Mark Gillmore: All right, Papua New Guinea is a land of rugged mountains, fertile valleys, tropical coastlands, and God is working in this country. In fact, groups of believers, bodies of believers all throughout are there because of missionary labor. And I just spent six months in this country.

So I want to show you a little bit of what God’s doing. One of the most famous images of P&G comes from an area called Asaro. And we spent two months here.

And it is the Asaro Mudmen. Has anyone ever seen this kind of being, this kind of picture? Anyone here?

Okay, a few of you, the rest of you just live in Wisconsin, maybe. All right. And in a period of intertribal war, the Asaro warriors coated their bodies in ghastly gray clay and silently stalked their enemies.

A little bit like this. I’ll cover him up just a little bit so no one’s uncomfortable here. And here we have one of these Asaro warriors coming at us.

Yeah. And the thing is, their strategy actually worked. Their enemies thought they were some ghostly dead ancestors, and they fled, and they won their war.

So it was a good strategy. We made friends with a couple of these folks. these.

They wanted to show us a little bit of their culture. There’s actually a couple folks in the church that we were at. Well, the strategy worked and the enemy fled. Well, our team decided

to try the very same strategy. So here it is, Daniel’s 21st birthday. The church provided the cake, and if the Gillmore’s are present, of course, we’re going to provide the ice cream. And so we got four of these like cardboard five gallon ice cream pails and we served them to the people and wow were they ever were they ever excited well as the afternoon wore on the heat melted in the bottom

of those ice cream boxes there was just this remaining goop and so one of our team members decided that he would take the Asaro tradition and put a new angle on it. And he became the Asaro ice cream mud man. And you know what? If you see that little girl in the picture there, I think it actually

worked. I don’t know whether our enemies were afraid, but our friends were, evidently. that day.

Well, God has given us a strategy. Turn with me to Mark chapter 6, Mark 6, and while you’re turning there, I want to tell you a little bit more about the opportunity and the need in P&G. Here, I’ve got up on the screen here a map. I’m going to show it to you a couple of times, but I sat down with the missionary, and he circled this area out

just of a Google map, and he said, this area here is still unreached. This area here, I know it, I know how to get there, and no one’s there. It’s still waiting. And really, God’s heart is for the

unreached regions of the world. Jesus, when he was here, he went through all the villages of Galilee, and Judea, and Samaria. And then the book of Acts is about regions being reached so that we reach every creature.

And we’re encouraged because in these regions, God’s word gives us confidence. There’s two types of people that are living there. One are what I call prepared listeners. That’s

like the woman at the well. Someone who we can interact with, engage, who’s actually ready to hear the gospel. The white harvest. Ready means that I don’t, I’m not there, I don’t have to argue with them, they actually are ready to hear their white, they’re prepared, and if I get there,

God will intersect me with their lives. And Romans 15, Paul said, those who’ve never heard, they will understand. So that’s the prepared listener, but there’s also the prepared leader. The prepared leader is the one who will actually take over and become the leader of the new group

of believers, the new church that’s planted in that region. We find that throughout Paul’s story there in the book of Acts. Paul himself was on the road to Damascus, chosen to be that leader.

Timothy, on Paul’s first missionary journey into his second missionary journey, became that leader. And the Holy Spirit gives us those very gifts in the harvest. So we’re encouraged that God has a heart for the unreached regions. And as we go, we’ll find the prepared listeners, the prepared

leaders. And so what’s, actually, what’s missing then? If it’s all there, what’s missing? Going,

right? We just got to go. And it is almost that simple. So we came and encouraged this group of

church, Passover Baptist Church, this group of believers. And we went on one day back in late late January with them and we walked over nine miles that day and so we began the day walking down this road. Brother Kyagi preached in one of the villages and then at the end of the day we were kind of waiting for at a pickup place and I just went over to this particular little shed, kind of a little someone selling something and I just

began to witness to this group and at the end of it I kind of noticed that maybe the guy in the center, I was just saying, Holy Spirit, where are you working? And I, it just seemed like that man was listening. So this man, Lawrence, actually made a professional faith in front of that group right at that moment. Well, we stayed there waiting for the ride

for another half hour to an hour. And just over that over to the other side was another large waiting shed. And Jonathan began to preach being interpreted into the pigeon by Namo, the man next to him here. And they

preached in that setting there. And at the end of that, several indicated faith in Christ. One is this man, Webke.

And then a second person was this lady, Salome. Come to find out they’re all brothers and sisters. They live on that corner.

So we began to meet with him. And just a few, a couple weeks later, I was able to be present for one of the meetings. And this was right behind that place.

Webke’s the one who’s got his hand in the air. And all these people have gathered. They’re his friends.

They’re his neighbors. We didn’t make that gathering happen, and he gathered them. And that day, they were just hungry to learn the word of God.

It’s eight months. It’s eight months since that day. And I just texted and asked what’s happening.

They’re actually digging the post holes for a church building on that corner in that area. So what happened that day? What did God do that day? Well, we actually were obeying Christ’s commission, Christ’s command to go, and he made disciples, and he’s planning a church, and that is really, that’s our mission, to go preach the gospel and get to every place,

and folks, there’s still some places that are waiting. People right now, a lifetime investment is waiting. Someone just has to go. In another passage of Scripture parallel to Mark 6 is another moment where the Lord is sending out, similar to Mark 6, the Lord’s sending out His disciples,

and it’s on the screen there. Look at this statement. After these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also and sent them to and to before His face in every city and place.

What’s the next phrase? Whither He Himself would come. I love that statement because what it says is, Jesus intends to get to the place, but he has to have us get there in order for him to get there. Jesus literally wants to traverse every village, every mountain on this planet,

and he can’t do it without, apart from my body and yours. And when we go, we actually give Jesus the desire of his heart to get to every place. Okay, now let’s look here at this passage in Mark chapter 6.

Mark chapter 6, beginning in, well, I’m just going to start at verse 5. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And he marveled because of their what?

What keeps Jesus from his greater works? Unbelief. May we not be guilty of that, although we are, we all can be.

Let’s ask God to dismiss that from our lives. end of verse 6, and he went round about the villages teaching 7, and he called unto him the 12 and began to send them forth by two and two and he gave them power over unclean spirits and he commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only, no script, no bread, no money in their purse but be shod with sandals and not put on two coats

and he said unto them, in what place soever ye enter into a house there abide till ye depart from that place and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you when you depart then shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. And 12, they went out and preached that men should repent.

And they cast out many devils and anointed with oil, many that were sick and healed them. Verse 30, jumping down to verse 30, and the apostles gathered themselves together in Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. Let’s pray. Lord, as we look at your word, I pray that you’d speak individually to the lives of these young people a number of things we’re going to say, but

our saying it means nothing. Your Holy Spirit’s saying it means everything. And I pray that you would impress specific thoughts and truth upon lives of each individual.

We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. In this passage, Jesus is giving specific instructions for his disciples as they go out on gospel mission. And I want to give you

the summary of this instructions with seven instructions from Christ. And if you and I are going to be on gospel mission with Jesus, we must understand and follow these instructions. Here’s the first one.

Number one, go in the authority of Christ. If you’ll notice verse seven at the end of says, as he sends them, he gave them power over unclean spirits. Power is the word authority.

You know, there’s a lot of authorities in our world today. What’s the highest one? What’s the highest one?

The authority of Jesus Christ. He sits on the throne of the universe. You say, well, man, I would be afraid to go to that place.

I’d be afraid to go to that country. I’d be afraid to go to that region. I’d be afraid to go to that, you know, to we have in mind, well, there’s people who will oppose my going. I want you to know

there’s one person who stands behind your going, and he has all authority. Like, you, you have all authority to open your mouth and speak the gospel. Isn’t that exciting?

You’re not weak. You’re actually backed up by the throne of the universe. You say, man, there’s so many crazy things.

I want you to know that God rules the nations. The different figures in the government, God is using all authorities, but who’s in control of all those authorities? Our Savior is. And he literally is extending this time

to get the gospel to more people. So when you say, I am going to give the gospel to this region, to this neighborhood, to my school, to wherever you are, you’re actually in tune with the one who has the greatest authority, and that’s exactly why he’s given us this time. You have the authority. And God gave in his great commission, Matthew 28,

all power, all authority is given unto me, so go. What an encouragement. Jesus distributes his authority through obedient disciples on mission. When you step out in this mission,

you step into the flow of divine authority. In Acts 4, a familiar story where the disciples are threatened. Acts 4 says this, and they said, That it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they should speak henceforth to no man in this name. They called them and commanded them not to speak at all,

nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, And whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge you. For we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard.

And they had a prayer meeting. And in that prayer meeting they say, Lord, behold their threatenings. Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word.

And they did. Amen? That’s how we respond.

Jesus has the authority. He gives unto the keys of the kingdom. So, number one, go in the authority of Christ.

Secondly, preach the good news. Preach the good news. Look at verse 12.

And they went out and preached that men should repent. That phrase does not give the full content of their message, but their message was declaring the good news. In Romans chapter 1, Paul said, As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

So for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. You know what? All we have to do is literally get the gospel out. At the end of Mark 6, Jesus says,

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The end of that passage, Mark 16. So then after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven, and he sat on the right hand of God.

There’s the authority. And they went forth, and they preached everywhere. How many of you know about Jesus?

How many of you know what he did? How many of you know that he died? How many of you know that he rose again? How many of you know that he’s the Son of God,

the Son of Man who came? How many of you know that? You know there’s a lot of regions of the world that don’t know that? What did your knowledge,

how did that change your life? I think of Brother Victor’s testimony just earlier. Three days, three services after attending a gospel church, he’s saved and his life has changed.

Has your life changed? Because someone, because you heard. Literally, Jesus doesn’t want anyone to die without hearing. get to the far corners of the earth announce that god loved you so much he sent his own son who died paid the penalty for your sin you don’t have to suffer in judgment you don’t have to go through all those religious rituals there is a savior his name is jesus salvation is not a plan it’s a person

and he loves you and he died for you and rose again and you receive him by simple faith but not by rituals not by all the things that happen in a church and all the false christianity that’s around the world, just go preach the gospel. Amen? Can you do that?

Can you do that to your neighbors? Can you do that in your school? Can you preach the gospel?

It’s a simple mission, really. There is no greater privilege on earth than bringing the good news to those who otherwise would never have heard it. It’s the greatest privilege on earth.

So, number one, go in the authority of Christ. Number two, preach the good news. Number three, engage spiritual warfare.

Engage spiritual warfare. In verse 7, excuse me, actually in verse 12 here, in verse 12, it says, and they cast out, and preach that, mention repentant, verse 13, and they cast out many devils, and And so there was dealing with devils. And of course, this goes back to at the end of verse 7, actually.

Excuse me. The screen is actually correct. At the end of verse 7, he says he gave them power over unclean spirits.

And in verse 13, they cast out many devils. Folks, do you know that there is someone who doesn’t want people to hear and understand the gospel? The gospel is an amazing message.

It’s so clear. It’s so simple. And we announce it and our hearts exult. but do you realize that you can preach that gospel in front of some other lost person,

and they don’t even get what was heard, what was said? They don’t see it. In fact, the Bible says that if our gospel be hid, it’s hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, whose image should shine unto them. So whenever we step out into gospel mission,

we always encounter spiritual opposition, always. It’s coming. There is someone who opposes what you are doing, and the Bible tells us we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against what? Principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world,

spiritual wickedness in high places. When Jesus is talking to Peter and talking about the establishing of his church on the confession of those who believe on him, And he says, on this rock I will build my church. And then he says what?

The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What are gates? Gates are guards.

They’re points that keep you from entering a place. These various regions of the world have their gates. What are the gates in PNG?

Well, there is animism there. There is false Christianity. There’s materialism.

What are the gates in your town, in your school? The gates of hell stand there. They’re actually not offensive weapons.

They’re defensive ones. They assume that we’re attacking them, right? And the church is supposed to be on gospel advance, and it involves a spiritual war, a spiritual war. Jesus said, no man can enter into a strong man’s house

and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man. aren’t you glad that he that is in us is greater than he that’s in the world folks we have an authority i want to ask you who’s the greater authority satan or jesus who’s god satan or jesus actually the battle isn’t fair the battle isn’t fair like you put jesus up against satan who’s going to win every time You put God.

Folks, it’s like the fact that the battle’s going to happen doesn’t mean we’re going to lose. It actually means we’re going to win. We have the authority.

What we do is we look at the enemy and we assume defeat. That is unbelief. Like, the enemy’s coming.

He’s going to come. I think sometimes we’re not ready for the opposition. We’re not ready for the war. And sorry to say, we’re not trained properly

because the war is coming. But that doesn’t mean defeat’s coming. We’re actually here for war. In Judges chapter 2, it talks about how God allowed various, whatever, cities and villages

to remain so that the next generation could learn war. If we can look back on the heroes of the past and the missionaries that stepped out and we see them overcoming some amazing things and we kind of wish that there wasn’t anything for us to overcome. Well, wait just a minute.

They had to overcome it too. It doesn’t mean you’re going to lose and doesn’t mean you should sit back in fear. A war is coming.

Absolutely. Victory’s coming. Amen?

Expect engaged spiritual warfare. And of course, we could talk about prayer a lot in that having to do with that side. Number four.

Do good works. Look in Mark 6 and down to verse 13. It says they cast out many devils and they anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.

Isn’t it interesting how much of Jesus’ ministry was marked by healing and meeting real needs? In fact, in Acts 10, when they summarize Jesus’ ministry, look what it says. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good. Mark 37 says, They were beyond measure astonished, saying,

He hath done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. Do you know, folks, when we give our lives to gospel mission, we aren’t going out to start fights.

We aren’t going out to start arguments. You know, if every time you go to witness, you always end up in an argument, something’s wrong. Something’s wrong with you. yes arguments can come up yes opposition can come up but folks we’re declaring good news like when jesus went to to these encounter these multitudes says he was moved with compassion like everyone looked at him and said this man loves us now abides faith hope love charity but

the greatest of these is what? Charity, love. Like love overcomes amazing barriers.

We are messengers of the love of God. You don’t start to be a witness in your school to start a fight in division and strife. You’re actually starting, you’re actually bringing the very thing that’s going to solve all of that.

Coming to my mind right now is the story of Sister Chang. I don’t know if I told it before, but this was a lady in China who was just a fervent gospel witness, and God, the Holy Spirit, talking about the leadership of the Holy Spirit, told her, go stand on the doorstep of the police station and preach the gospel, and open your mouth, preach the gospel, and she said, God, if I do that,

I know what’s going to happen, and she kind of waited to make sure it was the voice of God, not the voice of Satan, finally she knew it was God’s voice, she goes on the street, she goes on the on the doorstep of the police station and she begins to preach. Within minutes, she’s arrested. She’s taken off without any trial into the women’s prison.

And so she’s been a witness for the Lord for 20 years. So what does she do in the women’s prison? Within three months, the whole entire atmosphere of that prison was changed.

800 women came to Christ. and the warden said what is happening in my prison the women are civil with one another the women do what we ask them to do what’s going on and he tracked it down to this lady’s testimony he brings her into his office and says he’s he says i need more like you around here i’m going to give you i’m going to start paying you i’m going to give you a house a car a driver

and I’m going to let you go free. True story. She said, well, I’ve served the Lord for 20 years and he’s taken care of me and I don’t believe I’ll accept your offer.

And he let her go free anyway. But that’s the power of the gospel, amen? Like it’s good.

What if the gospel started running across your school? Would that be a bad thing or a good thing? Like, yeah, the atmosphere is going to change. It’s going to be, bringing the gospel is bringing good news

and it’s doing good works. What’s the greatest good work you could ever do? Tell someone the gospel.

But you know what? You might encounter someone who’s sick. You might encounter other financial needs.

You might encounter other things. And the Holy Spirit is going to move you with compassion and you’re going to do something that shows the love of God. Amen?

You might start an orphanage. You might start a school. You might do various things.

Doing good works is Jesus’ life. He cares for people. So do good works.

You know, you’re in your school. You’re trying to be a witness in your neighborhood. You encounter someone who needs a miracle, who needs, you know, they’re sick or whatever, financial difficulties.

Do you know what you can always do for people? Pray for them. Amen?

I mean, you’re not a miracle worker. There is a miracle worker. His name is Jesus.

Amen? And you can pray. Freely if you receive.

Freely give. Pray for needs. and watch what God does.

He might just show up in an unexpected way. We had that on our recent time in Papua New Guinea. So do good works.

Number five. Number five. Go urgently and live sacrificially.

Look at verse number eight. And he commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only. No script, no bread, no money in their purse.

What is he saying? Well, think about this. I kind of think of this.

There’s three realms of gospel advance. There is here. That would be my own place, my own family, my own neighbors, my own side of town.

Then there’s near. That would be the next village. That would be the next side.

And then there is far, some distant place. Here, near, and then far. For here, what’s the main sacrifice involved in getting the gospel to here?

What would be the main sacrifice? Really, just one thing. What is it?

Time. Time, right? You’re there.

It doesn’t cost you anything. It’s just time. For near, it might cost time and maybe a little bit, but not too much.

When Jesus was sending out these disciples, he was basically dealing with the here and the near. He was not dealing necessarily with the far, but he’s dealing with the here and the near. And Jesus is saying, look, we are going to these nearby places, and this is an urgent matter.

I don’t want you to get caught trying to get together what you need for this journey. Do you know there is such a thing as over-preparation? Well, I just don’t feel ready enough.

I just don’t feel like I’ve got it all together. I don’t have all the knowledge. And what does it do? It stops us, and we just stay,

and we don’t do what God’s told us to do, right? And Jesus says, don’t let a second pair of shoes stop you. Don’t let a second coat stop you.

Don’t let a suitcase full of what you need stop you. Just go. I was just texting with a church over in Papua New Guinea, and their audio projector has broken. so that you preach on a street corner,

which is a great thing to do. But what I want to text them and say, don’t let a broken audio projector stop you from going out on the street. Well, I could do this if I had more tracks.

Well, I could do this if and if. And Jesus says, no, go now, get started. You know what, some of you, God’s touched your heart. Do you know what the most important thing you must do

when you get back is you must obey right away? Don’t wait. The longer you wait, actually the longer you’re disobeying. If there’s something on your heart that God’s put on your heart, when you get back, you better start it

the moment your feet hit the ground. Talk to your, right now, talk to your leader. Talk, if there’s involved, others are involved in it.

But a plan to obey immediately. Go urgently and live sacrificially. Paul did that. he did the far journey quite sacrificially, and he wrote to Philippians 4, in Philippians 4, he said,

I have all and I abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which you sent, a sweet-smelling, a sacrifice, acceptable, well-pleasing to God, but my God shall supply all your need. Amen?

Don’t delay, go urgently. Number six, remain with and disciple the open persons. Remain with and disciple the open persons There in verse 10 In what place soever you enter into a house There abide till ye depart from that place So here they are going into this new community And God shows them an open house One that welcomes them And he says stay with that place So as we go out we should expect God to lead us

To a key person or a key family and when that connection happens, stay in that connection. Build them up, lead them fully to Christ, then begin to disciple them, and that key person, that key household becomes the entry point into that neighborhood, into that region. So sometimes we are forever, okay, it’s like this, I am forever having initial gospel conversations with people, and that won’t bear much fruit. You have to have the gospel conversation

in which you’re looking for the person who’s open, and when you find that person, you’ve got to stay connected. You’ve got to stay involved in their life. You’ve got to stay discipling them.

You’ve got to stay sacrificial to see them take their steps of growth. That’s critical to gospel advance. You must disciple those you win.

Now, how many can you disciple at a time? Not that many, right? One, two, three, something like that.

That means there’s a few people in your life. How many disciples could Jesus have at one time, right? He had 12.

Yeah, there were 70. There were others that were being impacted, but he had his 12. And you need to have your one.

You need to have your two. You don’t need to have 12. You don’t need to have a Sunday school class.

You need to have your disciple. Amen? Someone that you’re connecting to, you’re investing in, you’re praying for, you’re meeting with on a weekly basis, if not more than that.

If you’ve really connected with someone, it’s going to be more than once a week. You’re going to be involved in their life, you’re going to be connected, and out of that will come so much more fruit. And it takes sacrifice.

Paul said, I labored night and day with tears. He confirmed the souls of the saints that through much tribulation they’ll enter of the kingdom, and he was willing to impart not the gospel of God only, but his own soul. So remain with and disciple the open prayer.

Number seven, don’t stop when you’re rejected. Don’t stop when you’re rejected. Verse 11, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you when you depart, fence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment

than for that city. And he’s talking here. You know what the one thing Satan wants you to do?

Is stop. You know what the one thing he wants you to do? Get discouraged. He wants you to come to that person

who’s absolutely, you know, stone cold. That person who won’t open the door and you knock and they don’t open. If they do open, you know, they curse at you, whatever. And he wants you to assume that’s the end of the story

because he wants that to be the end of the story. and Jesus says, if you encounter that person who won’t receive you, I want you to realize, I got this. I got that person, that man, that person, that town just had an opportunity more significant than Sodom and Gomorrah had. Do you realize how significant it is when the gospel shows

up? Folks, we don’t understand the huge responsibility and huge opportunity we actually have on gospel mission. Like this is, this is, you show up in some town, your story is bigger than what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah. That opportunity is bigger than anything really of Old Testament

nature. We have an amazing privilege to announce the good news. And when folks reject it, just shake the dust off your feet.

Let God handle that. And, and, and don’t, and you might pray, maybe God will keep you burdened for that place. But look, if you’re going door to door and you come across someone who says, no, I, you know, no thank you, and they close the door, are you going to keep knocking on that door? Like, oh, man,

we knocked on, you know, you’ll get arrested, right? What are you going to do? You’re going to go to the next door.

You’re going to go to the next. If you run across someone who’s resistant, leave that in the Lord’s hands and just go to the next person. Amen?

Do you think someone in your school, there’s someone in your school who’s open? Is there someone who’s closed? Right, so if you run into the closed one first, what are you going to do?

Don’t stop. Leave that in the Lord’s hands and just keep on moving. Don’t stop when you’re rejected.

Let God deal with that person. So, in the harvest field, we had talked about prepared listeners and prepared leaders. We encountered a man named Philip. And Philip, Stephen led him to the Lord, baptized him,

And we began to disciple him, a man who was a former Catholic. And he just gave this testimony. I want you to hear this.

Unidentified speaker: And I’m from Mushu Island. I personally, I was a Catholic until our missionaries came. When they preached the good news, wow, that was amazing.

Some of the truths they were preaching, I just didn’t, I never heard of, you know. I’ve been here, as a Catholic, I’ve been listening to preaching from our priests, you know, Catholic priests. And then the first two Sundays when they preached the good news, my oh my.

You know, it is like very different. There I began to start learning about, truly learning about Jesus Christ. He was the real, my real Messiah and the Savior.

And I should say that’s where I got saved. After the service, Steve, he got me aside and talked to me about salvation and about baptism and all these kind of things. You know, for the start, I know very little about it.

And then I get to– as he was talking, he was explaining. I was questioning him. He was explaining.

And after that, wow. I said, I want to be saved. From there, I could really realize I said, “I gotta believe in Jesus Christ.” I was really and truly believe him in. And then trusting him, really, 100%,

with no split trust, and that’s it. And then I got baptized. And that was like an, well, I’d say an immediate baptism. Right after I got saved, the Gillmore’s coming

was in the waste, you know. Or else we would have been, some of us would have been lost. I’m continually going through this religious way of worshiping, you know.

And now I’m saved. And that eternal life will never be taken away from me. Will last with me forever and ever.

And I’d like to be there. To be at peace with the Lord and, you know, and to enjoy the privilege of being a son of God. Their blessings will linger on and on in the minds, not only in our Baptist local church, but the whole island as a whole. And even it touched the other big island also,

the so-called Kairiru Island. I’m just asking the Gillmores and the other Christians to pray for my loved ones, my own family, you know, my wife and my kids. I want them to be saved.

We work. We bring more into the kingdom of God and fill the heavens with a lot more people, and that’s it. With that, thank you very much, and we’ll see you then.

Mark Gillmore: Amen. Amen. Well, he got it.

And he grew up in Catholic training. He is not only a prepared listener, I believe he’s a prepared leader, and he’s going to be leading churches in that island. We spent time with another church.

This is up in the Asaro region where the mud men are and had some training. And at the end of that, they just gave us this amazing bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables. We talked about those fertile areas.

And then Brother Namo just gave this testimony. I just want you to hear his vision.

Unidentified speaker: This is just a small token of appreciation for your time, the teachings that you have given to us. And we do know that you still have so much there with you. You will partner with us as we journey this work of gospel mission.

It’s only God that we believe. He’s got all the power to empower us, to bring across to those mission fields that are empty. God will help us to show the gospel seed, will help us to water and grow that, will help us to bundle them. God, in his wisdom, will empower our preachers and pastors to bring more disciples,

train more elders, train more leaders. And yes, we are already in the unity. And the God Holy Spirit is going to work in the whole lot of us. When we don’t have so much,

God has everything for us. And he’s going to use the power of the gospel to reach to our people within this region and abroad as he has planned. In you and in us.

Mark Gillmore: Amen. Amen. That’s the vision. They had said at one point the preacher was in tears when he said, you know, what you’re talking about

is what planted this church 40 years ago, and we’ve not been doing it. There’s a lot of churches around the world that have stopped doing the first works, the works that actually plant the churches. And it’s a big step of faith, and it’s a big challenge, and it was exciting to see that that church was ready to do that.

So again, I want you to look again at this region. Someone is waiting. It’s a circle on a map.

It’s not a circle on this map. It’s people, people who have never heard. The missionary said, someone needs to go.

They are ready and waiting. No one is there. All right, that information should change someone’s life. If you have the good news and you have eternal life,

someone is obligated to go. This missions conference started, or this youth conference started with looking at Romans 12, 1, where it says, I beseech you by the mercies of God. Do you know that God is not going to force you to go?

He’s going to show you his mercies and he’s going to say, listen, like I have rescued you, I’d like to use you in rescuing others. won’t you let me use you too? The rescued volunteer to join the rescuing.

Doesn’t that make sense? Is that a hard choice to make? In fact, the verse calls it a reasonable service.

It makes sense. It’s logical. And he says that you present.

You know what present is? present has the idea of coming and standing beside an offering. This is kind of referencing the Old Testament, where they bring the lamb and they put their hand on that offering and they say, this is me and this offering is to you.

And you know what the Lord wants you to do with your life? He wants you to walk up to Jesus and say, Jesus, I present my life as an offering to you, a living sacrifice. Put your hands on yourself and say, Jesus, I give my life back to you.

You know what that is? That’s a glad surrender. Jesus, God hates forced surrender.

That’s not what he’s working for. He wants glad surrender. I beseech you, I beg you, on the mercies of God, surrender your life.

This is the wonder of what God has done. He is bringing us back into a fellowship with him. And it’s not forced.

It’s not even commanded. It’s compelled. Amen?

It’s like this is my reasonable response. What else could I do? I can’t live for myself.

My life was a dead end road to hell. That’s all it was. Now I have eternal life secured forever waiting for me on the other side.

So what do I do with my short life on earth? I just say, Jesus, you gave me that long life in heaven. Whatever you want to do with this short life on earth, like get the gospel to those who never heard, here, take my life.

I present it gladly to you, a glad surrender. You know, the best thing you can do with your life is volunteer, Lord, hear my sin, send me. It’s the best thing. And it’s not, yeah, we need radical faith,

but it’s not radical, it’s rational. It’s the obvious thing to do. Don’t live for yourself.

God will take care of you. You’ve got a long life. Gladly surrender.

There’s people still waiting, folks. There should not be a single region of the world that someone could point to and say, no one’s there. Shouldn’t be a single one.

We’re used to it. I don’t think God is. After these things, the Lord appointed these 70 also and sent them two by two in every place and city whither he himself would come. Jesus wants to get to every place,

but he can’t get there without you. You got to take him. Your bodies, his spirit’s inside of you. You’re now, Jesus had one body

when he was here for 33 years. Now he had one physical body. Now he’s got, in this room, he’s got 300 physical bodies that he’s inside.

And he can multiply his work. And he says, if you’ll get there, take me there. I’ll show up.

And there’s people waiting, prepared listeners, prepared leaders. So go in the authority of Christ. Preach the good news.

Engage spiritual warfare. Do good works. Go urgently and live sacrificially.

Remain with and disciple open persons. And don’t stop when you’re rejected. Amen?

Let’s bow for prayer. ask yourself did the Holy Spirit there were seven of those things stated maybe the Holy Spirit said something really specific that’s for me I got to remember that one maybe the Lord is touching some life with a rational surrender to even a world mission opportunity. I want to just give us an opportunity to silent prayer. If someone would like to come to the front,

just kneel at the front. Make that, seal that decision right where you are. Let’s take a moment for prayer. Father, you told us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into a harvest that you said is white

and waiting and ready. And we’re looking at one right here today. And Lord, you know where these young people are?

Living right now. Lord, I pray that we would be on mission, that we’d follow these instructions, and we’d do so urgently, and we’d do so gladly. So Lord, thank you for the privilege that we have to actually live Christ’s life.

This is his life we’re talking about. like what would Jesus do if he were here? This is what he’d do.

And now he’s doing it in each one of us. That’s Christ’s life in us right now. Lord, help us to give Jesus the joy of his heart as we let him go to new places, new villages, speak to new people.

Lord, do miracles. May we be part of the great commission in advance in our day, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.