Embark on a transformative voyage with me, Austin Gardner, as we explore the ancient roots of world evangelism and unveil the sacred duty bestowed upon God's followers. Discover insights that illuminate your purpose as a 'kingdom of priests' from Exodus 19:6, and grasp the profound significance of this role in our contemporary missionary endeavors. I also share the delicate art of time management for those laboring on the mission field, weaving personal anecdotes with practical strategies to maximize your impact without sacrificing your well-being.
This episode also celebrates the pivotal influence of church leadership in igniting a passion for global evangelism, while offering a heartfelt tribute to the inspiring legacy of John Paton. You'll find a treasure trove of wisdom in the church's mission to share Christ's love worldwide, along with a resourceful checklist to gauge your readiness for missionary work. Finally, I extend an invitation to affirm your faith and salvation, challenging you to take definitive steps toward the mission field and engage with our community on social media to advance the cause of world evangelism.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
W. Austin Gardner (00:01):
Well, this is W Austin Gardner, welcoming you
back to the World EvangelismPodcast, and this is episode
number eight and I'm excited tobe with you today and thank you
so much for listening and I hopethat if this is a blessing,
you'll help.
I'm really working at making itbetter every time, so please
comment, let me know if thingsare working.
(00:23):
Let me take you first to ourverse of the day.
I want to challenge you to usethis verse as you deal with
people and share with peoplethat the bible teaches us about
world evangelism, because if youunderstand that and you share
that, you help people grow intheir understanding that god
(00:43):
wants the world evangelized.
The Bible says in Exodus,chapter 19 and verse 6, and you
shall be unto me a kingdom ofpriests and that's an
interesting term a kingdom ofpriests and a holy nation.
These are the words which thoushalt speak of the children of
Israel.
So all the way back in Exodus,he says that he is designating
(01:07):
Israel as mediators between himand the nations.
God is already entrustingIsrael with the responsibility
of representing God, him withhis holiness, his truth and his
mercy to the world.
He gives Israel a leadershiprole in guiding others towards
(01:28):
God, in teaching his ways, ininterceding on behalf of people,
god is doing world evangelism,the priestly people, the priest
which is what the nation ofIsrael is a kingdom of priests.
They will go beyond Israel'sborders and they will have a
mission of taking the light ofGod and salvation to all nations
(01:52):
.
You understand, god isrecognizing them as spiritual
leaders.
God is sending them to take acall and to take it seriously,
to intercede for others.
They're a kingdom of priests topray for their salvation, for
their healing and theirspiritual growth.
They are to be continuallyseeking spiritual growth and
(02:16):
maturity.
They're working at getting thegospel around to other people.
So keep in mind that what we doand what Israel did has eternal
significance as priestlyambassadors for God, living with
a sense of purpose and amission to advance his kingdom.
So if you would just think withme one more time through the
(02:38):
verse and you shall be unto me akingdom of priests, and I think
, maybe you think that this isit can be that some people
anyway would think that worldevangelism is a thing that comes
along in the New Testament andwhen he's starting the church,
but that wasn't the point at all.
(02:59):
The nation of Israel was akingdom of priests and we
started in Genesis, and we'reeight episodes in, probably only
five of those where we'veshared a verse.
There's plenty of verses aboutGod wanting the gospel to go to
the world.
So I'd like to talk to you justa moment.
Those of you who are activelyserving as missionaries.
(03:23):
You know that's the purposehere.
This is the World EvangelismPodcast, and I want to be a
blessing to you.
I want to help you and I wantto add value to you, and so I
want to challenge you on usingyour time wisely.
Now, you know, somebody saidyou manage your time, but you
know you can't control time.
(03:44):
It just marches on, no matterwhat.
You really can't manage time,but you can manage your usage of
time.
So just I want to challenge youto work at setting your
priorities and avoiding timewasters.
I have to work at making sure Ifocus on accomplishing what I
(04:07):
believe God has for me to dothat day.
So I have to make a plan andthen I have to work.
Then I have to look ahead andsee where I'm going to need to
be in the future, and I have touse my early mornings or my late
evenings and I have to find away to get things done.
Even though Betty and I livealone now, I still have to take
(04:28):
advantage of the quiet times,times I won't have interruptions
.
But, man, when I was raisingchildren, betty and I had all
four kids in the house.
It was a lot harder to do that.
So you know, I would just wantto challenge each missionary Use
the best hours of the day toaccomplish whatever it is that
(04:48):
you feel like you're to do thatday, because there are certain
hours when we tend to get lazyNow.
So when I was working with theyoung Peruvians, I would teach
them from 8 o'clock until about2 o'clock.
They'd meet in my office and wedidn't have a Bible college yet
, and I would just teach them,and then Betty would have lunch
ready and we'd step out andthere were five of them, and
(05:09):
then there were six of us andJuana, and so that's what 12 of
us would eat lunch around thetable, and then I knew they were
tired, having sat and studiedall morning and haven't eaten
and having their bellies full.
So we would then go out andpass out gospel tracts.
So you have to kind of programyour day based on your energy
(05:29):
usage.
I know.
You know that.
I know you know everything Icould tell you, but always be
careful to use your time wisely.
Make your time count.
You know I don't get in myvehicle without having a podcast
to listen to or a book tolisten to, because I want to use
my time wisely.
(05:52):
Now, something I didn't do, andI suggest that you do, is that
you learn to sleep on purpose.
You know, go to bed at acertain time and get up at a
certain time, unless anemergency or something happens,
so that you can be fit andphysically and emotionally able.
When you're tired, you don'tthink as well.
When you're tired, you'reirritable.
When you're tired, it's harderto to spend time alone with God,
(06:16):
and praying is almostimpossible when you're too tired
.
I would like to say also thatworry and stress can eat you
alive, and sometimes a youngmissionary maybe.
You look and it's in.
I haven't got a church started,I haven't learned my language,
I've got so much I've got toaccomplish.
I don't feel like I'm gettingthere, and what you've done is
(06:36):
you've fallen into this spiralpit where you're going down,
down, down, worrying about areyou going to be able to get
things accomplished, and that'sjust not what you want to be
doing.
It'll just make things worse.
So what you got to do is focuson whatever you have to do right
now.
Focus on that, make a prioritylist, focus on what you have
(06:58):
right in front of you and workon that and let that be your job
for the day Now.
Each day I've tried, or eachweek I've tried, to bring you
the country of the week, andwe're now down to the country of
Nigeria.
Now, when I say down, I'mtalking about world population.
Obviously, it is one of thelargest countries in the world,
(07:20):
with 229,152,217 people livingthere, and every one of those
are important people to the Lord, our God.
Beautiful thing is that mosteverybody speaks English.
So when I was there, I willadmit that sometimes it's a
little bit hard for me tounderstand their English, but I
(07:40):
think we could adapt to it.
The problem in the country isthey speak, like according to
Operation Whirl, 521 languages.
That is an enormous amount oflanguages.
Now the country is a 51%Christian and 30% of them are
(08:02):
evangelical, but there's a lotof false doctrine and not
teaching that salvation is bygrace, through faith, and not of
yourselves.
It's a gift of God.
So there's a tremendously greatneed in Nigeria.
The country is considered to be21% unevangelized and on the
(08:26):
persecution ranking it ranksnumber six out of 50.
And if you watch the news, ifyou get emails and you know I
get blogs and emails and it'salways something going on in
Nigeria.
They need our prayer.
We have friends there.
Some of the most wonderfulpeople I know in the world are
serving in the country ofNigeria and we should pray for
(08:49):
them.
And the persecution ofChristians just continues to
increase, especially in thenorth.
So we want to pray for thepersecution and the Christians
would have strength to standagainst that.
We want to realize that thereare extreme Muslim groups in the
country.
They're literally killingthousands of people and
(09:11):
destroying millions of dollarsworth of property.
It's just a pretty rough place.
The persecution will drivepeople away from the church, but
it will also drive people tothe Lord.
So many people have sufferedloss.
People, girls, ladies have beenraped.
We need to pray that God wouldgive wisdom.
(09:33):
You say where'd you get all thisto pray for?
Well, again, I refer you tooperationworldorg.
I challenge you to go there.
They suggest that we pray forforgiveness, yes and that we
pray that believers will be ableto respond in a Christlike way
against those who are doing suchterrible and horrible things.
(09:55):
Would you pray with us forNigeria that God would open the
doors the missionaries arepreaching and that new churches
would be able to be started?
And you that are listening,maybe you're a young person.
You're wondering what you cando with your life.
And you that are listening,maybe you're a young person.
You're wondering what you cando with your life.
Over 229 million people, what acountry to consider that you
could possibly go to.
(10:16):
And God has a plan for you.
And God wants to do a work inyour life and I want to
challenge you to consider whatGod might do with you.
Now that brings us to the bookof the week.
And oh, my goodness, what abook.
And I can't show you the bookbecause I have it in electronic
(10:37):
format, which is how I have mostof my books, um, but I just
want to share with you somewonderful things out of this
book.
I want to.
It'll be in the notes, but youmust get a copy of the Key to
the Missionary Problem by AndrewMurray.
You must get a copy of Key tothe Missionary Problem by Andrew
Murray.
Of all of the books that Irecommend.
(11:00):
This is one of the very topbooks Every believer ought to
listen to it, ought to read itor listen to it.
On page two he said there's nomore spiritual and mysterious
truth than that.
Christ, our head, is actuallyand entirely dependent upon the
members of his body for carryingout the plans which he, as head
(11:21):
, has formed.
In other words, he starts thebook off by saying you realize
that God wants to accomplishsomething, but he has allowed us
to have such a great part in itthat he is dependent on us to
be involved in doing our part.
He talks about what the pastorought to say and do and he says
(11:42):
a missionary bishop, a pastorwith a missionary heart, counts
the whole world to be his fold,and the pastor of the smallest
church has the power to make hisinfluence felt all around the
world.
No pastor, he says, is worthyof his office who does not put
himself into sympathy with themagnificent breadth of the Great
(12:03):
Commission.
If you won't think about theGreat Commission, if you won't
think about world evangelism, hedoesn't think you ought to be
in the ministry.
I challenge you to take that toheart, pastors.
To the pastor belongs aprivilege and responsibility of
solving the foreign missionaryproblem.
He really brings it home.
I call the pastor, the captainof world evangelism.
(12:25):
As pastor, you have the mostimportant role of all.
It's you that will raise upyoung people to go to the
mission field.
It's you that will helpmotivate a church to be a giving
church.
It's you that will helpencourage missionaries.
You are the captain of worldevangelism.
He says the problem that thedivinity schools, what we would
(12:46):
call seminaries or Biblecolleges, he says the problem
that they have is not how totrain an occasional man to go to
the mission field.
So often the Bible schools onlyworry about.
Well, one day maybe somebodywill go, he said.
But they ought to kindle themissionary passion in every man
(13:06):
that passes through.
I mean, these are great truths.
See, you got to get this book.
I'm giving you just a fewtidbits from the book that'll
honestly revolutionize your lifeand ministry.
It is one thing for a ministerto be an advocate and supporter
of missions.
It's another thing for him tounderstand that the chief end of
(13:29):
the church, the chief end ofhis congregation, for which it
exists, is world evangelism.
How we're going to get thegospel message of Jesus Christ
around the world he makesmention by the way, I'm just on
page 27 and I'm going to stopBecause I hope I have whet your
(13:53):
appetite but he says that theearly church did nothing that we
don't and can't do today.
We have everything they had.
So what's hindering us toevangelize the world in our
generation?
See, the church exists only forthe extending of the kingdom
and taking every member thatmust be trained to become a part
(14:16):
of it.
I love that.
So let the pastor learn andteach that all failure in caring
and giving and praying andliving for missions is owed to a
feeble, superficial spirituallife.
The reason our churches aren'tfull of vibrant missionary
desires is a feeble, superficialspiritual life on the part of
(14:36):
the pastor and on part of thechurch.
What a book.
The Key to the MissionaryProblem.
I hope you'll get a hold of thatbook, hope you'll make it a
part of who you are.
I hope you'll read it andreread it.
I have read it many times and Iwill read it again.
It is a tremendously importantbook.
Now I'd like to come back toyou again today with a little
(15:00):
gift, are you called?
And I can only give away fiveof these, and it has to be done
within a week, within seven days, of when the podcast comes out.
I'm in Peru currently.
Well, actually, I'm not in Peru, I'm in my office, but I'm
getting these all preparedbecause I will be so busy.
I'll be teaching for 24 hoursin the Bible College on the
(15:23):
finances and economy of thelocal church and a theology of
money and how to handle moneyfor our pastors, lord willing,
and then I will teach and preachin churches all over the city.
But I want to offer you thisfree book.
I will send it to you.
It's just a little booklet,just a handful of pages, but it
is a powerful checklist thatwill help you know if you're
(15:46):
prepared I'm talking to you,young person, by the way.
I'm talking to you, pastor.
You can use this to help thepeople in your church, to help
them know if God's dealing withthem, if they're prepared and if
they're on their way, and sothis is actually something that
I would use.
I do use and I have used for along time, and I'd like to
challenge you with that.
I'm so thankful that many youngmen are listening right now and
(16:08):
you are wondering where Godwants you involved and you're
wondering if you can fit in Well, if you will start praying for
the country of the week and ifyou'll start reading the Bible
and looking for these verses, ifyou'll continue listening to
this podcast and share it andlike it, if you'll learn more
and more about the books.
And then I want to talk to youabout the person of the week.
(16:29):
Oh, my goodness, oh my goodness, what a person of the week I
want to share with you today.
I just love this man to death.
I'm going to give you some ofhis quotes and then we'll tell
you some things about his life.
And you know I'm preparingthese ahead of time so that when
I come in I just got the notesready to share with you, because
(16:49):
I want to add value, I want tosee things change in life, and
John Paton wrote this Now hedied in 1907.
So I mean, we're talking about along time ago.
But he said as I lay down mypen let me record my immovable
conviction that this is thenoblest service in which any
human being can spend or bespent, and that if God gave me
(17:11):
back my life to be lived overagain, I would, without quiver
of hesitation, let on the altarto Christ that he might use it
as before in similar ministriesof love, especially among those
who have never heard the name ofJesus Christ.
He was a missionary to the NewHerbie Islands, to pagan
(17:32):
cannibalistic Indians We'll talkabout that a little bit more
and he said if I had it to doover, I'd do it again.
This is a guy you ought to readafter.
And he comes out of theReformed Church of Scotland.
What is really neat and what'sexciting for all you parents who
are listening to this his mamawas a praying woman and when she
(17:54):
would pray they would tremblebefore they'd enter in the room,
and three of her children wentinto the ministry.
For you, young people, as you'repreparing for ministry, as John
Paton got older and wanted todo something, he spent 10 years
working as a city missionary inthe neglected area of Glasgow.
He's Scottish, scotland, andhe's working in the city there.
(18:17):
And while he's doing that, hegets the invitation they're
looking for volunteers from hischurch, the Reformed
Presbyterian Church, to go tothe New Herbis Islands in the
South Seas, and so he decidesthat he will offer himself and
he will go.
So when he's 33 years old, hegets licensed to preach, gets
(18:39):
married to Mary Ann and headsout to the island of Tanna and
go there as a missionary.
When he got there, they werethe first white residents go
there as a missionary.
When he got there, they werethe first white residents.
It was an island full of naked,painted wild men, cannibals, and
they had no regard for humanlife at all, no sense of mutual
(19:00):
kindness or obligation.
But in the middle of all that,john Paton said nothing.
So clears the vision and liftsup the life as a decision to
move forward in what you know tobe entirely the will of God.
That's what I want you to findis entirely the will of God for
your life and what he'd have youto do.
Now, these people that he wentto were so deep into this
(19:26):
terrible lifestyle, prisoners toSatan, this terrible lifestyle,
prisoners to Satan, and theywere terrified of demons and
ghosts and evil spirits.
They were always fighting amongthemselves and Paton and his
wife wanted to take the gospelto them.
Now I'll just be honest.
These men that we look at andthat's something funny to say,
(19:49):
because you ought to always behonest, but these people we look
at were a class above most ofus that ever dreamed of being.
They had only been there alittle while and his child was
born and a few days later bothhis wife and his baby died.
Both his wife and his baby died.
(20:11):
Did he quit?
No, he did not quit, he stayed.
And within a year or so, acouple of years, they killed a
Canadian missionary and his wifeon another island, and that
really stirred everybody up towant to even get to him.
He lived in continual danger oflosing his life and they came
(20:38):
to his house ready to kill him.
One of the cannibals enteredthe house and the only thing he
knew to do was he raised anempty pistol and the guy in
cowardice fled.
He lived in constant danger.
Betty and I know what it's liketo have tragedy strike our
family.
We know what it's like to berobbed or attempted to be robbed
55 times in our first threeyears.
(21:00):
But these guys were a cut above.
Here's a quote this strength,this peace to feel and entering
on every day that all its dutiesand trials have been committed
to the lord jesus, that, comewhat may, he, god, will use us
for his own glory and our realgood.
(21:22):
Wow, what a statement.
Well, Paton got married againand it's a lady named Margaret
and she had literary ability andhe goes on to have two
daughters and three sons withher, and two of their sons will
become missionaries in the sameislands and another daughter
(21:43):
will marry a missionary.
And he lived such a crazy life.
I want you to get some of thebooks to study about him.
Just look him up on Google.
Go to Amazon and get some ofthe books to study about him.
Just look him up on Google, goto Amazon and buy some of those
books and learn about him livingin conditions and ways that
most of us would never, everdream.
(22:03):
He was always in danger, alwaystrusting God, always going
forward, always believing thatGod had a plan for him, always
going forward, always believingthat God had a plan for him.
Here's a quote At the moment Iput the bread and wine into
those dark hands, once stainedwith the blood of cannibalism,
now stretched out to receive andpartake of the emblems and
(22:24):
seals of the Redeemer's love.
I had a foretaste of the joy ofglory that will now broke my
heart to pieces.
I shall never taste a deeperbliss till I gaze on the
glorified face of Jesus himself.
He saw these horribly wickedpagans trust Christ, be saved,
(22:47):
baptized, and now they're takingthe Lord's Supper together
saved, baptized, and now they'retaking the Lord's Supper
together.
As he was dying, one of thekings came to him and he said I
want God's change my life.
And he said he said, men ofFortin, when you return, tell
(23:09):
your people how we of Anua havebeen changed.
As heathens we quarreled andkilled and ate each other.
We had no peace, no joy inheart or house or land.
Now Jehovah has changed all ourblack hearts and we live as
brethren in peace and happiness.
(23:29):
John Paton will die at the ageof 83 in Australia.
God is using people from allover the world, sometimes North
Americans, united Statescitizens.
We tend to think we're the onlypeople, but God's using people
from everywhere.
I was just talking to my friendthe other day and he was
talking about how there was aGerman who knew German and
(23:51):
English and spoke a triballanguage and spoke pidgin and he
said I never met a smarterperson serving as a missionary
in Papua New Guinea.
Before he died, john Paton saidif I die here in Glasgow, I
shall be eaten by worms.
If I can but live and dieserving the Lord Jesus, it will
make no difference to me whetherI'm eaten by cannibals or by
worms.
If I can but live and dieserving the Lord Jesus, it will
(24:12):
make no difference to me whetherI'm eaten by cannibals or by
worms, for the great day, myresurrection body will rise as
fair as yours, in the likenessof our Redeemer.
And what a man.
I just want to challenge you toget a hold of his material and
look into that.
Now.
I want to give you briefly andI want to help you.
(24:36):
I want to be a blessing to youand so quickly.
I would like to talk to thoseof you that are senders.
Your moms and dads are going toraise children to serve Jesus.
Your Sunday school teachers andpastors, you are disciplers,
and I just want to challenge youon how to be a better sender,
how to be a better yoke fellow,how to be in the ministry.
(24:59):
Now ministries are having atime of their life If they
really love Jesus.
You can listen to Paton and youcan see he had a blast and you
can see that he was enjoying ita blast and you can see that he
was enjoying it, and so I justwant to challenge you to take
this idea of you helping people.
I love this verse 1 Corinthians16, 15.
(25:23):
I beseech you, brethren, youknow the house of Stephanas,
that is the first fruits ofAchaia, that they have addicted
themselves, addicted themselvesto the ministry of the saints.
What a verse.
What a family.
And he said submit yourselvesto them and to everyone that
(25:48):
helps with us and labors.
And so this family is stayingin place, but they're helping
and they're laboring.
And he says you know whatthey're meeting needs.
He says in verse 17 that theyare providing that which was
lacking.
They've supplied.
And he says they have refreshedmy spirit.
So I just want to leave thatpart of the verse with you today
(26:08):
, and I want to say to you thatyou have the privilege of being
a part of world evangelism and apart of the ministry, and so I
want to challenge you with that.
I want to challenge you to help, I want to challenge you to
labor, I want to challenge youto refresh.
(26:28):
So spend some time with me,charities, find out exactly what
you can do and how you can doit, and let God help you with
that.
Now I come to the place maybemost close to my heart.
I want to talk to the youngpeople listening and I hope
you've been paying attention allthe way through this, but I
want to talk to you about how doyou get from where you are
(26:51):
right now to where God wants youto be and where God's leading
you to go, and I'm going to walkyou through over this week and
a couple of more weeks, somebasic steps towards world
evangelism.
Some steps towards worldevangelism.
Now, the first thing I want tosay to you is you got to be
absolutely sure of yoursalvation.
(27:13):
You've got to understand thisdoctrine.
It is the key doctrine, it'sthe most important thing.
Now I know you've been going tochurch, but many are just
cultural Christians.
You've not really trustedChrist.
You're not really sure thatyou're saved.
You couldn't explain whatsalvation is.
With some it's an emotionalthing.
It's like I cried and I prayed,but you haven't just trusted.
(27:38):
That's all it is is trust, it'sjust accepting the free gift of
God.
Some missionaries have gone tothe field and fallen into sin
because I'm afraid maybe theyweren't saved, weren't born
again.
Other missionaries have gottensaved while they're on the
mission field and I've knownthem that totally quit on God.
(27:58):
I've known young people that goto Bible college and work all
the way through Bible collegeand voted the number one student
and quit.
So I just want to leave youwith this.
Today is step number onetowards the mission field.
Bible says in 2 Peter 1, 10,.
Give diligence to make yourcalling and election sure, for
(28:21):
if you do these things you shallnever fall.
So you want to take the time tomake sure of your walk with God
.
In 2 Corinthians 13, 5, it saysexamine yourselves whether you
be in the faith and prove yourown selves, know your own selves
and know that Christ is in you.
So that's the goal and I wantto challenge you with that.
(28:42):
I want to challenge you to takesteps towards the mission field
, and the first one isdefinitely going to be knowing
that you are born again.
Now let me remind you and maybeI haven't explained it clearly I
want you to go to social mediaFacebook, linkedin, instagram or
Twitter, and I'm on all ofthose.
I'm not on TikTok, but thoseare the ones I am on.
(29:07):
And if you'll just give ashout-out to this little booklet
, excuse me.
Give the shout-out to thepodcast.
And if you'll just give a shoutout to this little booklet,
excuse me.
Give the shout out to thepodcast.
Give a shout out to the podcast.
Maybe share the title of it,the feed.
They can get on it on Apple orthey can get on this podcast
with Spotify.
Those are the two major ones,but we've put it on everything,
(29:30):
and so I want to help you and ifyou'll do that the first five
that do it then tag me that Isee I will send you a free
booklet.
I'll pay for the booklet, I'llpay for the shipping, I'll sign
it Not sure that's worth muchand I'll send you this little
booklet.
Are you called?
And it's a checklist.
So I just really want to thankyou for being with me and thank
(29:52):
you for helping me.
I want to raise awareness ofworld evangelism.
We need to get people excitedabout taking the gospel message.
Would you help me with that?
Would you help me withpromoting world evangelism?
That's what I'm asking you todo For Jesus' sake, not my sake.
God bless you all.
Well, this is W Austin Gardner, welcoming you
back to the World EvangelismPodcast, and this is episode
number eight and I'm excited tobe with you today and thank you
so much for listening and I hopethat if this is a blessing,
you'll help.
I'm really working at making itbetter every time, so please
comment, let me know if thingsare working.
(00:23):
Let me take you first to ourverse of the day.
I want to challenge you to usethis verse as you deal with
people and share with peoplethat the bible teaches us about
world evangelism, because if youunderstand that and you share
that, you help people grow intheir understanding that god
(00:43):
wants the world evangelized.
The Bible says in Exodus,chapter 19 and verse 6, and you
shall be unto me a kingdom ofpriests and that's an
interesting term a kingdom ofpriests and a holy nation.
These are the words which thoushalt speak of the children of
Israel.
So all the way back in Exodus,he says that he is designating
(01:07):
Israel as mediators between himand the nations.
God is already entrustingIsrael with the responsibility
of representing God, him withhis holiness, his truth and his
mercy to the world.
He gives Israel a leadershiprole in guiding others towards
(01:28):
God, in teaching his ways, ininterceding on behalf of people,
god is doing world evangelism,the priestly people, the priest
which is what the nation ofIsrael is a kingdom of priests.
They will go beyond Israel'sborders and they will have a
mission of taking the light ofGod and salvation to all nations
(01:52):
.
You understand, god isrecognizing them as spiritual
leaders.
God is sending them to take acall and to take it seriously,
to intercede for others.
They're a kingdom of priests topray for their salvation, for
their healing and theirspiritual growth.
They are to be continuallyseeking spiritual growth and
(02:16):
maturity.
They're working at getting thegospel around to other people.
So keep in mind that what we doand what Israel did has eternal
significance as priestlyambassadors for God, living with
a sense of purpose and amission to advance his kingdom.
So if you would just think withme one more time through the
(02:38):
verse and you shall be unto me akingdom of priests, and I think
, maybe you think that this isit can be that some people
anyway would think that worldevangelism is a thing that comes
along in the New Testament andwhen he's starting the church,
but that wasn't the point at all.
(02:59):
The nation of Israel was akingdom of priests and we
started in Genesis, and we'reeight episodes in, probably only
five of those where we'veshared a verse.
There's plenty of verses aboutGod wanting the gospel to go to
the world.
So I'd like to talk to you justa moment.
Those of you who are activelyserving as missionaries.
(03:23):
You know that's the purposehere.
This is the World EvangelismPodcast, and I want to be a
blessing to you.
I want to help you and I wantto add value to you, and so I
want to challenge you on usingyour time wisely.
Now, you know, somebody saidyou manage your time, but you
know you can't control time.
(03:44):
It just marches on, no matterwhat.
You really can't manage time,but you can manage your usage of
time.
So just I want to challenge youto work at setting your
priorities and avoiding timewasters.
I have to work at making sure Ifocus on accomplishing what I
(04:07):
believe God has for me to dothat day.
So I have to make a plan andthen I have to work.
Then I have to look ahead andsee where I'm going to need to
be in the future, and I have touse my early mornings or my late
evenings and I have to find away to get things done.
Even though Betty and I livealone now, I still have to take
(04:28):
advantage of the quiet times,times I won't have interruptions
.
But, man, when I was raisingchildren, betty and I had all
four kids in the house.
It was a lot harder to do that.
So you know, I would just wantto challenge each missionary Use
the best hours of the day toaccomplish whatever it is that
(04:48):
you feel like you're to do thatday, because there are certain
hours when we tend to get lazyNow.
So when I was working with theyoung Peruvians, I would teach
them from 8 o'clock until about2 o'clock.
They'd meet in my office and wedidn't have a Bible college yet
, and I would just teach them,and then Betty would have lunch
ready and we'd step out andthere were five of them, and
(05:09):
then there were six of us andJuana, and so that's what 12 of
us would eat lunch around thetable, and then I knew they were
tired, having sat and studiedall morning and haven't eaten
and having their bellies full.
So we would then go out andpass out gospel tracts.
So you have to kind of programyour day based on your energy
(05:29):
usage.
I know.
You know that.
I know you know everything Icould tell you, but always be
careful to use your time wisely.
Make your time count.
You know I don't get in myvehicle without having a podcast
to listen to or a book tolisten to, because I want to use
my time wisely.
(05:52):
Now, something I didn't do, andI suggest that you do, is that
you learn to sleep on purpose.
You know, go to bed at acertain time and get up at a
certain time, unless anemergency or something happens,
so that you can be fit andphysically and emotionally able.
When you're tired, you don'tthink as well.
When you're tired, you'reirritable.
When you're tired, it's harderto to spend time alone with God,
(06:16):
and praying is almostimpossible when you're too tired
.
I would like to say also thatworry and stress can eat you
alive, and sometimes a youngmissionary maybe.
You look and it's in.
I haven't got a church started,I haven't learned my language,
I've got so much I've got toaccomplish.
I don't feel like I'm gettingthere, and what you've done is
(06:36):
you've fallen into this spiralpit where you're going down,
down, down, worrying about areyou going to be able to get
things accomplished, and that'sjust not what you want to be
doing.
It'll just make things worse.
So what you got to do is focuson whatever you have to do right
now.
Focus on that, make a prioritylist, focus on what you have
(06:58):
right in front of you and workon that and let that be your job
for the day Now.
Each day I've tried, or eachweek I've tried, to bring you
the country of the week, andwe're now down to the country of
Nigeria.
Now, when I say down, I'mtalking about world population.
Obviously, it is one of thelargest countries in the world,
(07:20):
with 229,152,217 people livingthere, and every one of those
are important people to the Lord, our God.
Beautiful thing is that mosteverybody speaks English.
So when I was there, I willadmit that sometimes it's a
little bit hard for me tounderstand their English, but I
(07:40):
think we could adapt to it.
The problem in the country isthey speak, like according to
Operation Whirl, 521 languages.
That is an enormous amount oflanguages.
Now the country is a 51%Christian and 30% of them are
(08:02):
evangelical, but there's a lotof false doctrine and not
teaching that salvation is bygrace, through faith, and not of
yourselves.
It's a gift of God.
So there's a tremendously greatneed in Nigeria.
The country is considered to be21% unevangelized and on the
(08:26):
persecution ranking it ranksnumber six out of 50.
And if you watch the news, ifyou get emails and you know I
get blogs and emails and it'salways something going on in
Nigeria.
They need our prayer.
We have friends there.
Some of the most wonderfulpeople I know in the world are
serving in the country ofNigeria and we should pray for
(08:49):
them.
And the persecution ofChristians just continues to
increase, especially in thenorth.
So we want to pray for thepersecution and the Christians
would have strength to standagainst that.
We want to realize that thereare extreme Muslim groups in the
country.
They're literally killingthousands of people and
(09:11):
destroying millions of dollarsworth of property.
It's just a pretty rough place.
The persecution will drivepeople away from the church, but
it will also drive people tothe Lord.
So many people have sufferedloss.
People, girls, ladies have beenraped.
We need to pray that God wouldgive wisdom.
(09:33):
You say where'd you get all thisto pray for?
Well, again, I refer you tooperationworldorg.
I challenge you to go there.
They suggest that we pray forforgiveness, yes and that we
pray that believers will be ableto respond in a Christlike way
against those who are doing suchterrible and horrible things.
(09:55):
Would you pray with us forNigeria that God would open the
doors the missionaries arepreaching and that new churches
would be able to be started?
And you that are listening,maybe you're a young person.
You're wondering what you cando with your life.
And you that are listening,maybe you're a young person.
You're wondering what you cando with your life.
Over 229 million people, what acountry to consider that you
could possibly go to.
(10:16):
And God has a plan for you.
And God wants to do a work inyour life and I want to
challenge you to consider whatGod might do with you.
Now that brings us to the bookof the week.
And oh, my goodness, what abook.
And I can't show you the bookbecause I have it in electronic
(10:37):
format, which is how I have mostof my books, um, but I just
want to share with you somewonderful things out of this
book.
I want to.
It'll be in the notes, but youmust get a copy of the Key to
the Missionary Problem by AndrewMurray.
You must get a copy of Key tothe Missionary Problem by Andrew
Murray.
Of all of the books that Irecommend.
(11:00):
This is one of the very topbooks Every believer ought to
listen to it, ought to read itor listen to it.
On page two he said there's nomore spiritual and mysterious
truth than that.
Christ, our head, is actuallyand entirely dependent upon the
members of his body for carryingout the plans which he, as head
(11:21):
, has formed.
In other words, he starts thebook off by saying you realize
that God wants to accomplishsomething, but he has allowed us
to have such a great part in itthat he is dependent on us to
be involved in doing our part.
He talks about what the pastorought to say and do and he says
(11:42):
a missionary bishop, a pastorwith a missionary heart, counts
the whole world to be his fold,and the pastor of the smallest
church has the power to make hisinfluence felt all around the
world.
No pastor, he says, is worthyof his office who does not put
himself into sympathy with themagnificent breadth of the Great
(12:03):
Commission.
If you won't think about theGreat Commission, if you won't
think about world evangelism, hedoesn't think you ought to be
in the ministry.
I challenge you to take that toheart, pastors.
To the pastor belongs aprivilege and responsibility of
solving the foreign missionaryproblem.
He really brings it home.
I call the pastor, the captainof world evangelism.
(12:25):
As pastor, you have the mostimportant role of all.
It's you that will raise upyoung people to go to the
mission field.
It's you that will helpmotivate a church to be a giving
church.
It's you that will helpencourage missionaries.
You are the captain of worldevangelism.
He says the problem that thedivinity schools, what we would
(12:46):
call seminaries or Biblecolleges, he says the problem
that they have is not how totrain an occasional man to go to
the mission field.
So often the Bible schools onlyworry about.
Well, one day maybe somebodywill go, he said.
But they ought to kindle themissionary passion in every man
(13:06):
that passes through.
I mean, these are great truths.
See, you got to get this book.
I'm giving you just a fewtidbits from the book that'll
honestly revolutionize your lifeand ministry.
It is one thing for a ministerto be an advocate and supporter
of missions.
It's another thing for him tounderstand that the chief end of
(13:29):
the church, the chief end ofhis congregation, for which it
exists, is world evangelism.
How we're going to get thegospel message of Jesus Christ
around the world he makesmention by the way, I'm just on
page 27 and I'm going to stopBecause I hope I have whet your
(13:53):
appetite but he says that theearly church did nothing that we
don't and can't do today.
We have everything they had.
So what's hindering us toevangelize the world in our
generation?
See, the church exists only forthe extending of the kingdom
and taking every member thatmust be trained to become a part
(14:16):
of it.
I love that.
So let the pastor learn andteach that all failure in caring
and giving and praying andliving for missions is owed to a
feeble, superficial spirituallife.
The reason our churches aren'tfull of vibrant missionary
desires is a feeble, superficialspiritual life on the part of
(14:36):
the pastor and on part of thechurch.
What a book.
The Key to the MissionaryProblem.
I hope you'll get a hold of thatbook, hope you'll make it a
part of who you are.
I hope you'll read it andreread it.
I have read it many times and Iwill read it again.
It is a tremendously importantbook.
Now I'd like to come back toyou again today with a little
(15:00):
gift, are you called?
And I can only give away fiveof these, and it has to be done
within a week, within seven days, of when the podcast comes out.
I'm in Peru currently.
Well, actually, I'm not in Peru, I'm in my office, but I'm
getting these all preparedbecause I will be so busy.
I'll be teaching for 24 hoursin the Bible College on the
(15:23):
finances and economy of thelocal church and a theology of
money and how to handle moneyfor our pastors, lord willing,
and then I will teach and preachin churches all over the city.
But I want to offer you thisfree book.
I will send it to you.
It's just a little booklet,just a handful of pages, but it
is a powerful checklist thatwill help you know if you're
(15:46):
prepared I'm talking to you,young person, by the way.
I'm talking to you, pastor.
You can use this to help thepeople in your church, to help
them know if God's dealing withthem, if they're prepared and if
they're on their way, and sothis is actually something that
I would use.
I do use and I have used for along time, and I'd like to
challenge you with that.
I'm so thankful that many youngmen are listening right now and
(16:08):
you are wondering where Godwants you involved and you're
wondering if you can fit in Well, if you will start praying for
the country of the week and ifyou'll start reading the Bible
and looking for these verses, ifyou'll continue listening to
this podcast and share it andlike it, if you'll learn more
and more about the books.
And then I want to talk to youabout the person of the week.
(16:29):
Oh, my goodness, oh my goodness, what a person of the week I
want to share with you today.
I just love this man to death.
I'm going to give you some ofhis quotes and then we'll tell
you some things about his life.
And you know I'm preparingthese ahead of time so that when
I come in I just got the notesready to share with you, because
(16:49):
I want to add value, I want tosee things change in life, and
John Paton wrote this Now hedied in 1907.
So I mean, we're talking about along time ago.
But he said as I lay down mypen let me record my immovable
conviction that this is thenoblest service in which any
human being can spend or bespent, and that if God gave me
(17:11):
back my life to be lived overagain, I would, without quiver
of hesitation, let on the altarto Christ that he might use it
as before in similar ministriesof love, especially among those
who have never heard the name ofJesus Christ.
He was a missionary to the NewHerbie Islands, to pagan
(17:32):
cannibalistic Indians We'll talkabout that a little bit more
and he said if I had it to doover, I'd do it again.
This is a guy you ought to readafter.
And he comes out of theReformed Church of Scotland.
What is really neat and what'sexciting for all you parents who
are listening to this his mamawas a praying woman and when she
(17:54):
would pray they would tremblebefore they'd enter in the room,
and three of her children wentinto the ministry.
For you, young people, as you'repreparing for ministry, as John
Paton got older and wanted todo something, he spent 10 years
working as a city missionary inthe neglected area of Glasgow.
He's Scottish, scotland, andhe's working in the city there.
(18:17):
And while he's doing that, hegets the invitation they're
looking for volunteers from hischurch, the Reformed
Presbyterian Church, to go tothe New Herbis Islands in the
South Seas, and so he decidesthat he will offer himself and
he will go.
So when he's 33 years old, hegets licensed to preach, gets
(18:39):
married to Mary Ann and headsout to the island of Tanna and
go there as a missionary.
When he got there, they werethe first white residents go
there as a missionary.
When he got there, they werethe first white residents.
It was an island full of naked,painted wild men, cannibals, and
they had no regard for humanlife at all, no sense of mutual
(19:00):
kindness or obligation.
But in the middle of all that,john Paton said nothing.
So clears the vision and liftsup the life as a decision to
move forward in what you know tobe entirely the will of God.
That's what I want you to findis entirely the will of God for
your life and what he'd have youto do.
Now, these people that he wentto were so deep into this
(19:26):
terrible lifestyle, prisoners toSatan, this terrible lifestyle,
prisoners to Satan, and theywere terrified of demons and
ghosts and evil spirits.
They were always fighting amongthemselves and Paton and his
wife wanted to take the gospelto them.
Now I'll just be honest.
These men that we look at andthat's something funny to say,
(19:49):
because you ought to always behonest, but these people we look
at were a class above most ofus that ever dreamed of being.
They had only been there alittle while and his child was
born and a few days later bothhis wife and his baby died.
Both his wife and his baby died.
(20:11):
Did he quit?
No, he did not quit, he stayed.
And within a year or so, acouple of years, they killed a
Canadian missionary and his wifeon another island, and that
really stirred everybody up towant to even get to him.
He lived in continual danger oflosing his life and they came
(20:38):
to his house ready to kill him.
One of the cannibals enteredthe house and the only thing he
knew to do was he raised anempty pistol and the guy in
cowardice fled.
He lived in constant danger.
Betty and I know what it's liketo have tragedy strike our
family.
We know what it's like to berobbed or attempted to be robbed
55 times in our first threeyears.
(21:00):
But these guys were a cut above.
Here's a quote this strength,this peace to feel and entering
on every day that all its dutiesand trials have been committed
to the lord jesus, that, comewhat may, he, god, will use us
for his own glory and our realgood.
(21:22):
Wow, what a statement.
Well, Paton got married againand it's a lady named Margaret
and she had literary ability andhe goes on to have two
daughters and three sons withher, and two of their sons will
become missionaries in the sameislands and another daughter
(21:43):
will marry a missionary.
And he lived such a crazy life.
I want you to get some of thebooks to study about him.
Just look him up on Google.
Go to Amazon and get some ofthe books to study about him.
Just look him up on Google, goto Amazon and buy some of those
books and learn about him livingin conditions and ways that
most of us would never, everdream.
(22:03):
He was always in danger, alwaystrusting God, always going
forward, always believing thatGod had a plan for him, always
going forward, always believingthat God had a plan for him.
Here's a quote At the moment Iput the bread and wine into
those dark hands, once stainedwith the blood of cannibalism,
now stretched out to receive andpartake of the emblems and
(22:24):
seals of the Redeemer's love.
I had a foretaste of the joy ofglory that will now broke my
heart to pieces.
I shall never taste a deeperbliss till I gaze on the
glorified face of Jesus himself.
He saw these horribly wickedpagans trust Christ, be saved,
(22:47):
baptized, and now they're takingthe Lord's Supper together
saved, baptized, and now they'retaking the Lord's Supper
together.
As he was dying, one of thekings came to him and he said I
want God's change my life.
And he said he said, men ofFortin, when you return, tell
(23:09):
your people how we of Anua havebeen changed.
As heathens we quarreled andkilled and ate each other.
We had no peace, no joy inheart or house or land.
Now Jehovah has changed all ourblack hearts and we live as
brethren in peace and happiness.
(23:29):
John Paton will die at the ageof 83 in Australia.
God is using people from allover the world, sometimes North
Americans, united Statescitizens.
We tend to think we're the onlypeople, but God's using people
from everywhere.
I was just talking to my friendthe other day and he was
talking about how there was aGerman who knew German and
(23:51):
English and spoke a triballanguage and spoke pidgin and he
said I never met a smarterperson serving as a missionary
in Papua New Guinea.
Before he died, john Paton saidif I die here in Glasgow, I
shall be eaten by worms.
If I can but live and dieserving the Lord Jesus, it will
make no difference to me whetherI'm eaten by cannibals or by
worms.
If I can but live and dieserving the Lord Jesus, it will
(24:12):
make no difference to me whetherI'm eaten by cannibals or by
worms, for the great day, myresurrection body will rise as
fair as yours, in the likenessof our Redeemer.
And what a man.
I just want to challenge you toget a hold of his material and
look into that.
Now.
I want to give you briefly andI want to help you.
(24:36):
I want to be a blessing to youand so quickly.
I would like to talk to thoseof you that are senders.
Your moms and dads are going toraise children to serve Jesus.
Your Sunday school teachers andpastors, you are disciplers,
and I just want to challenge youon how to be a better sender,
how to be a better yoke fellow,how to be in the ministry.
(24:59):
Now ministries are having atime of their life If they
really love Jesus.
You can listen to Paton and youcan see he had a blast and you
can see that he was enjoying ita blast and you can see that he
was enjoying it, and so I justwant to challenge you to take
this idea of you helping people.
I love this verse 1 Corinthians16, 15.
(25:23):
I beseech you, brethren, youknow the house of Stephanas,
that is the first fruits ofAchaia, that they have addicted
themselves, addicted themselvesto the ministry of the saints.
What a verse.
What a family.
And he said submit yourselvesto them and to everyone that
(25:48):
helps with us and labors.
And so this family is stayingin place, but they're helping
and they're laboring.
And he says you know whatthey're meeting needs.
He says in verse 17 that theyare providing that which was
lacking.
They've supplied.
And he says they have refreshedmy spirit.
So I just want to leave thatpart of the verse with you today
(26:08):
, and I want to say to you thatyou have the privilege of being
a part of world evangelism and apart of the ministry, and so I
want to challenge you with that.
I want to challenge you to help, I want to challenge you to
labor, I want to challenge youto refresh.
(26:28):
So spend some time with me,charities, find out exactly what
you can do and how you can doit, and let God help you with
that.
Now I come to the place maybemost close to my heart.
I want to talk to the youngpeople listening and I hope
you've been paying attention allthe way through this, but I
want to talk to you about how doyou get from where you are
(26:51):
right now to where God wants youto be and where God's leading
you to go, and I'm going to walkyou through over this week and
a couple of more weeks, somebasic steps towards world
evangelism.
Some steps towards worldevangelism.
Now, the first thing I want tosay to you is you got to be
absolutely sure of yoursalvation.
(27:13):
You've got to understand thisdoctrine.
It is the key doctrine, it'sthe most important thing.
Now I know you've been going tochurch, but many are just
cultural Christians.
You've not really trustedChrist.
You're not really sure thatyou're saved.
You couldn't explain whatsalvation is.
With some it's an emotionalthing.
It's like I cried and I prayed,but you haven't just trusted.
(27:38):
That's all it is is trust, it'sjust accepting the free gift of
God.
Some missionaries have gone tothe field and fallen into sin
because I'm afraid maybe theyweren't saved, weren't born
again.
Other missionaries have gottensaved while they're on the
mission field and I've knownthem that totally quit on God.
(27:58):
I've known young people that goto Bible college and work all
the way through Bible collegeand voted the number one student
and quit.
So I just want to leave youwith this.
Today is step number onetowards the mission field.
Bible says in 2 Peter 1, 10,.
Give diligence to make yourcalling and election sure, for
(28:21):
if you do these things you shallnever fall.
So you want to take the time tomake sure of your walk with God
.
In 2 Corinthians 13, 5, it saysexamine yourselves whether you
be in the faith and prove yourown selves, know your own selves
and know that Christ is in you.
So that's the goal and I wantto challenge you with that.
(28:42):
I want to challenge you to takesteps towards the mission field
, and the first one isdefinitely going to be knowing
that you are born again.
Now let me remind you and maybeI haven't explained it clearly I
want you to go to social mediaFacebook, linkedin, instagram or
Twitter, and I'm on all ofthose.
I'm not on TikTok, but thoseare the ones I am on.
(29:07):
And if you'll just give ashout-out to this little booklet
, excuse me.
Give the shout-out to thepodcast.
And if you'll just give a shoutout to this little booklet,
excuse me.
Give the shout out to thepodcast.
Give a shout out to the podcast.
Maybe share the title of it,the feed.
They can get on it on Apple orthey can get on this podcast
with Spotify.
Those are the two major ones,but we've put it on everything,
(29:30):
and so I want to help you and ifyou'll do that the first five
that do it then tag me that Isee I will send you a free
booklet.
I'll pay for the booklet, I'llpay for the shipping, I'll sign
it Not sure that's worth muchand I'll send you this little
booklet.
Are you called?
And it's a checklist.
So I just really want to thankyou for being with me and thank
(29:52):
you for helping me.
I want to raise awareness ofworld evangelism.
We need to get people excitedabout taking the gospel message.
Would you help me with that?
Would you help me withpromoting world evangelism?
That's what I'm asking you todo For Jesus' sake, not my sake.
God bless you all.
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Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!