April 17, 2024 • 17 mins
Have you ever pondered how the vast cultural tapestry of the United States impacts the mission of spreading the Gospel? Our latest episode takes you on a journey through the unique challenges and bountiful opportunities for evangelism within America's borders. With an eye on the diversity that defines this nation, we dissect how the wealth and resources at our disposal can magnify our efforts to fulfill the Great Commission. We offer prayers for our leaders and churches, and we confront the tension between cultural Christianity and the authentic message of Jesus, guided by the powerful narrative of Exodus 9. Discover the profound implications of God's sovereignty and His desire for His name to be proclaimed globally, amid a world teeming with man-made idols.
The path of a missionary is often misunderstood, paved with expectations and misconceptions. In this heart-to-heart, we extend a hand of understanding and grace to those brave souls, affirming that they are not just bearers of faith, but learners and nurturers amidst the fields of diverse cultures. We address the joys and pressures of their calling, the sustaining power of prayer, and the wisdom to be harvested from historical figures like Zinzendorf and transformative principles such as the Treasure Principle. Join us in a respectful and loving tribute to the missionaries and their supporters, as we underscore the importance of sowing the seeds of the Gospel with a spirit of joy and unity.
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.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I want to welcome you to the World Evangelism Podcast
, and we're on episode numberfour, and I am excited to watch
how God is slowly growing ourchannel.
I am here to help you, to blessyou, to add value to you,
because I want to help youinspire others and yourself
towards missions and help uslearn to empower others so that
(00:23):
we can all be doing whatever itis that God's called us to do to
get the gospel message of JesusChrist around the world.
I am excited because God lovesthe world, for God so loved the
world that he gave his onlybegotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should notperish.
So anybody can be saved, allcan be saved, because Jesus, god
(00:43):
loves the world and Jesus gavehis life.
So I come to you each week andI'm going through several
different things, and so todayI'll start with our country of
the week, and our country of theweek is the United States of
America.
Now, that may shock you,because this is a world
evangelism, but you know theUnited States is the third
largest country in the worldevangelism.
(01:05):
But you know, the United Statesis the third largest country in
the world and we have over 340million people living in our
country, 340 million people, andevery one of them are important
to Jesus.
What's really exciting is thereare currently 176 language
groups in our country, and thatmeans God has brought the
foreign world to the UnitedStates of America so we can
(01:29):
start Spanish churches, and well, what is it altogether?
Another what?
175 different language groups.
I have a friend working inChinese group, so it's just a
little bit of everything thatcan be done to get the gospel
message.
Our country is only 77.6%Christian.
These facts are these things.
(01:52):
I get them fromOperationWorldorg.
I challenge you to go there andlook them up.
Look up the country of theUnited States and you'll find
these statistics there.
Country of the United States,and you'll find these statistics
there.
28.9 percent under 29 percentare evangelical and our largest
religion is Christianity, but Ifear that much of it is cultural
(02:17):
Christianity.
I just saw where Dawkins madethe comment that he is a
cultural Christian, made thecomment that he is a cultural
Christian.
He's a cultural Christian, andhe said I don't believe one
thing they teach, but I preferliving where Christianity is at
least a part of the culture.
And so I would like to say toyou there are many cities that
(02:40):
have no gospel witnessed, orvery little per capita.
I would like to say to you thatthere are areas of our country
where we have stoppedevangelizing, stopped telling
people about Jesus.
Currently, operation World onlycounts at 2% of the United
States as being unevangelized,and people can get to the gospel
message here.
But we, at the same time, wewant to get everybody the gospel
(03:07):
.
The large cities of our countryneed the gospel and even some
rural areas need the gospel.
But you know, one of the thingsthat's most important about the
United States of America is Godhas given us wealth and God has
given us all the comforts whichwould allow us to have a major
part in getting the gospel tothe world.
(03:29):
So I want to ask you to prayfor the United States of America
.
Pray that the pastors andpreachers and teachers of the
true gospel would be blessed.
Pray that our churches wouldadvance, that others would hear
about Jesus.
Pray for the leadership in ourcountry that they would honor
God, that some of them would besaved and some would begin to
(03:51):
follow Jesus.
Pray for all these people thatare coming in from all over the
world.
It gives us a chance.
We didn't go to the field, soGod's bringing the field to us.
So I just want to challenge youto be involved in praying for
the United States of America.
That's our country of the day.
Now let me move with you to ourverse of the day, and it might
(04:12):
shock you, but I'm going to takeyou all the way back to the Old
Testament again.
We're going back to Exodus,chapter 9, and I want to read to
you the passage of Scripturefor today.
God is speaking to theEgyptians and he's going to tell
Pharaoh why he raised him up.
(04:32):
And he's going to tell Pharaohwhat he's doing in his country.
He's going to tell what he'sdoing with the nation of Israel,
and the goal will be that theentire world know about the one
and true and only God of all theuniverse, the God of heaven,
the creator God, the God thatmade the earth, the God that
loves everybody, the God whosacrificed himself, the God who
(04:54):
gives and doesn't take.
That's the God who wants hisname produced all over the world
.
He wants everybody to hear it.
The Bible says in Exodus 9 andverse 14, and I'll put some of
this in Tennessee Hillbilly foryou.
But it says For I will, at thistime, send all my plagues upon
thine heart, I'm going to put myplagues on your heart and on
your servants and on your people.
And this is what he says.
(05:15):
That put my plagues on yourheart and on your servants and
on your people.
And this is what he said.
That thou mayest know.
There's none like me and allthe Pharaohs, so you will know,
there's no other God like me.
I am the only God.
He will destroy all the falsegods, all the man-made gods.
He will bring all of nature andeverything else to heal and say
I am God Because there's onlyone God, everything else to heal
(05:39):
, and say I am God Becausethere's only one God.
India has over 300 million gods, but there's only one true God.
Man wants to know God.
He makes up religions, but Godloves and sends Jesus to die.
So in verse 15, he stretchesout his hand and he sends all
that.
He smites the people and hesends pestilence and he says
you're going to be cut off,you're going to die, pharaoh.
(05:59):
Then he says, and in very deedthis is verse 16, for this cause
have I raised you up?
This is why I raised you up toshow in you, in thee, my power,
that my name may be declaredthroughout all the earth.
God wanted the whole world tohear the name of Jesus Christ.
(06:20):
God wanted everyone to knowthat God, the Creator, god is
the only God, and so we don'tserve today in world evangelism,
because that's a New Testamentidea.
It was prior to the nation ofIsrael, it was the nation of
Israel and it is for us today.
So I challenge you to be ableto look up for those verses
(06:42):
where God says I want my namedeclared to the whole world
because God is in the building,the name of Jesus ministry.
That's one of the things he isat work doing all over the world
.
So I hope you'll get involved inthat and, as you read your
Bible, be on the lookout forthose verses.
I'd be glad to have you send mesome.
Maybe I'll miss some, and soyou can pick some up for me.
(07:03):
Now I've shown you the countryof the day, the United States,
and I've given you the verse ofthe day, exodus 9, verses 14
through 16.
And now what I'd like to do istake you over to the book of the
day or the week the TreasurePrinciple by Randy Alcorn.
(07:26):
The Treasure Principle by RandyAlcorn.
I won't be able to show youevery book all the time because
a lot of my books are involvedin a Bible software program I
use called Logos, and that'swhere I read a lot.
But this is a life-changing book.
It's a book that ought to beread in your home with your
family.
It's a book that every husbandand wife ought to read.
It's a book that ought to bediscussed in every Sunday school
class.
It says here, right on thefront, unlocking the Secret of
(07:50):
Joyful Giving.
God called his people to begenerous, and we're to be a
generous people and we're togive.
There's only six short chapters.
This is a small book.
The dimensions of the book aresmall, it's only 120 pages long
and it's going to take you allthe way through your attitude so
that you will learn to be agiver and give from your heart.
(08:11):
And then it's got questionsthat you can ask God here in the
back about giving.
So it's a tremendous book.
That's the book of the week Now, when you become generous,
you'll support your local churchand you'll help them do the
ministry where they are, becausewe've got to reach our
communities.
After all, our country today isthe United States and your
church is probably located thereor wherever you are in the
(08:32):
world.
Your church needs yourfinancial support.
Whether you're in Great Britainor whether you're in Kenya,
whether you're in the Ukraine,you're going to need your local
church to do its job, and then,after that, you can give above
and beyond to get the gospelmessage around the world through
your missions program.
I want to challenge you to dothat Now.
Let me take you to thehistorical person of the week.
(08:55):
Each week I try to bringsomebody to you.
You've probably heard of mostof them, but I want to bring
some things to you that would beof interest, and so today I
want to bring to you Zinzendorf,count Nicholas Ludwig von
Zinzendorf.
And he was born into a richfamily.
He was called a nobleman, butJesus saved him and burdened him
(09:18):
and worked in his heart, and hebecame greatly involved in the
cause of world evangelism.
He helped send out missionaries, he was a primary helper and
protector of the Moravians.
He was a part of forming theGrain of Mustard Seed Society,
the Society of the Grain ofMustard Seed, or the Order of
(09:39):
the Grain of Mustard Seed, andhe said that God had taught him
to love the whole human family.
Now, what was interesting?
He wasn't really thatinterested in missions until he
met a converted African slave,and that African slave talked to
him about Jesus and the world,and so the very next thing he
(10:01):
does is motivate his people tosend missionaries out to these
islands and then out to Africaand to all the world.
Now, his life motto was I haveone passion.
It is he and he alone.
Now I want you to write thatdown.
Listen to that.
(10:26):
I have one passion.
It is he and he alone.
This was a great time in worldevangelism history.
They had one missionary forevery 92 members of their local
church in the Moravians.
Now, you know everybody whenyou look at them from the, you
know, from our perspective today, we can see the good.
There's also one big mistakethat he made, and that mistake
was that they often pursuedgetting the gospel of the world
(10:50):
to the expense of wife andchildren, even leaving their
wives and children behind andgoing off and doing things, and
so I would challenge you thatthat is never who we want to be.
Now I have added a couple ofthings to our podcast that I
want to bring to you, and so thefirst one is I want to talk to
(11:12):
you about a challenge to oursenders, to our supporters, to
people that help the gospelmessage go forward.
So I want you to know somethings that missionaries are
feeling so you can pray for thembetter, love them more and be
more open and transparent withthem.
Did you know that they oftenfeel a constant need to prove
(11:35):
themselves?
It's kind of like maybe youdoubt them and you don't believe
in them and if they don't seeenough people saved, if they
don't see enough churchesstarted, they think maybe you
won't love and respect them.
They have this need to say I amworth the money you're giving
me.
We need to help them with that.
So, just to be honest with you,all they can do is serve God,
(11:59):
and you'll hear what I say tothem about this in a minute.
But I hope you'll never be apart of putting undue pressure
on our missionaries.
Another thing is they fear yourreactions to their life on the
mission field.
They're afraid to let you know.
You do realize that amissionary just moves from one
place to another.
So you might understand that ifyou move from the suburbs of
(12:22):
Atlanta, georgia, to the suburbsof Philadelphia, or if you
moved to Los Angeles or Chicagoor Birmingham, you might
understand it.
But when a missionary moves.
They move into a house and theywant to have all the comforts
anybody else would want to have.
They want to have nicefurniture.
They want to have all thethings that you would want to
have.
Missionaries don't live inthatched huts with dirt floors
(12:44):
very rarely.
If it happens, and I don'tthink it ever needs to happen
but they're afraid.
So if they post on social mediawe went out to a restaurant or
I'm a member of the gym or thisis what my family's eating some
people get real judgmental.
I just want to challenge younot to put that pressure on them
, and I think they'd all wantyou to know they're not super
(13:07):
saints.
They don't any of them considerthemselves to be super saints.
They're not super saints.
They're just people like youthat love Jesus and God is
working in their lives to helpthem carry the gospel message
around the world.
So I hope you can take that andsee what it's worth and maybe
let that be a part of how yourelate to missionaries.
Don't make them feel like theyhave to prove themselves.
(13:29):
Don't put them under amicroscope watching the way they
live.
Don't be highly critical ifthey post something on Facebook
where it seems like they'reenjoying it.
Sometimes it's people arealmost like you acted like you
enjoy being a missionary andyou're not supposed to.
Well, I think they really areand remember, they're just
people like you, they're notsuper saints.
Then I'd like to say a word tothe missionaries that might
(13:50):
listen, and I hope you arelistening and will spread this,
but I want you to know that youmight just imagine too much
about what they're thinking.
I just spoke to them and I wantto speak to you, and sometimes
missionaries it's like I don'tknow if it's the devil or self
or your negative, critical selfspeaking to you, but you begin
(14:13):
to think that everybody'sjudging you.
I don't think that's reallytrue.
To be honest with you, theydon't think about you as much as
you might like to think they do.
They don't think negatively orpositively, and I don't think
about you as much as you mightlike to think they do.
They don't think negatively orpositively and I don't think
they're really trying to makeyou start that church as quickly
as you think or produce numbersor get out into some kind of
(14:34):
fake it till you make it setting.
I had missionaries come to meand say can I take pictures of
your work so I can present them,because they felt like churches
would judge them.
Don't fall into that trap.
Then I'd like to say to you toget your expectations in check,
live where you are and get ridof the what would you call it
(14:54):
the emotional side of missions,or where you read about it in
books and all that Remember.
I told my wife more than oneoccasion how great these
missionaries were, and she saidwell, when I write a book about
you, it'll be great about you.
And I know she's not going towrite a book, but there you go.
The whole point is, maybe youhave a romantic view of the
(15:16):
mission field.
Get your expectations in check.
Your job is to sow the seed,water the seed, and it is God
who will give the increase.
And you're not expected to beGod, you're not expected to
build a church.
It's God who builds a church.
Yes, he'll use you, but maybeyou're putting undue pressure on
yourself.
(15:36):
And then I want to remind youthat every man is your teacher.
God is going to use thatnational brother to help you
learn the culture, help youlearn the language.
Don't be so defensive.
Let people help you.
That senior missionary that canseem to be cranky and pushy,
maybe just loves you and wantsto help you.
So would you just at leastconsider that and take that into
(15:58):
account and think that maybepeople are trying to help you
and it might help you have amore productive ministry that I
know you want to have.
Man, I love all of you.
I am so excited that you get tobe a part, and I want to remind
you to pray for the country ofthe week, the United States, and
consider Old Testament versesabout world evangelism.
Get your copy.
(16:19):
Get your copy of the TreasurePrinciple.
I'm showing it to you right nowon YouTube.
Get your copy of the TreasurePrinciple.
I'm showing it to you right nowon YouTube.
Get your copy of it and thenstudy Zinzendorf.
His name will be in the notesso you can look him up if you're
on YouTube or if you're on mywebsite for the podcast.
And then, mr Aries, I love youand I just want to help you.
And supporters, I love you.
(16:39):
So, goers, you're loved andrespected.
Senders, you're loved andrespected.
We have a great deal to do forJesus.
Let's do it with joy in ourhearts, because Jesus loves us,
he loves the world and you'renot on your own.
He's doing a work through you.
God bless you.
Thank you for listening to theWorld Evangelism Podcast with
your host, alistair Gardner, andI pray that you will get help
(17:02):
and that you will.
I want to welcome you to the World Evangelism Podcast
, and we're on episode numberfour, and I am excited to watch
how God is slowly growing ourchannel.
I am here to help you, to blessyou, to add value to you,
because I want to help youinspire others and yourself
towards missions and help uslearn to empower others so that
(00:23):
we can all be doing whatever itis that God's called us to do to
get the gospel message of JesusChrist around the world.
I am excited because God lovesthe world, for God so loved the
world that he gave his onlybegotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should notperish.
So anybody can be saved, allcan be saved, because Jesus, god
(00:43):
loves the world and Jesus gavehis life.
So I come to you each week andI'm going through several
different things, and so todayI'll start with our country of
the week, and our country of theweek is the United States of
America.
Now, that may shock you,because this is a world
evangelism, but you know theUnited States is the third
largest country in the worldevangelism.
(01:05):
But you know, the United Statesis the third largest country in
the world and we have over 340million people living in our
country, 340 million people, andevery one of them are important
to Jesus.
What's really exciting is thereare currently 176 language
groups in our country, and thatmeans God has brought the
foreign world to the UnitedStates of America so we can
(01:29):
start Spanish churches, and well, what is it altogether?
Another what?
175 different language groups.
I have a friend working inChinese group, so it's just a
little bit of everything thatcan be done to get the gospel
message.
Our country is only 77.6%Christian.
These facts are these things.
(01:52):
I get them fromOperationWorldorg.
I challenge you to go there andlook them up.
Look up the country of theUnited States and you'll find
these statistics there.
Country of the United States,and you'll find these statistics
there.
28.9 percent under 29 percentare evangelical and our largest
religion is Christianity, but Ifear that much of it is cultural
(02:17):
Christianity.
I just saw where Dawkins madethe comment that he is a
cultural Christian, made thecomment that he is a cultural
Christian.
He's a cultural Christian, andhe said I don't believe one
thing they teach, but I preferliving where Christianity is at
least a part of the culture.
And so I would like to say toyou there are many cities that
(02:40):
have no gospel witnessed, orvery little per capita.
I would like to say to you thatthere are areas of our country
where we have stoppedevangelizing, stopped telling
people about Jesus.
Currently, operation World onlycounts at 2% of the United
States as being unevangelized,and people can get to the gospel
message here.
But we, at the same time, wewant to get everybody the gospel
(03:07):
.
The large cities of our countryneed the gospel and even some
rural areas need the gospel.
But you know, one of the thingsthat's most important about the
United States of America is Godhas given us wealth and God has
given us all the comforts whichwould allow us to have a major
part in getting the gospel tothe world.
(03:29):
So I want to ask you to prayfor the United States of America
.
Pray that the pastors andpreachers and teachers of the
true gospel would be blessed.
Pray that our churches wouldadvance, that others would hear
about Jesus.
Pray for the leadership in ourcountry that they would honor
God, that some of them would besaved and some would begin to
(03:51):
follow Jesus.
Pray for all these people thatare coming in from all over the
world.
It gives us a chance.
We didn't go to the field, soGod's bringing the field to us.
So I just want to challenge youto be involved in praying for
the United States of America.
That's our country of the day.
Now let me move with you to ourverse of the day, and it might
(04:12):
shock you, but I'm going to takeyou all the way back to the Old
Testament again.
We're going back to Exodus,chapter 9, and I want to read to
you the passage of Scripturefor today.
God is speaking to theEgyptians and he's going to tell
Pharaoh why he raised him up.
(04:32):
And he's going to tell Pharaohwhat he's doing in his country.
He's going to tell what he'sdoing with the nation of Israel,
and the goal will be that theentire world know about the one
and true and only God of all theuniverse, the God of heaven,
the creator God, the God thatmade the earth, the God that
loves everybody, the God whosacrificed himself, the God who
(04:54):
gives and doesn't take.
That's the God who wants hisname produced all over the world
.
He wants everybody to hear it.
The Bible says in Exodus 9 andverse 14, and I'll put some of
this in Tennessee Hillbilly foryou.
But it says For I will, at thistime, send all my plagues upon
thine heart, I'm going to put myplagues on your heart and on
your servants and on your people.
And this is what he says.
(05:15):
That put my plagues on yourheart and on your servants and
on your people.
And this is what he said.
That thou mayest know.
There's none like me and allthe Pharaohs, so you will know,
there's no other God like me.
I am the only God.
He will destroy all the falsegods, all the man-made gods.
He will bring all of nature andeverything else to heal and say
I am God Because there's onlyone God, everything else to heal
(05:39):
, and say I am God Becausethere's only one God.
India has over 300 million gods, but there's only one true God.
Man wants to know God.
He makes up religions, but Godloves and sends Jesus to die.
So in verse 15, he stretchesout his hand and he sends all
that.
He smites the people and hesends pestilence and he says
you're going to be cut off,you're going to die, pharaoh.
(05:59):
Then he says, and in very deedthis is verse 16, for this cause
have I raised you up?
This is why I raised you up toshow in you, in thee, my power,
that my name may be declaredthroughout all the earth.
God wanted the whole world tohear the name of Jesus Christ.
(06:20):
God wanted everyone to knowthat God, the Creator, god is
the only God, and so we don'tserve today in world evangelism,
because that's a New Testamentidea.
It was prior to the nation ofIsrael, it was the nation of
Israel and it is for us today.
So I challenge you to be ableto look up for those verses
(06:42):
where God says I want my namedeclared to the whole world
because God is in the building,the name of Jesus ministry.
That's one of the things he isat work doing all over the world
.
So I hope you'll get involved inthat and, as you read your
Bible, be on the lookout forthose verses.
I'd be glad to have you send mesome.
Maybe I'll miss some, and soyou can pick some up for me.
(07:03):
Now I've shown you the countryof the day, the United States,
and I've given you the verse ofthe day, exodus 9, verses 14
through 16.
And now what I'd like to do istake you over to the book of the
day or the week the TreasurePrinciple by Randy Alcorn.
(07:26):
The Treasure Principle by RandyAlcorn.
I won't be able to show youevery book all the time because
a lot of my books are involvedin a Bible software program I
use called Logos, and that'swhere I read a lot.
But this is a life-changing book.
It's a book that ought to beread in your home with your
family.
It's a book that every husbandand wife ought to read.
It's a book that ought to bediscussed in every Sunday school
class.
It says here, right on thefront, unlocking the Secret of
(07:50):
Joyful Giving.
God called his people to begenerous, and we're to be a
generous people and we're togive.
There's only six short chapters.
This is a small book.
The dimensions of the book aresmall, it's only 120 pages long
and it's going to take you allthe way through your attitude so
that you will learn to be agiver and give from your heart.
(08:11):
And then it's got questionsthat you can ask God here in the
back about giving.
So it's a tremendous book.
That's the book of the week Now, when you become generous,
you'll support your local churchand you'll help them do the
ministry where they are, becausewe've got to reach our
communities.
After all, our country today isthe United States and your
church is probably located thereor wherever you are in the
(08:32):
world.
Your church needs yourfinancial support.
Whether you're in Great Britainor whether you're in Kenya,
whether you're in the Ukraine,you're going to need your local
church to do its job, and then,after that, you can give above
and beyond to get the gospelmessage around the world through
your missions program.
I want to challenge you to dothat Now.
Let me take you to thehistorical person of the week.
(08:55):
Each week I try to bringsomebody to you.
You've probably heard of mostof them, but I want to bring
some things to you that would beof interest, and so today I
want to bring to you Zinzendorf,count Nicholas Ludwig von
Zinzendorf.
And he was born into a richfamily.
He was called a nobleman, butJesus saved him and burdened him
(09:18):
and worked in his heart, and hebecame greatly involved in the
cause of world evangelism.
He helped send out missionaries, he was a primary helper and
protector of the Moravians.
He was a part of forming theGrain of Mustard Seed Society,
the Society of the Grain ofMustard Seed, or the Order of
(09:39):
the Grain of Mustard Seed, andhe said that God had taught him
to love the whole human family.
Now, what was interesting?
He wasn't really thatinterested in missions until he
met a converted African slave,and that African slave talked to
him about Jesus and the world,and so the very next thing he
(10:01):
does is motivate his people tosend missionaries out to these
islands and then out to Africaand to all the world.
Now, his life motto was I haveone passion.
It is he and he alone.
Now I want you to write thatdown.
Listen to that.
(10:26):
I have one passion.
It is he and he alone.
This was a great time in worldevangelism history.
They had one missionary forevery 92 members of their local
church in the Moravians.
Now, you know everybody whenyou look at them from the, you
know, from our perspective today, we can see the good.
There's also one big mistakethat he made, and that mistake
was that they often pursuedgetting the gospel of the world
(10:50):
to the expense of wife andchildren, even leaving their
wives and children behind andgoing off and doing things, and
so I would challenge you thatthat is never who we want to be.
Now I have added a couple ofthings to our podcast that I
want to bring to you, and so thefirst one is I want to talk to
(11:12):
you about a challenge to oursenders, to our supporters, to
people that help the gospelmessage go forward.
So I want you to know somethings that missionaries are
feeling so you can pray for thembetter, love them more and be
more open and transparent withthem.
Did you know that they oftenfeel a constant need to prove
(11:35):
themselves?
It's kind of like maybe youdoubt them and you don't believe
in them and if they don't seeenough people saved, if they
don't see enough churchesstarted, they think maybe you
won't love and respect them.
They have this need to say I amworth the money you're giving
me.
We need to help them with that.
So, just to be honest with you,all they can do is serve God,
(11:59):
and you'll hear what I say tothem about this in a minute.
But I hope you'll never be apart of putting undue pressure
on our missionaries.
Another thing is they fear yourreactions to their life on the
mission field.
They're afraid to let you know.
You do realize that amissionary just moves from one
place to another.
So you might understand that ifyou move from the suburbs of
(12:22):
Atlanta, georgia, to the suburbsof Philadelphia, or if you
moved to Los Angeles or Chicagoor Birmingham, you might
understand it.
But when a missionary moves.
They move into a house and theywant to have all the comforts
anybody else would want to have.
They want to have nicefurniture.
They want to have all thethings that you would want to
have.
Missionaries don't live inthatched huts with dirt floors
(12:44):
very rarely.
If it happens, and I don'tthink it ever needs to happen
but they're afraid.
So if they post on social mediawe went out to a restaurant or
I'm a member of the gym or thisis what my family's eating some
people get real judgmental.
I just want to challenge younot to put that pressure on them
, and I think they'd all wantyou to know they're not super
(13:07):
saints.
They don't any of them considerthemselves to be super saints.
They're not super saints.
They're just people like youthat love Jesus and God is
working in their lives to helpthem carry the gospel message
around the world.
So I hope you can take that andsee what it's worth and maybe
let that be a part of how yourelate to missionaries.
Don't make them feel like theyhave to prove themselves.
(13:29):
Don't put them under amicroscope watching the way they
live.
Don't be highly critical ifthey post something on Facebook
where it seems like they'reenjoying it.
Sometimes it's people arealmost like you acted like you
enjoy being a missionary andyou're not supposed to.
Well, I think they really areand remember, they're just
people like you, they're notsuper saints.
Then I'd like to say a word tothe missionaries that might
(13:50):
listen, and I hope you arelistening and will spread this,
but I want you to know that youmight just imagine too much
about what they're thinking.
I just spoke to them and I wantto speak to you, and sometimes
missionaries it's like I don'tknow if it's the devil or self
or your negative, critical selfspeaking to you, but you begin
(14:13):
to think that everybody'sjudging you.
I don't think that's reallytrue.
To be honest with you, theydon't think about you as much as
you might like to think they do.
They don't think negatively orpositively, and I don't think
about you as much as you mightlike to think they do.
They don't think negatively orpositively and I don't think
they're really trying to makeyou start that church as quickly
as you think or produce numbersor get out into some kind of
(14:34):
fake it till you make it setting.
I had missionaries come to meand say can I take pictures of
your work so I can present them,because they felt like churches
would judge them.
Don't fall into that trap.
Then I'd like to say to you toget your expectations in check,
live where you are and get ridof the what would you call it
(14:54):
the emotional side of missions,or where you read about it in
books and all that Remember.
I told my wife more than oneoccasion how great these
missionaries were, and she saidwell, when I write a book about
you, it'll be great about you.
And I know she's not going towrite a book, but there you go.
The whole point is, maybe youhave a romantic view of the
(15:16):
mission field.
Get your expectations in check.
Your job is to sow the seed,water the seed, and it is God
who will give the increase.
And you're not expected to beGod, you're not expected to
build a church.
It's God who builds a church.
Yes, he'll use you, but maybeyou're putting undue pressure on
yourself.
(15:36):
And then I want to remind youthat every man is your teacher.
God is going to use thatnational brother to help you
learn the culture, help youlearn the language.
Don't be so defensive.
Let people help you.
That senior missionary that canseem to be cranky and pushy,
maybe just loves you and wantsto help you.
So would you just at leastconsider that and take that into
(15:58):
account and think that maybepeople are trying to help you
and it might help you have amore productive ministry that I
know you want to have.
Man, I love all of you.
I am so excited that you get tobe a part, and I want to remind
you to pray for the country ofthe week, the United States, and
consider Old Testament versesabout world evangelism.
Get your copy.
(16:19):
Get your copy of the TreasurePrinciple.
I'm showing it to you right nowon YouTube.
Get your copy of the TreasurePrinciple.
I'm showing it to you right nowon YouTube.
Get your copy of it and thenstudy Zinzendorf.
His name will be in the notesso you can look him up if you're
on YouTube or if you're on mywebsite for the podcast.
And then, mr Aries, I love youand I just want to help you.
And supporters, I love you.
(16:39):
So, goers, you're loved andrespected.
Senders, you're loved andrespected.
We have a great deal to do forJesus.
Let's do it with joy in ourhearts, because Jesus loves us,
he loves the world and you'renot on your own.
He's doing a work through you.
God bless you.
Thank you for listening to theWorld Evangelism Podcast with
your host, alistair Gardner, andI pray that you will get help
(17:02):
and that you will.
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