I want to introduce our speaker for today and tomorrow, Dr. Mark Batori, the Executive Director of Gospel Fellowship Association Missions. Dr. Batori graduated from Bob Jones University in 1977. He joined Gospel Fellowship Association Missions right after college, and along with his wife, Paula, they went to Mexico, to Tomasun Charlie, Mexico. And they served there for one term, but after that, he was forced to leave the field because of very serious health concerns. He came back here to Greenville and became the representative on campus for Gospel Fellowship Association missions in 1985. Later, he became the assistant director of GFA. And in 1991, he became the executive director of the mission. The Vittoris have continued, even though they have not been able to be in a Spanish country. They have maintained a great interest in ministry and outreach to Hispanics here in the Greenville area. In lieu of that, he was honored by the Puerto Rico Baptist College with the honorary degree Doctor of Divinity. Some years back, his wife Paula is able to be with him today in the audience. And I know that Dr. Battori will be a blessing to you. The Battoris have two children who are graduates of BJU and three grandchildren. And I'm very happy that he's able to be with you today to speak today and tomorrow in chapel. Open with me, if you would, this morning to Philippians chapter 2. Regrettably, Many people have the wrong impression of what being a missionary is all about. I fear that we have raised several generations now that look at missions in the negative. Serving Jesus Christ to them is a sacrifice in the negative sense. To serve Jesus Christ means they need to give up something. And to them that is difficult. I've determined that I'm going to cease attaching those two phrases together, serving Jesus Christ and sacrifice. Is it a sacrifice to serve the King of Kings? Why do we have such a negative view of full-time Christian service? I get frustrated with how we present full-time Christian service. I dislike it when missionaries come to churches and they like to glory in the gory, you know. And I have my bug stories too. But I like to tell more about the bugs and the snakes than you do about the joy and the privilege of reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have developed a mentality of negativism about the ministry. Countless times that I've been in a church and they will ask, at the end if anyone has any questions. A little girl raised her hand, she'll say something like, is it true that they have ugly tarantulas in Mexico? I said, of course not, all the giant scorpions that kill them all off. See, we like the glory in the gory. How often have I been asked by a church, list for us your greatest dangers or your discouragements on the field. Why don't they ask about the greatest privilege and the joy? Or how about this one? A Sunday school teacher with her eighth grade students telling the story and the students are intent on watching. They are very interested in the story. And the teacher talks about the missionary who's being chased by cannibals and is almost eaten alive. And that child goes, not me. I'm not going to be a missionary. Or how about this one? Maybe you're guilty of this one. Possibly you went on a ministry team this summer, mission team. The first Sunday back in your home church, your pastor asked you to come up and stand in the pulpit and give a testimony of what you learned from the trip. And you stood there and you talked about what you learned, and what you learned was that living in the United States You have great blessings that God has given you because they don't have all the stuff in that foreign country like you have in your country. And I'm going, you saw the wrong thing. What you need to be seeing when we go to these fields are these people who know Jesus Christ, have greater joy and faithfulness to their God than we do with all of our stuff. You see, we look at serving Christ in the negative when actually it ought to be put in the positive. And there's little wonder why As you come the age at your age right now, the thought of becoming a foreign missionary is something that maybe is remote from your thoughts. Here in Philippians chapter 2, we find the Apostle Paul talking about serving Christ. And by the way, he uses these two words, sacrifice and service, in the same verse. But I want us to notice what he says about those two words. Here in verse 17, he says, yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. That phrase, yea, and if I be offered, the word there, offered, makes reference to the Old Testament drink offering. He says, if I be offered upon the altar of God as a drink offering. Now you say, what's a drink offering? Hold on, we will get to that in a moment. The Old Testament gives us explanation and instruction about what a drink offering is. He says, if I be poured out on that altar as a drink offering, but he says in two ways. Notice he does not say that the service is the sacrifice. He starts out with the sacrifice. If I be offered upon the sacrifice, that makes reference to be consecrated on an altar of God. It's a sacrificial offering. Paul says, if I be offered as a sacrificial offering, as a consecration unto my God, this is the moment when the believer says to his Lord, Lord, whatever you want from me, I will do. Guide me. Tell me. Your will will be my will. The consecration of my life on that altar is what Paul is saying. This can be pictured when Isaac was offered upon the altar by his father Abraham. Picture in your mind as Isaac laid down on that altar, an altar of self, dying to self, his hands and his feet were tied with the ropes of Perfect submission. But it was laid also amongst the firewood. That firewood could represent the circumstances that surround God's call for an individual. Isaac was willing to be sacrificed. That's what Paul was talking about here. If I be offered on that sacrifice, as I give my life in complete dedication to His cause, It goes on. So the first thing, if I'm offered the first way in a sacrifice, in my commitment, in my dedication, then he says, and service of your faith. Not the sacrifice of service. It's the service that comes after the sacrifice. The word there, service, actually, we get the word liturgy, which actually means a public ministry of service. Paul says, if I be offered, if I give myself, if I consecrate myself on that altar of God, God, whatever you want for me to do, I'll do. And the end result is my service. What is the end result then? What does he say? I joy and I rejoice with you all. There is no negative here about the service or about the sacrifice. Instead, it becomes the greatest joy and the privilege of his life. Paul puts the whole idea of sacrifice connected to Christian service in a positive, not a negative. Paul was saying, because I have willingly and totally poured myself out as a living sacrifice on the altar of God. Through a life of service to him, by serving them, he says he has experienced a joy that's inexplicable. Understand that sacrifice is not the result of service. But joyful service is the result of the right kind of sacrifice. Let me say that again. Sacrifice is not the result of service. Service is the result, joyful service is the result of the right kind of sacrifice. Giving yourself, committing yourself to Christ. Then whatever happens after that is pure joy. is what Paul is saying. What I want to speak to you about this morning is the key to joyful Christian service, which is becoming a drink offering unto God. We'll look first of all at the description of a drink offering from the Old Testament, then we'll look a little more closely at Paul's life as a drink offering, and then we'll make the application. The Old Testament gives us numerous references of the drink offering. One is found in the book of Numbers, chapter 28. You don't need to turn there. Verses 4-7, where the procedure for the drink offering is outlined there. He says, One lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer in the evening, and cause the wine to be poured out unto the Lord for a drink offering. What's going on here? There were two sacrifices being offered up each day. One in the morning and one in the evening. And each time as that sacrifice was being consumed on that brazen altar, the priest would raise up in a golden pitcher, a pitcher full of wine, and that wine would then be poured upon that sacrifice on that altar, and the steam that would cause would rise up as a sweet savor unto God, as it says in Numbers chapter 28, verse 13. I've often thought, why wine? Why use wine in this most sacred moment? Why would God instruct them to put wine? In fact, the word that's used is hard drink. I think the answers can be very clear. You see, in the ancient times, wine was used as a picture of what man used to pursue the happiness for his own life. So in essence, when they would pour that wine upon that altar as a drink offering, would represent that which man would be pursuing for the greatest joy in his life. It was poured on the altar. And the steam would go up, as I said, as a sweet savor unto God. Paul says, I'm a drink offering. How do we see this in the life of the Apostle Paul? You know, Paul did not seek any earthly delights. He didn't have any great stock market investments, no insurance, no savings. No house, no car, no boat. He didn't even have a set of golf clubs. But yet we can find that the Apostle Paul, even though he did not have those things, looked on all those things as dumb, as worthless. You know, we wonder how man could be happy without those things. Paul found the prize. He found the truth, that true joy and satisfaction in his life comes in the path of sacrificial service unto God. giving your life to do His will. In fact, in Philippians chapter 3, verse 8, it says, Yea, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that he might win the prize. That he might win Christ. Paul's loss of earthly things was not a sacrifice. It only allowed him to pursue the greatest prize of life, knowing and serving Jesus Christ. Do you realize there's nothing better this side of heaven than knowing and serving Jesus Christ? We find ourselves being duped to think there are greater things in this world than that. We realize the true tragedy for the Christian is not the loss of things, I heard recently about someone whose house caught on fire and burned. You lose things. That's not the greatest tragedy, although that is difficult. The greatest tragedy for a Christian is when he gains earthly things and those things become his prize. The true tragedy for the Christian is not the loss of earthly things. The true tragedy is when Christians' earthly gain become his prize. So we find that the Apostle Paul suffered deprivations in that path of sacrificial living and service for God. But he also suffered physical suffering. In 2 Corinthians 11, verses 23-28, we find in those verses more than 25 times the Apostle Paul makes references to the physical suffering that he had serving Christ. In labors, more abundant in stripes, above measure in prisons and death, Five times received 40 stripes, save one. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, journeys, barrels of water, barrels of robbers, and the list goes on and on and on. But understand, he shared those things not to engender sympathy from his hearers, but instead to magnify his office and magnify his point of commitment to Christ. He said to the Ephesians in chapter 3, verse 13, I ask you not to faint at my troubles on your behalf. To the Philippians he said in chapter 1 verse 20, and nothing shall I be ashamed, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. To the Colossians chapter 1 verse 24 he says, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. Thessalonians he said in chapter 2 verse 19 and 20, for what is our hope and joy? Our crown of rejoicing? He says, ye are our crown of rejoicing. And to the Ephesian elders, he declared in chapter 8 of Acts, verse 24, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself that I might finish my course with, do you know the word? Joy. Paul was saying because I have willingly and totally poured myself out as a living sacrifice on the altar of God, I have joy. that's inexplicable, a drink offering. You know, beware of the Christian who is constantly trying to seek sympathy, talking about how much he has to suffer to serve Jesus Christ. That man knows nothing about being a drink offering unto God. I want to close this by sharing with you a story that About probably 25, 30 years ago, I heard. I don't know where I heard it, from who I heard it, but it always stuck out. I kept it in the recesses of my memory. I thought, someday I'm going to use that story. A couple of years ago, I was preparing for a conference, and I was going to use this as an illustration. But I thought, I better check out the details. If I'm going to use a story like this, I better find out. It had to do with Nate Saint. Most of us know the story of Nate Saint. his other four co-labors who were martyred in the jungle of Ecuador. But the story surrounded Nate Saint. And I thought, well, before I use this story, I'm going to find out. I talked with Dr. Drysby. Dr. Drysby, have you ever heard this story? He says, no, I've never heard the story. OK. I got on the internet. You know, you could waste a lot of time looking for stuff on the internet. And I looked, and I wasted a lot of time, and I found nothing. I talked with my wife, and well, she became very proactive with it, she called down to Ecuador, down to the radio station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, and talked with their historian down there. She said, have you ever heard this story? My husband says he heard this somewhere, and he's just checking out. They said, no, we've never heard of this story. I was beginning to think, did I dream this? Where did I hear this from? Nobody seems to know what this story is. Well, the historian there at HCJB put my wife in contact with the four other wives of these men. She called the widows of these men who gave their lives in Ecuador. All four of them says, no, we've never heard this story before. I'm going, well, time to tear up that one. That was no good. No one's heard of it. They gave my wife one more phone number. Says, here, call Ginny Saint, Nate Saint's daughter-in-law. Maybe she knows something about it. So my wife called Ginny. Ginny said, never heard of it. Never heard of it. Give me your number, let me make a few more phone calls, see what I can come up with." I'm going, this doesn't exist. I dreamt it somewhere. 9.30, the night before I was to fly out, we get a phone call from Ginny Saint. She goes, it's true. I found your story. It really is true. This really happened. I'm going, wow. Where did I hear that? Nobody else knew about it but me and Ross Drown. who is the son-in-law of Nate Saint. He married Kathy Saint, Nate Saint's daughter. Ross Drown is the son of Frank Drown. I hope you can follow this whole story. I mean, it's a tangled web here. Ross Drown's father, Frank Drown, was Nate Saint's close friend. He was the one who led the search and rescue team that went down to get the men and the equipment and search for the five missionaries. So Frank Drown, son, Ross, married date saint's daughter. Did you get all that? But the story is true. They found my story. I don't know where it came from, but it is true. You want to hear the story? It's not very long, but here's what happened. And it's true. Several years ago, many years ago, an elderly pastor was flying with Ross Drown, who is now a missionary pilot. He was flying from Miami down to Haiti. He was flying this elderly pastor down there for some meetings or whatever. And initially the elderly pastor did not realize who was piloting the plane. The son-in-law of Nate Saint, the son of Frank Drown. And so this pastor became very excited and began asking Ross many questions, asking him about the situation, what he knew about it. And he was just so excited to be able to talk with someone so close, so closely connected to that story. And as they were going along, then the pastor said this, he said, I have to tell you something, Ross. I saw your father-in-law die. I saw Nate Saint die. I was there the moment he gave his life. He and Ross protested, saying, that is impossible. There's no way that you saw. Yes, he did. I saw Nate St. die. After moments of, again, protesting, the pastor said, well, let me tell you about it. It wasn't January 1956. It actually happened 1950. They're at a special mission conference at Wheaton College The plea went out for those who would give their lives to serve Jesus Christ on the foreign mission field. The invitation was given, and I saw Nate Saint, your father-in-law, come out of the pew, come down front and give his life. He said, that is when your father-in-law died. That is when Nate Saint died. What happened on that narrow strip of sandy beach down in Ecuador was his joyful service to his Savior. That was not the death, that was not the sacrifice. He died five years prior to that. He had already given himself on the altar. You see, what Nate Saint did, five years almost to the day, previous to the moment that he stood on that bar of sand and the arrows pierced his body, he had already died. He gave his life on that altar. He was a drink offering unto God. Is your life a drink offering? You know, a great fear that I have of every generation that comes along, mine included, and yours, of how many believers go through their Christian life and never die on the altar. They go through life living for themselves. And then all of a sudden, the thought of going and serving on some foreign field is a sacrifice. It's negative because they'd have to give up everything here. It's an indication that they've never died. They're still living for self. Some of you sitting here this morning have never died to self. You've never given yourself on that altar of consecration. But today you can. You can say, Lord, my all is yours. It does not matter how, it doesn't matter where or what. All that means, all I desire is to be used the way that will best serve your purpose and your will. Take my life, it is yours. Paul said, yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I enjoy and rejoice. Let me urge any of you here this morning to hear my voice, to listen to the voice of God, and die and become a drink offering unto God. Let's pray. Father, I ask this morning that you will indeed help us to understand that sacrifice is not the result of service, but service is the result of right sacrifice. Will you indeed work in the hearts of these that are here this morning that they will hear thy voice and indeed die to self? May we see a movement here on this campus of those who will come forth and say, whatever, Lord, you have for me to do, wherever, however, I'm willing to do it. Whatever best way my life can be used to bring greatest praise and glory and gospel witness, I am yours, Father, for that purpose. I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.