Let's learn something. The Word of God, let's look and see what went on and how they turned the world upside right. Thank you. Yes. The world says you're turning it upside down. They're the ones that are upside down. It looks upside down to them, but we know the truth. It's turning them upside right. And they did. They did. With their activity, their committedness, but the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he'll use any instruments. He'll use technology. He doesn't need it. He didn't need it back then. But he'll use it. He'll use whatever tools he gives us. So let's look at the Great Commission. Let's look at the local church. And I'm gonna go, there's several things here that we find scripturally, some of these you will already know, but let's just go through and find where we find these in the New Testament. All right, first of all, God uses the church and its people to confirm his call to a special work. All right, he's gonna use the church. You know, Sheffy. You remember that film, don't you, brother? There are a lot, and that's my favorite film. It is, it is potent. And today also in every generation we have some of the same battles. But what do we find there with Sheffy as a young man, he's at that church. I have this in my mind. burned in my memory. You know, he gets to this church and Brother Sheff, you're going to preach. What did I say this morning? About how we don't feel qualified or equipped. Remember that. And how he got up there and he runs out the front door and the deacon tackles him. Good man. Brother Sheffie, God's hand is on you. How did he know that? See, God works through his people, but he works through the church to confirm. Some of you here may be called to be involved in the ministry. Wait a minute. Let the church, let the leaders of the church confirm that. I can't do that. Don't trust your own judgment. Okay? Yield it to Christ. These men here, Brother Randy Smith, he was in Papua New Guinea. We visited him a couple times in Papua New Guinea. He's back in the States now. The Lord brought him back here. But talking with him, he's a quiet, shy guy. Zane Bachman, I mean, pictures of these men. But the Lord's people confirmed at one point, God's hand is on you. Whether he died, and we all doubt it. I have doubted it. There's a young man, Brother Staley Sorrell, First Baptist Church of Van Dyke Baptist Church. They're just north of Detroit. Brother Mark, God's hands on you. Don't push so hard because I'm, you know, his hands on me. I mean, I just, you doubt it, but let, and God's going to work through the church here to confirm. So let God work through you to confirm it. Okay. Okay. Here it is. God used, first of all, the church body collectively to verify his call. And now this isn't all just missions. I want you to see in the ministry, involvement in ministry, how collectively as a whole, God was using different times. You find New Testament, he uses the church to do that. An example is the church in Jerusalem confirms God's hand on Philip, the deacon evangelist. And here we got the verse, I'm gonna try to move quickly through these. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. Now, he's talking to the church. Now you look out, you find these men, you confirm this, you speak, you reveal your hand. Let God use you to reveal his hand upon them, okay? And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they, who, the whole multitude, they stood and with one voice, the whole multitude said, yes, the hand of the Lord is upon this man. And it says, upon, these were the deacons, upon Stephen, let me go on, okay, looking among you, they chose Stephen, Philip, you see the rest of the names there. You see, God was using collectively the whole body to confirm his calling upon ministers of the gospel, these deacons to come serve the church. Okay, another example is Timothy was well-spoken of the brethren in Lystra and Iconium. Here we find Acts 16, Timotheus, which was well-reported of the brethren. Okay, here's the confirmation going on. a ministry of the church as a whole. Um, the word there, uh, reported is the word martyrs. We get the word martyr. It means to bear witness. In other words, he was well reported. He gave testimony. They affirmed, uh, that one has experienced something. In this case, they were able to give their strong recommendation for Timothy. I want you to see again, I mentioned this more a couple of times that God doesn't save us to be spectators. He's going to involve us. Sometimes it may even be as the entire group collectively, but the Lord is going to work through each one of us. And I think it's important that we watch to see when the Lord does that. Number three, the church at Ephesus wrote a letter of reference for Apollos. That's interesting. It says, And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, which is Corinth, the area of Corinth, the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him. So they wrote, they wrote a letter. Again, here's a confirmation from the church, that body, that God's hand was upon Apollos. I'm moving quickly here, just to give you, we'll move through this, there's a lot of area to cover. God used now individual Christians in the church to verify His call on special workers. Anybody could think in your mind an individual Christian that God used to confirm His calling on the Apostle Paul? Ananias. See, isn't that interesting? We find now there are times he's using the whole church collectively, but there are times when he uses a single individual to go and speak. The example here is Ananias confirms God's calling the apostle Paul. Ananias was a well-respected layman in the church of great reputation. And for a man like that to step forward, I picture Ananias not being some mover and shaker, kind of a leader. He was probably just a simple godly man. And he comes forward and says, Paul, God's hands on you. He's going to use you. Notice we don't find Paul saying, how do you know that? Interesting. He had such, Ananias had such reputation that when he spoke, which was maybe rare that he would speak, that when he spoke, people listened and had confidence in it. And he says here, Acts 9, 15 through 17, again, I'll move quickly. But the Lord said unto him, Ananias said, said unto Ananias, go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me, talking about Paul, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of, and it goes on, and Ananias went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on Paul, on him, said, brother Saul, the Lord Even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in this way as thou comest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost." So the Lord was confirming through a single individual. There have been a few times in my life, very few, and I've tried to reserve it for that, the times when I really felt the Lord was urging me to tell, I can picture my mind, a particular young man that I just went up to and I said, let me tell you something. I see God's hand up on you. Just want you to know that what the Lord has put in my heart and I'm just sharing that. That's rare that I would do that. But we find in the New Testament there have been, between this incident here, that God did that. He worked through Ananias. Now here's another example, that Barnabas testifies of Paul's conversion and ministry. This one, Paul, everybody was fearful of the apostle Paul, oh no, oh no. And this is, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. Uh-oh. I mean, it's like bringing your worst enemy into the hiding place of the apostles. I mean, what do you do, bring them into, And he had declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So the Lord used Barnabas now to give testimony to the apostles. So he used one man again to speak in confirmation of the apostle Paul. Does it make any sense? I'm just trying to cover quickly, get a panorama of what went on in the New Testament, how this happened with missions. It started with a confirmation of the call. Next, we find, also we find God used the spiritual leaders of the church to verify the call. So there was the third, and it wasn't just the church collectively, there was also individuals in the church, but then we find also there was use of the spiritual leaders to confirm that special calling. And Barnabas was sent to Antioch. The church saw Barnabas as the right man for the job. Well, let me put the verse up here. Acts 11, then the tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church was in Jerusalem. Tidings of what? They heard about the work that was going on up in Antioch and They heard that there was a, because of the dispersion of the, of the believers from Jerusalem, they went up there and this great ministry was begun and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. Go to Antioch. We hear this great work that's going on and we know that Barnabas is the right one for it. Let's send Barnabas. So again, we find working through the leaders of the church, the spiritual leaders to verify that call. So the leaders in the church of Antioch laying hands on Paul and Barnabas. Now it's interesting here that Barnabas ends up in Antioch, but then we find the church in Antioch, the leadership there going, they were fasting and praying and the Holy Spirit said, separate unto me these men. So again, it was the leadership of the church confirming God's hand on particular workers that he was calling us into special ministry. So in the entirety of these things came unto the ears of the church was in Jerusalem and they sent forth Barnabas. They should go as far as Antioch. All right. I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. Oops. I'm went backwards. That's the problem. You know, I woke up this morning, three, three 30 couldn't go back to sleep. So I'm ready to go back to sleep right now. I've been up all night. Um, all right. So they sent, The third example is James, Cephas, and John confirming God's call for Paul and Barnabas to take the gospel to the Gentiles. I hope I'm not moving too fast. I'm just wanting to get this panorama out there. Sometimes you need to move fast. It's like flying in a jet at 30,000 feet, but you're still looking down and you want to see what's down there. Here we find that when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, They gave unto me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go to the heathen." See how much God is using the church and His people to confirm this. And let me say, I think Brother Hawkey, our dear pastor brother back there, I didn't get your name, but we all understand, we who are in the ministry, the walkers also and others. I don't know how much, it wouldn't be fair to ask them to answer this question. How many times did you doubt what you were doing? We had, we had confirmation. There was, but there were times where like, wow, is this really? Oh yeah. Pastor Blaine Farley, our home church pastor, for the American Sister Paula. The Lord's hand is on you. You see how much I needed that offer? When I doubted my own abilities, when I would draw back from the confidence that I had in what I was doing, you know what often sustained me? And the many supporting churches we had been in, And they say, Brother Mark, Sister Paul, we're going to take on your support. We see God's hand upon you. See, in those moments when I could not trust in my own sense of inability, my doubts, my fears, my concerns, my disappointments, my discouragements, what sustained me and what sustains many of us who are in the gospel ministry is knowing the confirmation of God's people. That's what I'm saying. That is very important. The local church, the senders, make sure that, and you're not just saying things to say things, but let God confirm through you the work that's being done. I put here, the servant of the Lord should not act solely on his own perceived sense of God's call in his life. I say he ought, I say he needs to seek the confirmation of God's people. And that will come. I know Sheffie, he didn't have the confirmation of the ministerial, local ministerial group, did he? But who confirmed it? It was there. And the man gave his life. There was, years ago, a, I received an application from a missionary, wow. 20 years ago, probably, or more. And one of the first things I do, I get on the phone and I call the pastor. Hey, Pastor Smith, whatever. Hey, this is Mark Petor from GFA. How you doing? I said, by the way, Pastor, I just wanted to call you because I received an application from so-and-so from your church. They want to go full time and be missionaries in Africa. And the phone goes a little quiet, gets a little silent there. And I said, I just wanted to find out what you knew about it. Have you a chance to talk with the person? And there's one time the pastor says, well, no, actually I didn't know anything about it. Uh oh. I says, well, let's talk through this a little bit. What do you think about it? And he was, they were not negative on this couple. But I began asking questions. I said, well, how, oh, boy, they're a good couple. He's a good old boy. I said, well, that's nice, that's nice. Let me ask you this. Has the Lord spoken to the church in you as his pastor and spiritual leader? Has the Lord spoken that you're to separate this one of the gospel ministry? Can you say that God has spoken to the church and be able to confirm through you God's call upon this man and his family? He said, well, I guess if you ask it that way, I'd have to say no. He said, well, how about if we just put the application in my drawer for a little while? And so we didn't proceed with it. Within six months, I received a phone call from Pastor Smith. And he said, Brother, yeah, yeah. You still got that application? Sure do. Let me tell you what God's doing. God has dealt so much with us as a church that we have such conviction that God's hand is upon this man and he needs to get to the field. We want him to become part of GFA and we're so convinced, the people are so convinced that we've already voted to take him on for 51% of his support. Really? He couldn't move along that fast if he would have started deputation six months earlier. See, the conviction of God, folks, we need a conviction of what God's doing. When we take on missions, it's not so that we can have another light in our map in the vestibule. God's calling us to confirm. Are you confirming? Or is it just, well, okay, another missionary, let's vote. Let's go, let's go out and go to Danny's and have lunch. I mean, are we really looking at this as a sacred moment, a sacred activity of the church? All right. Local church. First of all, God uses the church and his people to confirm his call. The church commits the missionary unto a divinely appointed work. Now there's some confusion here, and I'm careful. I understand, again, Greek verbs have, there's different Greek verbs. Sometimes they're interchangeable and stuff. But I think sometimes it's very important that we take note of how the different verbs are used, for what purpose. The first is apostello. That is the word that, You know, the word missionary never occurs in the New Testament. It has the sent ones, those that they've been sent. The word is apostello, we get the word apostle from, they're the sent ones. And the word apostello really carries a meaning of dispatching or sending forth on a specific task. Remember that, okay? A specific task. and I'm going to bring that up in a moment here. They said, go as far as Antioch. See there, there's a commissioning. There is a, there is a instruction, go to Antioch, but go as far as Antioch. It describes it. It, it, uh, gives, um, very clear instruction. Okay. To send on a specifically defined mission used in relation to a missionary activity under the church's direct administration. you'll find apostello used. They sent the offering down to Jerusalem. The word sent is apostello, go deliver the money. See, it has a very distinct definition to what the activity is to be. The apostle in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to Samaria to assist in Philip's church planting ministry, okay? So at one point, Peter and John, the church in Jerusalem, We want to send some help to Samaria, help to Philip. And it says here, now, when the apostles, which were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them, John and Peter, they sent Apostello unto them. There's the defining of the activity. Go to him, go there, go up to Samaria, help Philip. So it's closely defined. They sent unto. Oh, here's a map. You can see that. John, can you see that behind me? All right. There's Jerusalem in the square. All right. We want, uh, we want Peter and John to go to Samaria, help Philip. So they went up to Samaria to help Philip. Then we find in verse 25, when they were done helping, they went back to Jerusalem. See, they fulfilled it and came back. Apostello, it was defined activity. Um, The church in Jerusalem sent forth ex-Apostle Barnabas to go to Antioch. At the time of these things came the elders of Jerusalem. I'm moving quickly, you're familiar with this, but they sent forth Barnabas, they should go as far as Antioch. Again, go, but now here's the assignment, go as far as Antioch. See, the church gave very specific instruction of what they were to do. Here we go, go to Antioch, okay. And that's where they went. At one point, we find Barnabas going over to Troas to get Paul, but he came back to Antioch. He was fulfilling what the church had asked him to do. All right, and I put it kind of like the idea of mission teams. All right, teenagers, you're gonna go down to Ecuador to help Sid Messer with his new church building down there. Go down there. I guarantee you the parents are going to want them to come back. Apostello, go down there, fulfill it, and come back. That's how I use the use of that verb in here. Short-term missions, go for a couple weeks, go for two years, whatever, but then they come back. This here, this bulldozer, this is unusual. We had to purchase a bulldozer, of all things. Actually, this is missions in action. See this? We bought that and also a skid loader, put it on a shipping container, sent it over to the bush of Papua New Guinea to get this out there. To do what? Build a runway, an airstrip. And Dale Crawford from off, he went there and ran that bulldozer up and down, up and down, trying to level out the top of that mountain. Finally, they weren't able to use it because they just couldn't. I mean, it was so tight, but they do use it. It is used. In fact, we've flown into this a couple of times and, but okay, Dale Crawford, go run that bulldozer. They come back. Okay. So we sent him to do a specific job. And when the task was finished, they returned. Okay. Every local church can be involved in this action. Apostello, go help in a Vacation Bible School in a church plant near East Flat Rock. Hey, let's find out. Let's, in other words, let's think outside of ourselves. We get so wrapped up in who we are, what we're doing here, but go, Apostello. Send a member to help a local rescue mission. Send a team of workers to assist the building of a national church in a foreign country. Go assist a missionary in special evangelistic meetings. Send one of your members to fill in for a missionary who's coming home on furlough. The idea is, let's look outside of ourselves. And Apostello, let's send people to go do work. Go do this. Go help. our brother here with his technology, go and do it. And then you can come back. See, you understand that the use of that verb. Now, the other verb is apoluo that we find in connection with what talks about sending workers of the Lord. It means to release, to give liberty is the term is often used for the word divorce. When you're talking about Joseph, when he found out his espoused wife was with child, he intended to put her away. The word put her away is apoluo. Okay. So in other words, this, this is he intended to release, to set free from any response, any obligation. Okay. Then now this is used in relation to a missionary activity given over to the administration of the Holy Spirit. See the apostellos seem like it's underneath the church's Go to Greenville, help Mount Calvary. Go to Canberra, do this. Help over here with Brother Hiberto Lara. See, this is Apostello, but we get to the point to where Apolluo, that's a different thought. It's not going under an authority of the sender, but it's releasing to another sender. Here it is, I believe the Holy Spirit. release, put away. I'm not necessarily trying to indicate that it's an ordination, but this can be a commissioning where the church says, we are releasing you to go do this. When we went to Mexico, there was another fellow that we grew up in the youth group with. He went out to Eugene, Oregon to plant a church. In fact, we calculated one time, it was just as far to him to go to Eugene, Oregon as it was to go from us from Michigan down to where we were in Mexico. It was almost the exact same distance. Interesting. He's still there, by the way, planted a church and has thrived. But people say, oh, you're a missionary. You need to be under the local church, under our authority. I'm going, well, what about Brother Greg? Oh no, he's a church planter, he's a church planter. I said, wait a minute, I was a church planter, but down in Mexico. Let's get our thinking here. I think we find in the New Testament when they sent them out, and here's Acts chapter 13, the Holy Spirit said to me, separate me, aphorizo, which is the term there, separate means, we understand separation, a separatist, right? We understand. It means a division between, give him me, give him to me. Barnabas and Saul for the work went to, I have called them. Again, there's that divine assigning there. And when they had fasted and prayed, laid hands on them and they sent them away. Apolluo released them. I always ask, okay, so where was the authority over the apostles here? It was the Holy Spirit. Stay with me on this, stay with me. We send a man into the next county over here to plant a church. Is he under your authority? Or are we saying, bless you brother, you're under God's? Isn't that what we see in the New Testament? Isn't that what we ought to be seeing even in our missionary ministries? They sent them away. Apolluo. I mean, uh, yeah. Apolluo sent away. There's no instruction. Go there and do this. It just go, go. Uh, so being sent forth by the Holy Spirit. And then by the way, this is verse 13, verse three talks about the laid hands and sent them away. Now it says being sent forth by who? The Holy Spirit. They departed. Okay. So now we see times when here's the, Second missionary journey, when the Apostle Paul, he says he intended to go into Asia, but he stopped because he got an email from the church in Jerusalem. He said, no, no, no, no, that's not what we want you to do. Who was calling the shots? We can again go back to Acts 16, talks about they couldn't go, but it was the Holy Spirit that forbid them. The Holy Spirit was in control. They went to Troas, Macedonia, and from there they went up to Philippi. Another example, here's the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, go southward. And he went down to Gaza. Who was controlling him? It was the Holy Spirit, it said. Then after that, he was caught away, the Holy Spirit, and he would end up going back to Samaria. But it was the Spirit of God that was controlling the man. And I want to move quick. These are some pictures here, thrown up here, of missionaries out there doing the work under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. All right? Apolluo. But that doesn't mean we got a bunch of loose cannons out there doing whatever they want to do. Just as the Lord used the church to confirm his hand on people, he also used it as the check and balance. Interesting how this all plays out. So God used the church to confirm, used the church to commit. Then the church provides the primary point of accountability. We see it balanced out now in the New Testament, how this works. In Galatians 1, Paul received his call directly from the Lord. We talked about that earlier today. But yet we can find him going back and reporting to the churches, reports on his ministry. When they were calm and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done. This is Acts 14, after that first missionary journey in Acts 13. Now it comes back and says, now they, oh, he came back in and reported in Antioch. That proves that Antioch was, was the one that was in charge of this. I said, well, wait a minute. He didn't just give the report in Antioch. He gave it in four other places, the exact same report from Antioch. He came back in Acts chapter 14, 26 through 28, 15, 3 in Phoenicia. and then down to Caesarea in Acts 15.3 also, then on to Jerusalem. In other words, he came back and reported on his ministry and what the Holy Spirit had done through him and how he led. Then, of course, in Acts 15, we have the Jerusalem Council that also confirms. In other words, we find that even though he was under the leading of the Holy Spirit to do these things, When it came down to it, God went back to the church and confirmed it. Okay. You with me? I've only got, let's see, 15 more points here. I mean, no, I'm going to, I'm trying to move quickly. I understand, but get a panorama. You're not going to absorb all of this, but get a sense of what's going on in New Testament. This is a book of missions and the ministry. And as you go through the New Testament, look for these, Interesting points that'll help you understand what God's doing. All right. So then he gives accountability for missionaries ministry. There's also accountability for missionaries financial support. That's very important. By the way, it's one of the things that GFA does. We help provide accountability for finances. In first Corinthians chapter 16, we find the apostle Paul asking for a financial accountability team to travel with him. So now concerning the collection for the saints, as I've given order to the churches, when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve, in other words, you, all the churches, you approve somebody, I mean, plural churches, find one person, all of you find one person to travel with me, by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality into Jerusalem. So in other words, this person's going to help me, because I don't want to be a, I want accountability. He sought accountability. He didn't want to just do it and say, Hey, just trust me. Just trust me. I'll handle your money. Just trust me. He had an accountability team. Um, the, uh, the word approved there is to test, to prove, to scrutinize. In other words, choose someone that you can trust to travel with me. Okay. They'll go with me. I know in, in second Corinthians chapter eight, we find the fulfillment, of his request in 1 Corinthians. He says, we have sent with him the brother, probably Titus, who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by him, by us. He said, in other words, I also gave Timothy to travel with us. He even added more to the accountability team. But the one that was chosen of the churches, plural, the one, singular, chosen of the churches to travel with me, he says, avoiding this, that no man should blame us in the abundance which is administered by us, proving for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. So they gave, here was the accountability for the finances. Again, goes back to the churches. And I like to ask the question, okay, so on a day-to-day basis, who was Paul most closely and directly accountable for the finances to? It was the one that churches chose, right? Okay, and then that person that was accountable where? To the churches. In other words, there was a system of accountability for the finances. All right, D, I'm moving, I'm moving. I'll be done well before 5.30. Also, the church carries on a spiritual ministry to the missionary through prayer. By the way, I mentioned the dividend. I should have had a sign-up sheet for you. I was dismal coming in here today. I should have brought the sign-up sheet, but I mentioned this morning about the sowing or the dividend. It said, weekly prayer bulletin, every week, fresh, up-to-date prayer requests. This week, sometimes they say, Thursday this week, this person needs this answer. So in other words, it's up-to-date. The church is to carry on a spiritual ministry of prayer. During lunch, I was watching downstairs on the screen down there, and there was a quote by Dennis Potts, who's with the Lord now, one of my dearest friends. He said, missions without prayer is a disaster. That stuck with me. Folks, do you realize how much is dependent on our prayers for missions. The church has that. Philemon, I trust that through your prayers I'll be delivered unto you. Romans 15.30, now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ and for the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Ephesians 6, Thessalonians, and we can go down the list after list, verse after verse. Paul urging the church to have that spiritual ministry of prayer with him. There's through counsel. There are times when God uses the leadership of the church to give counsel to a man. Here in Galatians 2, when James, Cephas, and John perceived the grace that was given to me, gave me in Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision, only that we should remember the poor. There's some counsel there. All right, go do this, but don't forget about the needs of the poor. And of course, and they raised funds for the poor. I mean, there was counsel given to the ministry. Last of all, how am I doing? The church supplies material needs for the ministry of missions, for the missionary. I think this picture was taken. I didn't take this picture, but I like it. There's something about it that grabs my attention. You're filling a 55-gallon drum with fuel, gasoline, and then you cork that up, and they sling it underneath a helicopter and take it out into the jungle and try not to drop it, and you lower it down so the missionaries will have fuel. You wonder why sometimes missionary support levels are high than what, I don't need to do this. I drive up to Spanx up here and pump my gas and they've got to pay the high price first of all. I mean, it's four times what we pay here. Pump it into barrels and then pay for a helicopter to sling it all the way out to Missionaries have needs. And you know, I think the Lord allows that, certainly. You know, He could, the Lord could have the missionary dig a hole and all of a sudden gasoline starts coming up through the hole of the ground. Could He do that? Yeah. Why doesn't He? He's looking to the church. He wants to give you an opportunity have part in helping that man be on the front lines and put gas in his tank. So this is just a unique picture. But that's where I believe it came from. The church provides for travel. This is some passages here. And being brought on their way by the church, they pass through Phoenicia and Samaria. being brought on their way by the church. Again, there's a phrase that talks about what happened. The church took responsibility to help them get to where they had to go. Also in Acts 21.5, Romans 15.24, 1 Corinthians 15.6-11, 2 Corinthians 1.16, Titus 3.13, all talk about providing for travel. helping the missionary get to where he needs to be, and the church doing it. The church provided for lodging. Acts 21.7, and when we had finished our course from Tyre, in other words, they came in from their trip, we came to Polymas and saluted the brethren and abode with them. They provided lodging. Paul didn't have his vacation villa there You know, they took care of him. Philemon also, Philemon 21, I think we're talking about Paul says, he'll find me lodging, I'll be, Lord's gonna bring me to you, find me lodging, something like that. So they were responsible helping with that. The church provided for general needs. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the last year, your care of me hath flourished again. Paul said, thank you, you've taken care of me. I've been able to buy my soap. I bought new shoes, whatever. We see God's people doing it. Philippians 4.16, for even Thessalonica ye sent once again unto my necessity. They took care of him. 2 Corinthians 1.11, for the gifts bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given. Okay. Did you get some of that? Did you pick out one or two things? Review. God used the church and his people to confirm his call on a special work. Let God use you. Get the blessing of God speaking through you. You be the deacon that chases the guy out the front of the church and tackles him. Brother Sheffie, God's hand is on you. he commits the missionary to divinely appointed work, we are able to say, Apostello, listen, folks, think outside of yourselves. You want real blessing? Find some church around there, some new church plants maybe that you can have, and go have an influence. Offer to help them with their vacation, Bible school. Huh? And, Apostello, go do this. But then also the apoluo, which you're able to have some young men or ladies here that would, and you'd go, we're releasing you to the Holy Spirit, okay, under that leadership. But provide the primary point of accountability, carry on that spiritual ministry of prayer and counsel, encouragement, but also the church supplies and material needs of the missionary. Find ways that you can do it. The theme of this last session was to be being senders. Senders. Our role as the church and see the important part that God gives to the church in the advancement of His kingdom through the gospel of Jesus Christ. All I can ask right now, and I'll finish, is Are you committed as a church? Are you really committed as a church? Are you desirous to look outside of yourselves, look beyond your walls here? The Lord is doing a work here. And I can say that I like what I see. Four services listening to me and you still come out. I mean, the Lord's doing something. Plans for possibly expanding. Amen. The Lord, I think of the years that the walkers were here. God greatly used them. And then He sent you the hawkies. God wants to do something here, but let's step up and let's take our role as a local church and say, Lord, use us as a church to send the gospel to the ends of the earth. Thank you again for the time. Paul and I will slip up here from time to time, and we'll just love to be able to be here and worship with you. And thank you, Brother Hawkey, for the time and the support that the church gives to us, and financial, but also prayer. I believe we have a group here that, if we had a desperate need, I could call Pastor Hawkey. and he would bring it to you and you would pray for us. There's great value in that, having that kind of backing for the work that we're doing. So thank you, Brother Hawkey, and thank you for the time we've had here. Let's pray. Father, I ask that you will help us. We looked at this, just a portion of what the scripture talks about with the Great Commission and the role that we have as the Lord's people. Give us a sense of responsibility but excitement and Lord help us to enter this with such a thought of how beautiful are the feet of them that go and preach the tidings of salvation. This is a noble work. May it be lifted up in our minds this day and we go forward with that with thy blessing, in Jesus' name, amen.