paul took it as avery serious responsibility that
he should identify with thepeople and get where he could be
(15:06):
used to reach those people.
I love what he said in 1Corinthians 10, verse 33, when
he said this not seeking my ownprofit, not doing this for me,
I'm doing it for them.
And to do that, you and I arecalled on to eat the foods that
are offered.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10,27, eat the food without asking
(15:30):
questions.
Now he's talking about foodthat was offered to idols.
But as you begin to work withpeople and you begin carrying
the gospel message, you're goingto find that people need you to
accept them and accept theirfood.
And Jesus told his guys in Luke10, 7, you eat and drink such
(15:50):
things as they give you.
In other words, that's whathe's called us to do as a
missionary.
If you're going to be effective.
You're going to have to get inthere and do just exactly that
as you try to reach these people.
Paul spent and got spent more.
He said I will gladly spend andbe spent for you.
(16:13):
He was in the ministry of tryingto reach these people with the
gospel message of Jesus Christ.
You know, he and Peter even hada fight about that, you
remember, because Peter wasacting very good towards the
Gentiles until the other Jewishleaders came and Paul withstood
him to the face because he saidyou can't do that, you can't do
(16:36):
that.
So let's go over just a littlebit of some of the instructions
of Paul that you might want tobring into play in your life.
For example, we are to pleaseour neighbor for his good.
Okay, but we're here trying toreach them.
We endure all things for theelect's sake.
We pay whatever price we haveto pay so that they can be
(17:00):
reached with the gospel messageof Jesus Christ.
I'm going to stop with that.
We have looked at Jesus as anexample of it.
We've looked at Paul.
Next, I'm going to take you tolook a little bit at Hudson,
taylor and some other peoplethat did similar things.
But you and I have got to dowhat we can to get the gospel
message to these people, thatthey can hear the gospel and be
(17:23):
saved and lives changed andchurches started.
And so I want to challenge youto look at what you can do to
help do more for the cause ofJesus Christ.
Now I'd like to talk to youabout our book of the week that
I would like to really stress onyou.
It's Melvin Hodges' book, theIndigenous Church.
(17:46):
Now, melvin Hodges was a Churchof God missionary, but he took
what John Nevins wrote and heexpanded on it, and that book
has become basically a guidebookused in many churches as we
train missionaries to go out andreach the world with the gospel
.
There are three things thatwere called the indigenous
(18:07):
church or native to the landwhere you're going, and that
would be self-populating,self-growing, self-propagating,
self-supporting andself-governing.
And so we want to have in ourchurch a church that's able to
govern itself, a church that canreproduce itself and a church
(18:28):
that can pay its own bills.
Melvin Hodges took things to anextreme that I never took them
to, but I think it'd be wiser togo the Melvin Hodges route than
many other routes that peopletake.
His whole point of the book isthat we are to develop national,
native leadership, localleadership, indigenous
(18:49):
leadership that can leadministries without outside
helpers, without outside funds,without any of that, and that
we're to help them develop achurch that fits where they are.
I think one of the bestexamples of indigenous church
planning would be Kudzu.
That was brought to Americafrom the Asian countries and
(19:14):
they thought it would be a greatplant.
They put that out here inGeorgia and it literally took
over the landscape.
It didn't do what they wantedit to do, but it is so native to
Georgia now that kudzu is apart of who we are.
That's what we want the churchto be in their area.
That church should be able togovern itself, support itself
(19:36):
and reproduce itself.
They should have their ownunique identity.
We don't go to the mission fieldto form United States of
America churches.
We go to the mission field tohelp them accomplish the job
reaching their people, preachingthe Bible truth.
We don't take foreign Europeanor American ideas to their
(19:59):
country.
We take the Bible.
The fact is it's kind of hardon you when you're a missionary
because you'll soon realize thatmany things you thought were
biblical were just Americantradition and you'll have to
change some of those.
Then we've got to release thenational leaders to do their
(20:19):
ministry in their context, withtheir people.
We're there to get things going, but we're not there to keep
things going.
We're there to help teach themand train them, but to get out
of the way.
In a sense you ought to say thefirst day you arrive I'm not
going to be here long.
This ministry is on you guys.
(20:41):
You guys have got to step up.
You guys got to pay up and stepup and do things.
I'm preparing you for when Ileave.
So Melvin Hodges was trying towarn us about the pitfalls and
the challenges, because too manychurches on the mission field
fall apart when the missionaryleaves.
(21:01):
I heard about a countryrecently that had been a hotbed
for evangelistic work and when amassive mission agency pulled
out, within 25 years most of thechurches have closed.
Mission agencies like to saywe've accomplished our job, we
(21:22):
consider the place to beevangelized.
But it may not be true Becausejust because you've witnessed to
them, if you haven't taughtthem to carry on after you're
gone, the job's not done.
All over the world, god isdoing a work In the indigenous
church program Melvin Hodge'sbook.
(21:44):
You need to get it and read itseveral times.
You won't have to do everythingit says.
You don't have to agree witheverything that's in it.
Have to do everything it says.
You don't have to agree witheverything that's in it, but you
want to take that book and letthat be applied to you and your
ministry as you try to getsomething going for Jesus Christ
.
I read all these books over andover again and then I
considered them in every aspectof my ministry.
(22:06):
Mr Sherry, it's not that hardto buy attendance.
It's not that hard to getpeople to come to church.
It's not that hard to buyattendance.
It's not that hard to getpeople to come to church.
It's not that hard to do forpeople in your church what the
nationals could never do.
But in the long run you'll besorry.
You did Years coming.
(22:27):
You will be leaving and theyhave to step it up.
So I don't know.
I hope that I have somehowmotivated you today.
I hope that you have consideredwith me how to reach the people
in the country you're going toand how to adapt to them.
I hope you've considered thatwe should start indigenous
churches.
I hope that it weighs heavy onyour heart that people are lost
(22:51):
without the gospel and they needthe church to carry the gospel
of message of Jesus Christ.
I hope that you will treat thestrangers in your community with
love and respect.
The fact that they don't speakyour language doesn't mean that
they're not worthy of God's love.
He loves them and I just praythat you and I will do more than
(23:12):
we've ever done to get thegospel message of Jesus Christ.
I hope you're as fired up as Iam to take on the world for
Jesus Christ.
I thank you for tuning in andlistening.
I thank you for sharing thepodcast.
I just want to see the gospelof Jesus Christ taken to the
world.
I'm not here to preach a group.
(23:33):
I'm not here to preach a group.
I'm not here to preach amission agency.
I'm just here to preach Jesusand I hope you'll help me do
that and help me get the gospelof Jesus Christ around the world
.
God bless every one of you.
Thank you for listening.
Well, I want to welcome you back to the World
Evangelism Podcast.
I'm your host, austin Gardner,and I'm excited to dive into the
Word of God, into somehistorical things and to discuss
missions with you today.
It's exciting to see what God'sdoing all around the world and
I honestly believe that this canand will make a difference in
(00:23):
your life.
I'd like to start off todaywith our Bible verse, and I'm
going to do things a little bitdifferently today, but I want to
start with our Bible verse and,at the same time, speak to all
senders and goers and youngpeople some things that you want
to consider.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy,chapter 10 and verse 19,.
(00:43):
The Bible says in Deuteronomy,chapter 10 and verse 19, love ye
.
Therefore, the stranger for youare strangers in the land of
Egypt.
That's a crazy verse, but youknow, when you're a missionary
and you're reading the Bible,you realize that God called on
his people to respect and treatthe stranger well.
That word stranger refers toresident aliens, like what we
(01:08):
would call in North Americaright now, illegal aliens, the
people that are here.
They're strangers.
They're not from our country.
They would be immigrants.
They would be sojourners,outsiders, pilgrims, foreigners
that have moved in and areliving amongst us, and God told
the Jewish people I want you totake care of them, and one of
(01:29):
the reasons that he used wasthey had been strangers in Egypt
.
They may have had permission togo there, but it wasn't their
country and they had been there.
So here's some lessons for usto learn.
Now you realize that right nowin the United States of America,
especially if you're anywherenear the size of a fairly good
(01:49):
citizenship, fairly goodpopulation, there are tons of
people from other places.
God has brought the Spanishworld right to us in America.
They are rapidly becoming thelargest minority if they've not
already become the largestminority in the United States.
They're growing, and what's ourattitude going to be?
(02:11):
How are we going to deal withthem?
Well, here's the truth that'sbeing taught in the Scriptures
we're supposed to loveforeigners, people that are
different from us, becausethat's what God's people always
do In the Old Testament.
It was never God's plan to beIsrael against everyone.
He told them you take care offoreigners that come into your
(02:33):
land.
And it's all through the Bible,in multiple passages of the
Scripture, that we are to loveforeigners.
That means our churches oughtto consider loving foreigners.
That goes along with what itsays in the New Testament.
You know God is love.
That goes along with what itsays in the New Testament when
it says for God so loved theworld that he gave his only
(02:57):
begotten son.
Too many of us may be like Jonah, who hated the people of
Nineveh and did not want to seethem get saved.
We may be like what goes on inthe days of William Carey, when
he stood up and said I reallyfeel like God would have us take
the gospel of the world.
And everybody said sit down andbe quiet, son.
If God wants to do somethingabout it, god will, and so I
(03:18):
would just like to ask you tothink about this.
Does God want you and yourchurch to reach out to those
people that are moving into yourcommunity from around the world
?
The community where I used towork as a pastor was filling up
with people from India.
People from Hispanic countriesare moving in at an alarming
(03:41):
rate.
Isn't it amazing?
When we didn't sendmissionaries, god brought them
to us.
I know you may be afraid if weever become friends with them
they may have more influenceover us than we have over them,
but that ought not be the way wethink it ought to be in our
heart and our minds that we wantto carry the gospel of them.
And you know, hold the fort,for I am coming is not the song
(04:04):
we ought to sing as a church.
We ought to be thinking aboutgoing to the world with the
gospel message of Jesus Christ.
We ought to be the WilliamCarey of our day, concerned
about others and what to do withthem.
So can I just give you somethoughts here?
We need to love the foreignerwithout limits.
We need to love them withoutlimits.
(04:25):
We need to have a caringcompassion for them.
We should have in our heartsthat we would evangelize the
whole world.
God brings the world to us andwe'll evangelize here, where we
are, and we'll evangelize aroundthe world.
You and I want to live like whowe are in Jesus Christ.
(04:47):
We want to live like who we arein Jesus Christ.
God loves the world.
God doesn't want anybody toperish, but all to come to
repentance, and so you and Iwant to have that attitude of
carrying the gospel.
Now, before I go to the nextsection, this is the book that's
just most recently come off thepress.
It is called the Ultimate Guideto Building a Healthy and
(05:10):
Fulfilling Marriage Strategiesfor Forgiveness, love and Grace.
And this really comes frompreaching I used to do as I
traveled around Peru.
I would show them husbands,love your wives even as Christ
loved the church, and so I wouldpreach wives even as Christ
loved the church, and so I wouldpreach on even as Christ loved
the church.
And how did he love them?
He loved us first.
(05:31):
We didn't wait on him to loveus.
He loved us first.
He loved us out of grace.
He came to love us because he'ssuch a loving God, and so I
take all every love Well, noteverything I can think of,
because there's more than Icould have gotten into one book
but I take many of these truthsand he forgives us, he offers
(05:53):
true forgiveness, and so weshould be forgiving.
If we're going to love likeChrist loved us, we will truly
forgive and we'll take all thethings he did as he forgave us,
and we'll apply that in ourmarriage.
We'll learn to love first likehe loved.
And so you don't wait on yourspouse to get right with God,
(06:14):
but you do the right thingbefore that, and then we
sacrifice.
That's what Jesus did, even asChrist did.
He gave his life for us.
He sacrificed himself on thecross of Calvary so that you
could be saved, and so I want tochallenge you to look at how to
love your spouse the same way.
He has a never-ending love forus, and you're supposed to have
(06:37):
a till-death-do-us-part love inyour marriage, and so let me see
if I can get you one more here.
So we're going to build a dreamrelationship based on following
the example of Jesus Christ.
This book you can get it onAmazon, and I hope you get the
Kindle version or get this bookversion.
I really believe that it can bea blessing to you and to your
(07:01):
church.
Now I'd like to talk to you aswe continue on.
I'd like to talk to you as wecontinue on.
I'd like to talk to you aboutthe next thing, and this is
heavy.
So all I can say to you isbrace yourself.
But are the lost really lost?
Are those that have never heardthe gospel really lost?
(07:24):
I was studying this week as Iprepared for this.
There's all kind of beliefs, youknow.
Some people believe that Godnever intended to save everybody
.
Some people believe God's goingto end up saving everybody.
I had a cousin tell me one time, when I was young, he said
those that have never heard willgo to heaven, and so in a lot
(07:46):
of ways it's better to not tellanybody new about Jesus.
But then I think from abiblical point of view it's
whosoever calls on the Lord,they shall be saved.
That's in Romans, chapter 10.
So I ask you a few questionsjust to help shock you into the
reality and the heaviness that'sover us as gospel preachers, to
(08:07):
get the gospel to the world.
Will everyone eventually besaved?
Will God just save everybody inthe end?
You know they call thatuniversalism.
I don't believe that.
I don't believe that.
I wish it were true, but Idon't believe.
That's what the scripturesteach us.
Some say he had never sentanybody to hell, they hadn't
(08:27):
heard the gospel.
But then the Bible says thatthey are without excuse, in
Romans, chapter 1 and verse 20,by seeing the creation and the
general revelation.
Some say that God only savesthe elect and the chosen ones,
but in Hebrews, chapter 2 andverse 9, he takes a death for
every man.
In 1 John 2, 2, he's apropitiation for our sins, but
(08:50):
not ours only, but the sins ofthe whole world In 1 Timothy 2,
3 and following.
It is good and acceptable inthe sight of God, our Savior, to
have all men to be saved and tocome to the knowledge of the
truth, and he gave himself aransom for all.
He came to this world to seekand save that which was lost.
(09:11):
And so if the gospel is hidden,it's hidden to those whose
minds are blinded.
Satan is covering their minds.
He doesn't want them to knowthe truth.
I reminds you that the Biblespeaks of a literal hell.
It was never prepared for man.
(09:34):
It was prepared for the deviland his angels, but the Bible
speaks of it.
The Bible speaks of the factthat once you get to the one
side, you can't go to the otherside.
There's a great gulf fixedbetween, and there's no way to
get from one to the other.
The Bible says there's only onename under heaven, given among
men, whereby we must be saved.
(09:55):
The Bible said no man couldcome to the Father but by Jesus
Christ.
The Bible says that all arecondemned already.
All are condemned already.
John 3, verse 18.
And so I would say to you thatI believe the Scriptures teach
(10:19):
that those that never hear willnot get another chance after
they die.
They will not all be saved,they'll go to hell.
But God has equipped the churchand given us a message and the
Holy Spirit, and we're to takethe gospel message of Jesus
Christ to the world.
I don't know how to challengeyou more strongly than that.
(10:41):
I don't know how to challengeyou more strongly than to say we
must take the gospel.
My missionary of the day is theApostle Paul.
You know I won't spend a lot oftime on him because I think you
know him well, but he wouldspend and be spent and he would
(11:03):
love, even though he wasloveless, because he wanted to
get the gospel to the world.
He literally took everythingJesus said like it was true.
You ever notice that?
He really believed what theBible said?
And he went crazy training men,writing books of the Bible,
preaching and carrying thegospel of Jesus Christ.
(11:24):
That's what we've got to do.
When I first started out in Peruas a missionary, the older
missionary asked me one time towrite a message and to teach it
to some young people about howPaul took the Great Commission
when it was given to him.
How did Paul hear it?
(11:44):
How did he respond to it?
What was Paul's feelings aboutthe Great Commission?
And I remember thinking as Iwent through that.
Paul thought the Lord meantevery bit of it, and you and I
are called to believe that hemeant every bit of it.
So would you help carry thegospel message of Jesus Christ
around the world?
I really want to challenge youto do that.
(12:08):
That brings me to the country ofthe world, russia.
Russia has 143,957 people.
Operationworldorg, as always,is the source of the majority of
the material I would share withyou, and I want you to know
that 18% of their people areunder the age of 15, so there's
(12:28):
a lot of people that can stillbe reached.
Actually, the country is anolder country.
Now.
They claim Christianity as oneof their main religions, but you
and I know that atheism tookover a great deal of the country
and very few of the people aretruly born again, believing God
(12:50):
for salvation through JesusChrist, and not their works and
not anything they do.
There is a great need to get thegospel message to Russia.
It's a difficult language, it'sa hard area of the world to
work, but the need is great.
There's a great deal of poverty, according to Operation Whirl,
(13:12):
and it is becoming one of theoldest countries in the world.
They are big on abortion, butthen, once you're born, you can
live a long time and abortion isrampant.
Alcoholism, drug addiction,suicide is ruining many family
lives.
Many, many diseases are there.
(13:36):
They desperately need thegospel message of Jesus Christ.
They need someone to carry thegospel to them and show them how
to be saved.
I'd like to say to you, if youhaven't gotten a hold of the
little booklet, are you Called?
I hope you will.
It'll help you check out andsee where you are on your growth
(13:57):
stage towards being what God'scalled you, to be Available to
you on Amazon.
I don't want to say much moreabout it because I've already
talked about the other book, butI truly believe, if you're
listening to this, you ought tobe sharing that booklet with
other people and helping youngpeople head that way.
Now, if you're going to be amissionary, you've got to
identify with the people.
We saw how Jesus did that lasttime.
(14:21):
I'd like to now talk to you justa little bit about the Apostle
Paul and how he did that,because if you're a missionary,
part of your job is to identifywith the people so you can work
well with them.
Paul said, though I be freefrom all men, I have made myself
servant of all.
He said I became a Jew to gainthe Jews.
(14:43):
And then he said I acted asunder the law to gain them that
are under the law.
He said I became weak to reachthose that are weak.
He said I made all things toall men that I might by all
means save some.
The apostle Paul took it as avery serious responsibility that
he should identify with thepeople and get where he could be
(15:06):
used to reach those people.
I love what he said in 1Corinthians 10, verse 33, when
he said this not seeking my ownprofit, not doing this for me,
I'm doing it for them.
And to do that, you and I arecalled on to eat the foods that
are offered.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10,27, eat the food without asking
(15:30):
questions.
Now he's talking about foodthat was offered to idols.
But as you begin to work withpeople and you begin carrying
the gospel message, you're goingto find that people need you to
accept them and accept theirfood.
And Jesus told his guys in Luke10, 7, you eat and drink such
(15:50):
things as they give you.
In other words, that's whathe's called us to do as a
missionary.
If you're going to be effective.
You're going to have to get inthere and do just exactly that
as you try to reach these people.
Paul spent and got spent more.
He said I will gladly spend andbe spent for you.
(16:13):
He was in the ministry of tryingto reach these people with the
gospel message of Jesus Christ.
You know, he and Peter even hada fight about that, you
remember, because Peter wasacting very good towards the
Gentiles until the other Jewishleaders came and Paul withstood
him to the face because he saidyou can't do that, you can't do
(16:36):
that.
So let's go over just a littlebit of some of the instructions
of Paul that you might want tobring into play in your life.
For example, we are to pleaseour neighbor for his good.
Okay, but we're here trying toreach them.
We endure all things for theelect's sake.
We pay whatever price we haveto pay so that they can be
(17:00):
reached with the gospel messageof Jesus Christ.
I'm going to stop with that.
We have looked at Jesus as anexample of it.
We've looked at Paul.
Next, I'm going to take you tolook a little bit at Hudson,
taylor and some other peoplethat did similar things.
But you and I have got to dowhat we can to get the gospel
message to these people, thatthey can hear the gospel and be
(17:23):
saved and lives changed andchurches started.
And so I want to challenge youto look at what you can do to
help do more for the cause ofJesus Christ.
Now I'd like to talk to youabout our book of the week that
I would like to really stress onyou.
It's Melvin Hodges' book, theIndigenous Church.
(17:46):
Now, melvin Hodges was a Churchof God missionary, but he took
what John Nevins wrote and heexpanded on it, and that book
has become basically a guidebookused in many churches as we
train missionaries to go out andreach the world with the gospel
.
There are three things thatwere called the indigenous
(18:07):
church or native to the landwhere you're going, and that
would be self-populating,self-growing, self-propagating,
self-supporting andself-governing.
And so we want to have in ourchurch a church that's able to
govern itself, a church that canreproduce itself and a church
(18:28):
that can pay its own bills.
Melvin Hodges took things to anextreme that I never took them
to, but I think it'd be wiser togo the Melvin Hodges route than
many other routes that peopletake.
His whole point of the book isthat we are to develop national,
native leadership, localleadership, indigenous
(18:49):
leadership that can leadministries without outside
helpers, without outside funds,without any of that, and that
we're to help them develop achurch that fits where they are.
I think one of the bestexamples of indigenous church
planning would be Kudzu.
That was brought to Americafrom the Asian countries and
(19:14):
they thought it would be a greatplant.
They put that out here inGeorgia and it literally took
over the landscape.
It didn't do what they wantedit to do, but it is so native to
Georgia now that kudzu is apart of who we are.
That's what we want the churchto be in their area.
That church should be able togovern itself, support itself
(19:36):
and reproduce itself.
They should have their ownunique identity.
We don't go to the mission fieldto form United States of
America churches.
We go to the mission field tohelp them accomplish the job
reaching their people, preachingthe Bible truth.
We don't take foreign Europeanor American ideas to their
(19:59):
country.
We take the Bible.
The fact is it's kind of hardon you when you're a missionary
because you'll soon realize thatmany things you thought were
biblical were just Americantradition and you'll have to
change some of those.
Then we've got to release thenational leaders to do their
(20:19):
ministry in their context, withtheir people.
We're there to get things going, but we're not there to keep
things going.
We're there to help teach themand train them, but to get out
of the way.
In a sense you ought to say thefirst day you arrive I'm not
going to be here long.
This ministry is on you guys.
(20:41):
You guys have got to step up.
You guys got to pay up and stepup and do things.
I'm preparing you for when Ileave.
So Melvin Hodges was trying towarn us about the pitfalls and
the challenges, because too manychurches on the mission field
fall apart when the missionaryleaves.
(21:01):
I heard about a countryrecently that had been a hotbed
for evangelistic work and when amassive mission agency pulled
out, within 25 years most of thechurches have closed.
Mission agencies like to saywe've accomplished our job, we
(21:22):
consider the place to beevangelized.
But it may not be true Becausejust because you've witnessed to
them, if you haven't taughtthem to carry on after you're
gone, the job's not done.
All over the world, god isdoing a work In the indigenous
church program Melvin Hodge'sbook.
(21:44):
You need to get it and read itseveral times.
You won't have to do everythingit says.
You don't have to agree witheverything that's in it.
Have to do everything it says.
You don't have to agree witheverything that's in it, but you
want to take that book and letthat be applied to you and your
ministry as you try to getsomething going for Jesus Christ
.
I read all these books over andover again and then I
considered them in every aspectof my ministry.
(22:06):
Mr Sherry, it's not that hardto buy attendance.
It's not that hard to getpeople to come to church.
It's not that hard to buyattendance.
It's not that hard to getpeople to come to church.
It's not that hard to do forpeople in your church what the
nationals could never do.
But in the long run you'll besorry.
You did Years coming.
(22:27):
You will be leaving and theyhave to step it up.
So I don't know.
I hope that I have somehowmotivated you today.
I hope that you have consideredwith me how to reach the people
in the country you're going toand how to adapt to them.
I hope you've considered thatwe should start indigenous
churches.
I hope that it weighs heavy onyour heart that people are lost
(22:51):
without the gospel and they needthe church to carry the gospel
of message of Jesus Christ.
I hope that you will treat thestrangers in your community with
love and respect.
The fact that they don't speakyour language doesn't mean that
they're not worthy of God's love.
He loves them and I just praythat you and I will do more than
(23:12):
we've ever done to get thegospel message of Jesus Christ.
I hope you're as fired up as Iam to take on the world for
Jesus Christ.
I thank you for tuning in andlistening.
I thank you for sharing thepodcast.
I just want to see the gospelof Jesus Christ taken to the
world.
I'm not here to preach a group.
(23:33):
I'm not here to preach a group.
I'm not here to preach amission agency.
I'm just here to preach Jesusand I hope you'll help me do
that and help me get the gospelof Jesus Christ around the world
.
God bless every one of you.
Thank you for listening.
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