Let me begin by just saying what a joy it is to be able to be together and to be considering this topic, the subject of missions as a whole. And as our brother has already said, quoting from John Piper, missions exist because worship does not. And our whole purpose of existence is the very glory of God. Let me also give us some introduction, and then I'd like for us to read a passage, and then I'll pray after that. So the subject this afternoon is the calling of the missionary, or what's sometimes called the missionary call. And it's vital that we have a right understanding of this topic, as we've already seen in some of our discussion, because misunderstanding can lead to dire consequences. So for example, on the one hand, there are those going as missionaries who are not called by God to be missionaries. There's also, on the other hand, those refraining from going because of confusion about what the call is. David Sills in his book, The Missionary Call, says this, a misunderstanding of the missionary call, who receives it and how it comes to people, has probably kept more people from going to the mission field than any other reason. situation is not helped by a confusing and contradictory views about the missionary call today. So, for example, you also have this. Some say you must have this personal call that comes in some kind of extraordinary or mystical experience in order to be called as a missionary. Eric Wright in his book, A Practical Theology of Missions, says this, whenever people talk about who should serve as missionaries, the need for a clear sense of divine call is usually mentioned most frequently. The importance of the call has been exaggerated to such an extent that many look for some mystical experience mirroring that of Gideon, Isaiah, or Saul. One of the most popular views in evangelical Christianity is this, but it comes in part out of an unbiblical view of how we discern or understand God's will, which we'll talk about. And many have recognized this problem. And so what do they do? They respond by overreacting. Some people go so far as to say, there's no such thing as a missionary call at all. Jim Elliot actually wrote in one of his journals, our young men are going into the professional fields because they don't feel called to the mission field. We don't need a call. We need a kick in the pants. Another missionary with SIM, Raymond Davis, said, the concept of a call as a necessary introductory experience for serving God cannot be scripturally sustained or substantiated. Some, like Paul, did have such an experience, but many others didn't. We've built up the idea of a call into something which simply was not known in the days of the early church. Similarly, others have said, all the call that we need is the Great Commission, there is no personal call, we have the command, go! So which is it? Is there such a thing as a missionary call? If so, what is it? If not, then what? How do I know if I am called to be a missionary? Well, with all these questions, where do we turn? in such confusion while we turn to the only infallible rule of faith and practice, the scriptures themselves. So please turn with me to Acts chapter 11. And there we'll read verses 19 to 30 to get the context of the birth, as it were, of the church in Antioch. And then we'll turn to 12, chapter 12, verse 25, and read down to chapter 13, verse 5. Hear now God's Word, Acts chapter 11, verses 19 to 30. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. and the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came, he saw the grace of God. He was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Now in those days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Now if you come down to chapter 12 verse 25 they go down to Jerusalem and then they come back. This is what we find in verse 25. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who is called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menean, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had John to assist them. Amen. That's for the reading of God's word. Let's pray together. Our great and glorious Lord, as we have come together this afternoon, our desire is that You would speak to us from Your Word through Your servant. We thank You, our Lord, that You have not left us without instruction. You have not left us without Your mind and Your will given to us in Your Word. So we ask for the work of your Holy Spirit to come, to illuminate our hearts and minds, give us understanding, but not only understanding of our minds, move our souls and our hearts as well to a greater love for you, and move our hands to obey and do all that you call us to do as your church. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this afternoon, then, I want us to consider this subject of the missionary call under three points, which you have there in your notebook. You can see it there. First, we'll talk about the context of the missionary call, then the content of this missionary call, and then lastly, the consideration of the missionary call today. How do we discern these things in our own context? So first, consider with me the context of the missionary call. And we need to recognize that this call comes in the context of the new covenant kingdom of the risen Christ. Now, some who know me know I am someone who loves to think in big pictures and to see things in their broad context. So I want to, just for a moment, think with me of this passage in Acts 13 in its broad biblical, theological, redemptive, historical context, okay? We're gonna take the widest angle lens possible. And we're gonna start with saying that this call that the Holy Spirit gives is rooted in the covenant of redemption, which we heard about in our last sessions. It's rooted all the way back in the plan of God that works itself out in space, time, history, and the unfolding of that plan through the work of Christ and His Spirit in history. So it goes all the way back to the covenant of redemption. This call was what God planned for the expansion of Christ's kingdom, for the glory of Christ and the gospel to be known. So God decreed this ever before the world was made. But at this point, right here, in the outworking of God's purpose and plan, we need to remember what's going on here in Acts 13. We heard about this a bit earlier, and that is that the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who was the promised one from Genesis 3.15 on forward, he has come as one sent himself by the Father, has already come to the earth, has already lived on our behalf, A perfect life that we could not live. He has already gone to the cross to take the wrath of God in our place. He's already been put in the tomb. He's already been raised. And in fact, he's been ascended to heaven. Redemption has been accomplished. And now in the book of Acts, this is about Christ as our ascended Lord, continuing his work on the earth. And that's so important to see. He is ruling and reigning over all things right now. And in this point, he is ruling and reigning over what is taking place in his church. The Lord Jesus Christ is not at the right hand of the Father, sleeping away, waiting for God to tap on his shoulder and say, it's time to go back to earth now. Since his ascension, he is at the right hand of God, actively at work. He sent his spirit, and he is directing what takes place. He's ruling over all things, as it says in Ephesians 1. He is the head over all things for the good of his church. So we must remember, he is the ascended reigning king. The kingdom of Christ has come. And now is the time of the expansion of his kingdom. The king has given his command. He has given his commission to the church. In Acts chapter 1, you remember verse 1, he says this in writing the book. Luke says, in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. The implication is the book of Acts is what Jesus continues to do and teach. It's just as the ascended Lord in heaven. And then he gives the commission, you remember before his ascension, which we've heard, but Acts 1.8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And when you get to this point in the book of Acts, we've already seen the Spirit's been poured out, they've received the Spirit, The gospel has gone forth in Jerusalem with those 3,000 that day and all the way through Acts chapter 7, more and more. Remember the priests even come, the church is built up. And then we've seen it go even into Samaria and Judea. Remember with Philip the evangelist. And Peter going to Cornelius' house in Acts chapter 10. So now we're at the point where we're on the cusp of the gospel going to the ends of the earth, beyond even Judea and Samaria. So the big picture context is this call comes at the time when Christ is reigning in his new covenant kingdom as the risen Christ. He's directing things by his word and by his spirit. But the other thing that's so important, which is some of what we were talking about earlier is how we understand missions. This call comes in the context of a local church. the context of the church in Antioch. And this is a church that is in union with the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Now, just to remember a few things about Antioch. Antioch is Antioch in Syria, is the area. The third largest city in the Roman Empire at the time in that area. It was a very cosmopolitan city. In other words, there were people from different nationalities, ethnic groups, all in this one city. And you can see that even in the leadership of the church. Of course, you remember Barnabas is a Jew. He is a Levite, in fact. son of encouragement. But then you have Simeon, who's also called Niger, which is a word for black. It is likely that he is an African man. Also Lucius of Cyrene. Cyrene is in Libya, modern-day Libya, so another African man. Menaen, who was brought up with Herod Antipas, which is the son of Herod the Great. And so here is someone who's more familiar with nobility, so even different probably social classes in the leadership of the church. And so from a very culturally diverse background, all of these leaders, they're not from the same place, they don't have the same upbringing and all of those things, but what is it that united them? One thing, Jesus Christ. And you see, that's the union that they have. They're united all to Christ, and then therefore they are united to one another. That's the beauty of the church, and especially the local church. And so it comes in this context of the risen Christ ruling over his church, universal, but also his specific local expressions. And it's in this local church that the call comes. But notice as well, that it is coming in the context of the church as it's burdened for the glory of Christ. What does it say there in verse 2, chapter 13, while they were worshiping the Lord? It's in the very act of their worship, in the very act of their bringing glory to Him by the sacrifice of the praise of their lips, hearts lifted up to Him. This word for worship is the word liturgy, so it's almost like in their actual weekly Lord's Day corporate worship. They've gathered at the time appointed by the risen King to meet with the risen King, and they're concerned for His honor and His glory. They're adoring Christ, lifting Him up, proclaiming Him. And they're fasting and praying, the text tells us. That's part of what's going on in their worship. Now we know Jesus expected his disciples to fast. He didn't say, If you fast, or if you feel like fasting, in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, when you fast, there is an expectation that God's people will be fasting. That doesn't mean that you fast for every meal, obviously. It doesn't mean that you fast all the time. But there are specifically, specific times in the life of a church where the leaders of the church will call that church to fast and pray. In our own church life, we've had that experience. For example, before we constituted as our own local church, we had a time of fasting and prayer. When we were crying out to the Lord to raise up leaders in our midst, it called for a time of fasting and prayer. And here is the church worshiping, seeking God's guidance through its fasting and prayer, an expression of their earnestness and their expectancy. And I actually think perhaps what's going on is they are burdened as they see the current situation, knowing the command of Christ, that they are to go not only to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, but also to the ends of the earth, and yet not seeing that take place yet. They are praying, Lord, how shall we fulfill your command? They're burdened to see the glory of Christ go even further to the Gentiles beyond where they are. So here's the application I want us to think of. This then is where the call comes to us as well. It comes to us in the context of churches, local churches, worshiping Christ burdened for his glory. The expansion of his kingdom. And that is a call to us as churches to be crying out, Lord, fulfill your plan, fulfill your commission through us. Guide us, direct us how we in particular as this particular local church are to walk in obedience to your command. So it comes in the context of the local church, in the context of Christ as the king of his church, directing each and every local church. So that's the context of this call. Let's think secondly then about the content of the missionary call. What is the call actually to do? And here my brother Jerry did steal a little bit of thunder, but it's always good to hear it a second time. And the first is this, the call comes from Christ by His Holy Spirit first, right? Now, we're not exactly sure how this happened in the local church there in Antioch, right? There were still prophets and apostles at that time. It could have been in a sense of directly through a prophet or one of these leaders in the church in that sense. This is the apostolic age here in Acts 13. We're not sure exactly how this call came, but that's not the most important point. The important point is that the Spirit calls. It is the Holy Spirit who calls, not the individual man himself. There is no such thing as a self-appointed missionary. Notice the text, how he says it here in verse two. While they were fasting, worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me. Saul and Barnabas, for the work to which I have called them." So who's doing the calling? The Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit, who is the only vicar of Christ on the earth, unlike what others might think. So he is the one. Christ himself is the one who actually calls his missionaries. And he does it through his Spirit. The king speaks. The king calls. And when the king calls, we obey. But notice, secondly, it comes from Christ himself as the risen king by the Holy Spirit, but the call comes to the church to send. What's the command? He says, set apart for me Paul and Barnabas. Notice, set apart. Who's doing the setting apart? It's the church that is setting them apart. So the call comes not first to the missionaries to go, but to the local churches to send. The local church here in Antioch. In this work of missions, there is more than just those who go, but those who sinned are important as well. And that's what we saw earlier with the golden chain of missions in Romans chapter 10. How are they going to believe? Unless they hear. Unless there's a preacher. Unless they're sent. That's the first step. in that sense. The spirit calls the church. And so again, this goes back to the importance of understanding the work of missions is not just for the missionary. It is the work of the entire church. We are a body. A body has many parts. And it is very strange to see someone walking around without a head. It's also very odd to see people, and there are people sometimes, without arms or limbs, and we would say there's a sense where there's not a wholeness, a completeness there. And it's also very strange to see someone try to run with one leg. Their other leg's just dangling, right? The whole body is to be working together in the work that Christ, the head of the church, calls the body to do. So the call comes from Christ by the Holy Spirit, the call comes to the church to send, but then the call is for individuals to go as those sent by the church. And so again, what does the text say? Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work. These are two particular individuals in the church, members of that church and leaders in that church that are called to cross-cultural church planting. That's the work, and we'll talk more about the work tomorrow. Here we're focusing on the call. Now, here's a fascinating thing to recognize and remember. Saul had already been told that he was going to be someone who would take the gospel to the Gentiles. You remember, that's actually what happened when he saw the risen Lord on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9. Turn back with me, Acts chapter 9, it's just a couple of pages. And notice verse 15. But the Lord said to him, go, talking to Ananias, go for he, that is Saul, is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. It's already early on right there. He knows that he's going to be sent, going to go and take the gospel to the Gentiles. You can see it again if you flip ahead when Paul reflects back on this in Acts 26. Notice there, Acts 26 and verse 16. Starting verse 15, he's speaking there to Agrippa about his conversion, says, And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me. and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." So certainly in Acts 9 we see God saying that to Ananias, but in Acts 26 the Lord directly himself says, I'm sending you. Now do you recognize, Paul doesn't just then go up to the church and say, hey, I've been called by Christ himself to go, you guys need to send me now. You don't see him do that, do you? In fact, if you follow through Acts in the chronology, you must understand that 10 years pass from him receiving that internal call and the actual external call by the church. So it's important for us to understand, he waits upon the Lord to move his church to confirm the call that Christ had already given to Paul. It's the importance of understanding both. There is an internal aspect to the call, to the ministry, to the call to be a missionary in the sense of being a church planting missionary. There is an internal burden, burning desire, understanding that God has put that within us. As he says in Timothy, he desires to be an elder, it's a noble task, it's a good thing to desire that work, and that's part of the internal call. But that call must be confirmed by the Church. The Spirit of God working in his body to show them, this is the one whom I've called, and this is the one I've called you to send and support. and join with and work together in taking my gospel to the ends of the earth. So what are we seeing here then? What is the call to? It's a call by Christ through his spirit to his church to be involved in the work of missions. And again, the church is a body. Some sinned and some go. but they work together. You can't have one without the other. You can't have a church that sends if there's no one to go, and you can't have someone go in a biblical sense unless there's a church to send. So you have the sending church as the church in Antioch, and of course we also find in Paul's missionary journeys, there are other churches, sometimes the churches that he has planted that also partner and join with. For example, the church in Philippi. Then you also have the church planters, Paul and Barnabas. But notice, notice this. What did we see in Acts 13? At the end of verse 5, and they had John to assist them. Wait a minute, wait a minute. The Holy Spirit didn't say, set apart for me Saul and Barnabas and John Mark. And this is getting to some of the questions that we had. Is there a distinction between a call to be a church planning missionary and those who are part of the church that go to assist? There is a place. Clearly we see that in the scriptures. In fact, we can say that Paul was accompanied by probably a hundred people in his labors. Twenty of his co-workers. are called co-workers, many of them were actually women, and they're not ordained preachers. And so in that sense, we're not saying they're capital M missionaries in the sense of called by the Spirit to do the work of church planting, but they're part of the church body, and that's part of the support in sending a missionary. We need to recognize that. And I think that's an area we need to grow in. Does that mean that we financially support those who go to support? Well, often what happens is they're able to be tent makers, support themselves with their actual other vocation, their calling. But they're there for the purpose of supporting and seeing other churches planted. So, for example, You have others that go with just some of the names. Some of them do and become church planters as well, like a Timothy. And perhaps John Mark did later on, but in this first trip, not so. You have Silas and Titus later. You have Luke, who's a doctor. There's your medical missions. There's Apollos, there's Demas, there's Epaphras, there's Phoebe, there's Priscilla, there's Mary, there's Junia, there's Mary again, Iodia, Syntyche. These are called co-workers. For example, one type of worker that's not a missionary church planter is Aquila and Priscilla, a couple who are tent makers who first met Paul in Corinth and gave him a job as a tent maker with them. But what do we find? These laymen move with Paul as he's going back to Jerusalem and they stop off in Ephesus. You remember then comes Apollos and a church begins to form and then later Paul comes back again. Now Priscilla and Aquila weren't saying we are the pastor and pastorette. No, they were laymen. And they assisted Paul in the work. Paul was the one, Saul was the one called by the Spirit to be the church planter in that sense. And so here I think we need to see the importance of the whole church working together and even the importance of missionary teams and beginning to think in those ways. So not all are called as church planting pastors, confirmed and supported by the church to go, but there is a legitimate place for others that are part of the body to support. So what is the call? It's a call by the Spirit of God Himself to particular men who have the gifts and the graces of the ministry to go and be church planters. So then, lastly then, consider the missionary call today, the consideration of the missionary call today. And here we have to recognize, as we study through the book of Acts, A couple years ago I preached through the whole Book of Acts at our church, and one of the things I kept reminding them, there are unique elements in the Book of Acts because it's the Apostolic Age, and while the Apostles are still alive, they're not alive on the earth. So they do not rule in that sense any longer. In that sense, other than by the revelation that they've given to us in the New Testament. So we don't have direct revelation today. We don't have in the sense the Spirit maybe it was through one of the prophets there in the church in Antioch saying set apart for me Saul and Barnabas. But that doesn't mean Christ is not still active. He is and he is active calling his missionaries. But we have to understand how to discern when Christ is calling a man to that work. And it's not helped, and here I want us to think for a moment again about the confusion caused by unbiblical views of discerning God's will. And this is part of the problem. Some unbiblical views, the confusion. One helpful book, I think, in this matter of discerning God's will is a book called Step by Step by James C. Petty. Also, there's a book by Gary Friesen, Decision Making and the Will of God, they're of a similar vein. But there's two biblical views that James Petty speaks about. One is the traditional charismatic view, which in a sense wants to say that we're still in the apostolic age. It didn't end in that sense. We don't move on from it. And so they would say that God communicates directly and verbally with individuals, families, and churches to let them know his plan for them. For some it involves the confidence that God normally and naturally communicates with us in a clear human language apart from scripture. That there's a direct voice. So some would speak in this way, I heard God tell me there was the voice from God. Some view this as dreams, some view it as prophecies. Others, Many evangelicals view it as this inaudible voice in the heart. And they will say, God told me that I am to be a missionary to Timbuktu. Or, God told me I need to be a missionary to the Bahamas, right? That's the traditional charismatic view. The other traditional view, which is also very common in evangelicalism, is a view that says, you've got to seek to figure out God's specific plan for your life. He has this dot that's the center of his will, and you need to be in the center of God's will. For example, J. Oswald Sanders says it this way, does God have an ideal and detailed will and plan for every life? Is this a valid concept, or is it only a view that has been read into Scripture wrongly? If there is such a plan, it is of paramount importance that we get to know it. The problem is, this confuses how we understand God's secret, decretive will and His revealed moral preceptive will. Does God have an actual plan for each of our lives where he knows exactly what's going to happen? Of course. He's decreed everything that comes to pass. It's part of God's decree. Part of his providence is working out of that decree. Yes, that is definitely true. But the problem is this. He hasn't promised to tell us what's going to happen before it happens. You can know what he's decreed for you when you look back. That is not how we make decisions and that's also not how we discern the will of Christ. We discern the will of Christ by his revealed will to us, what he has given to us in the scriptures and the use of godly wisdom. in this unbiblical view of trying to find the dot or the specific kind of will in the future. What we've done is, as I've said, it's not listening to Deuteronomy 29, 29, which says the secret things of God belong to God, but the things that have been revealed are for us and for our children. And so it can be manifested in all sorts of ways. Have you ever had the idea of looking for a sign or putting out a fleece? Seeking to find it that way. I remember in college I was still under that view. I was wrestling with the decision. Should I accept some scholarship to go into the military, ROTC, or not? And so I was wrestling with this whole thing and I said, well, I'm just going to flip through the Bible and read and if I find the word yes, then it must mean yes. If I find the word no, it must mean no. And I actually did that. And I found no, so I didn't go into it. But that's not how you use the Bible, even, to discern the will of Christ. It's understanding what he has said in its context by the use of those ordinary means and by the use of the Spirit of God and the counsel of godly men. the church, that's how we understand what the scriptures say. So the clarity comes when we understand how to use biblical wisdom to discern God's will, and in fact to say, to discern God's calling. James Petty says this about this view. He says, this perspective then holds that although God does have an individual and specific plan for every Christian, this plan is strictly secret. God does not normally reveal anything about it to us until after the fact. In this view, divine guidance has nothing to do with discerning the secret plan and using it to make decisions. Guidance is given by God when he gives us insight into issues and choices so that we make the decision with divinely inspired wisdom. through his word. This wisdom comes to us primarily through the illumination of the Holy Spirit in his word. So you can think of various elements, and again I commend that book to you just as an overarching book in thinking about discerning God's will, Christ's will. He talks about consecrating ourselves to the Lord, seeking information, prayer and supplication, counsel and consultation, meditation, coming to a decision. So when you think about these things, and then what are some of the questions to consider and think through when you ask the question, am I called to be a church planting missionary? Well, one important question to ask very first and foremost is this, is have I responded to the call of Christ to repent and believe? You cannot be a Christian missionary if you are not a Christian. Sadly, there are those who have tried to do so. So that is the first question. Am I a Christian? Has God worked so in me that I have a new heart that knows Christ as my Savior and Lord? And have I followed his command of being baptized? That means am I part of a local church? Baptism is a church ordinance. It is not something that you just decide to do to your friend because they said, I've become a Christian. It is a church ordinance, which is why The Great Commission has to be completed by planting churches. You cannot make disciples and baptize them if there are no churches. And so, that's the first question. Am I being obedient to the call of Christ, baptism being part of the church? And then, one of the most important questions to ask, and that as well, beyond this, and this is one of the things that Brother Steve Martin has so well emphasized in his ministry and has just stuck in my mind is the first question for a Christian man or woman is am I being a Christian man or woman? Am I being a godly man, a godly woman in my own home? Am I being a godly man, a godly woman as a husband or a wife, as a father, as a mother seeking to live the Christian life faithfully? Some have said, well, one of the questions about should I be a missionary then, beyond this, is am I convicted by the command of Christ and burdened by the need? Well, my response to that is to say we should all be convicted by the command of Christ, that his gospel go to the ends of the earth. And we should all feel the burden of the need. If you want to feel some of that burden, go to, for example, the Joshua Project, which I may not agree with all of what they're saying there, but part of what they're saying is, according to their estimation, 42% of the world is completely unreached. How many billions of people, of souls, people made in the image of God is that? No, the question is this, knowing the command and knowing the burden and feeling the burden, Lord, what is my role to play as part of your church in fulfilling this command? What part have you given me as a part of a local body to play in fulfilling it? Because everyone has a part to play. Am I serving in my local church where I am being faithful in the work of expanding Christ's kingdom here? Am I growing in prayer, evangelism? Important question if someone is desirous of wondering if they should be a cross-cultural missionary is, are you involved in any cross-cultural work where you are? We live in a day and age when the world has come to us. You're in Atlanta, for goodness sake, and I don't look like most of you in here. That gives you a sense of it, right? And so, are we involved in it in those ways? And then, of course, the big question of, am I called to be a capital M missionary? Well, do I have the gifts and graces of a pastor, of an elder? Go through 1 Timothy chapter 3. Are these the things that God has worked in my life? Do my elders see that? Does the church recognize that? If not, then we continue to pray and grow and see where the Lord leads. But another important question, and this is a difficult question for us, particularly as pastors, the question comes, where am I called to serve? Am I called to serve in Georgia or South Georgia? Am I called to serve up in the great northeast or a completely other country? And again, we use wisdom. Do you have the ability to learn the language of another place if you were to go? Or would you have to be constantly using a translator? That's an important question. Now, it's not to say that someone can't use a translator. There are some, for example, in the Far East, at their stage in life, learning that language is very difficult for them, so they actually have a translator with them wherever they go, and the Lord is using them. But again, there's wisdom in seeking through. What would God have me to do? What does the church see as my gifts and graces in my role? So this is just a very incomplete list, but I'm wanting to give you ways of thinking through. and thinking how do we discern them? What are the opportunities that he has given to me? And I think another very important question is where are there others who are already going and are there people I can join in the work of missions? I think one of the greatest difficulties for many missionaries is because the church is held to almost a romantic view of missions where it is the rugged individual who maybe goes just with his wife. That that's the only way to do missions, is that we send an individual man by himself. And study after study has shown those are the ones who most often burn out and leave the field within the first five years. So, one of the things that we see in scripture is the Holy Spirit called Saul and Barnabas. And every time we see Paul go somewhere, he's with another man. We need to be thinking, I think, in that direction as we're doing missions. At least two men, qualified, gifted, sent out together to do this work. So hopefully this has been helpful to give you a sense of what we're talking about when we're saying a missionary call, that it is something that Christ still does by his spirit, through his church, calling individual men to go and to be church planners. Let us pray then to the Lord of the harvest, to the king of the church, to raise up both sending churches and men to go. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, We thank you that you have installed your king on your holy hill in Zion. Lord Jesus, you are ruling. And as your people, as your children, and as your servants, even now we come and we plead with you, Lord Jesus, raise up more men. And raise up more churches. And help us to be faithful to how we can obey your command. Guide us, direct us by your word and spirit, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. We have some time if you'd like to ask some questions. And if not, you can talk to Jerry, that's fine. I've been teaching a group of men who have some aspirations in our church, who express some aspirations in the ministry, and I've been teaching them in qualification. The men over there, of course, have been reading Pilate's chapter 1. There's something that I try to emphasize here. Every time we're going to reset, we're going to go to a third and final session in just a few weeks on the qualification. Every time, I'll begin at the same time. The text? In other words, just the same way you tested your elders, you tested me. The thing I don't understand is this. These qualifications were not given for you to examine yourself. It's as important as that is. It's legitimate. It was given to the church for the church to examine. And the church doesn't see it. then you are barking up a long tree. What you don't see is because Paul's emphasis isn't as much on the skill sets a man has as it is the character of his life. What kind of man is he in the home? What kind of man is he in the community? Now, the skill sets are there too. The theological acumen, his ability to teach, those are important as well. But the point is, the very emphasis is what kind of man is he? What kind of character is he? And it's the job of the church to recognize that. We had a young man in our church back in 2008, 2009, one of the only church members I ever visited in the Nail Board, because he had been diagnosed with bipolar. He was given an honorable discharge from the Army, but I had to go visit him in a military enrollment station. When he got out, he decided, what do I want to do for my life? I'm getting a stipend from the military the rest of my life. I think I want to be a missionary to India. And we sat down with him for four hours, tweeting with him, telling him what he wanted to do. Mentally unstable, emotionally unstable, bad theology in some places, things like that. At the end of the four hours, he said, well, thank you, man, for your opinion, but I'm going to go with him. And I looked at him and I said, the two men that God has placed over you, as your overseers, have told you how to make this, you're not fit for this. Your best friend said that you're going through the same thing. The three men you love the most in the entire world are in this room. And you're telling me that you're going to do a meeting with them. And you're proving to me how unfit you are because you're a self-loving man. And everything that we thought was going to happen, has happened. The instabilities that we see in California as a result of it, to see that is not a true quality to be in addition to. Those who can run, they're not sent. comment on what you said. You asked a question, are you able to learn new languages? And I thought you'd get the ball here that you're not good at English. Yes? Before our mission, you mentioned about the concept that you've got two men for commissionaries. Does that practice apply to any Christian groups? Is it actually practiced now? A lot of, from what I do know of, say, some of these para-church organizations, they do emphasize 18. Churches. Churches? In other words, that's the biblical model. It is. But what he said is, is that biblical model actually being practiced? That's a good question. But again, think about just historically some things. Did William Carey go by himself? No, he didn't, but oftentimes all we hear of is William Carey. So even that was not just one man. He was sent with, no, turned out to be not such a great guy, but nevertheless, he was sent with another, and then the Lord raised up others, and there was a serum poor trio and all of those things. I know that it is desire of every missionary I've ever talked to. That was my own desire when I was going to plant the church in Tennessee. But that's not what the Lord provided. Now, I will say this, if I can just say this. So we just sent a man, Nathan White, to go plant a church in Lookout Mountain. But there was already a man there who seminary trained. We're not saying he's an elder in our church or anything like that, but a man. So there is that camaraderie. We thought that was a very important thing. And part of my own experience is saying it's a very important thing. And I would say even in ARPCA, this has been an emphasis that's been going on really since, from what I remember, 2006 was the first time I heard it. And we still haven't done it yet, but I think we ought to. negative situation. A lot of times, that's what churches ought to look for. They're sending a man to an area. Does that area already have some families that are serious about a church plan? And if they are, is there a man in that church that is possible elder material or someone that can be a helper? That's one thing. But secondly, we have talked about this a lot, Margaret, since I came in in 2001. I remember this being in a conversation. But I've often found many missionaries, and church planners in the states the same, but many missionaries are often chomping at the bit to get on the field so fast that they want to get there and then ten years later they're saying, I should have come with someone else. men on a national level here talking about church planting from the age of 25 to 35 and trying to get them to wait three years to go home to plant a church is almost like holding back a bulldog from a ribbon. If I can just also say, for example, Alan Beardmore, who was just sent to Perth, there's already a group of families there and a man that we thought of as a man that would be a help in that sense. So there is that already in the conversation. I want to say, Steve, did you? I was going to change the subject and follow on Stan's. Well, I was just going to say, the hackster thing seems to be a paradigm of issues. But then Paul broke that paradigm later. Him and Barlow has had their kind of blow up. He takes jobs. Right. Things like silence. But the church, it doesn't set aside silence. That's part of the church. Something you mentioned about the Holy Spirit. Ian Murray, who will be known, his name is here, was interviewed by Mark Dever about today's ministers and missionaries. And he said, do you see any deficiency in some of the ministers today? And what would you be looking for? And he said, I see a deficiency among many ministers today, that they are unable to pray down the Holy Spirit. And what he meant by that was the Holy Spirit does not seem to accompany their ministry, though they may be well-trained and super nice guys. The Holy Spirit doesn't accompany their ministry with any extraordinary power. And in John 7, when Jesus talked, he said, feast day on a desert island and said, hey, man, it's thirsty. Come to me and drink it. I was in Mosque. It shall flow. Not in a pit of gold, not in a teapot, not in the rivers of living water. And I don't think it would be enough. I don't think that a missionary, church planner, or pastor needs to have flowing out of him enough that his wife and children dislike their thirst. Calvin was called the theologian of the Holy Spirit and we who are reformed we should have a clear understanding of the Spirit at work today and praying down, as it were, as Ian Murray says, the Holy Spirit in our ministries, in our churches, and especially, you see this crying out for missionaries in that sense. Spirit answering. Any other questions? I was going to make a comment actually earlier, but thinking about missionaries going to teams, I think it's really central to have that as a core commitment. Because the reality is, fundamentally, you're talking about twice as much money, or three times as much money. Or how many people are part of this team to go to an area? And practically, raising support for one family can be quite strenuous for a church, to start a mission, a church planning effort. Raising money for two families or more I think there's a couple things about that. One, that's part of the beauty of an association. And so you can have one church sending and another church sending, but they're both going to the same place to work together. And the other church is helping in that way. It's also, for example, where you have maybe a man who is elder qualified, but also is a tent maker. So you have one who may be supported and one who's also doing tent making work. That also is often the case in church plants and sometimes in mission work. But then we need to remember the third thing, which is Also others who can come and support those who aren't necessarily being supported by the church. They're doing their vocation in that place as part of a support to that. Because think of this, what did Jesus say? They will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another. When you have a group, there is the one another for that love to be shown. It's more difficult between two. It's not to say it's not there. Obviously, it isn't a marriage and that kind of a thing. But when you have a team in that sense, and there is that supernatural love of Christ from the Spirit of God working in them as they're bringing the gospel, that in itself is part of the witness, which brings people to Christ. A creative idea, if you watch the videos of Statues from the Front, there was a man working for a storehouse in Dramers Rest. He worked as a barista. He got high enough in Starbucks they taught him how to roast coffee beans. His goal was to go to Bangladesh, which is on the east side of India. The capital of that car had no coffee companies. So the hotels and the embassies struggled to get coffee. He went there, brought his roast and brought his beans, started selling coffee to all the hotels and the embassies and opened up a coffee shop. And he would employ Christians to come work at the coffee shop and then witness the people who were there. But he made enough money selling all these beans In ways to do that within the context of your local church and working together in that sense. So it's not just, oh I have this idea, I'm going to go do this. But I think there's some encouragement there, as well as pastors, as elders, and also as churches. I appreciate what you brought out concerning Paul, which is, honestly, I believe in a lot of Christians. between that internal, subjective impression call, and then the actual objective confirmation of the local church, and therefore the formal symbiotic. In our day, considering the missionary call in our day, it's as if It's all about somebody who's got a zeal, somebody who's willing to be radical. And then, of course, if you're in a Soda Baptist contest, if they can preach, then they're ready. Let's lay hands on them and go. And I think that needs to be highlighted, underlined, re-emphasized again and again, because it is missing. It is missing in a vast way. When the scripture commands us, warns us, in 1st Timothy 5, lay down your hands quickly and kneel down as she shares her sins. And Paul tells Timothy why he gives that kind of warning, because he says it. He says just two verses later, the sins of some men are clearly evident, while the sins of others appear later. That's why you don't lay hands quick. Because there are going to be some men that are going to look so good, they're going to seem like they didn't build it. They may have, you know, knowledge. The skill set is there. Alright? But the grace set has not evolved with the skill set. There needs to be maturity. There needs to be a man who can preach a good sermon, or a man who's just got this hot zeal. And that's just something that has got to be re-emphasized. And frankly, in many, many local churches, it has to be not just reading it, not reading it reduced, but it's got to be a discovery of a whole biblical concept that most churches don't even have a clue about. They don't have a category to bring. That's right. You know, that when we're talking about missionaries, we're talking about church planners, and we're therefore talking about pastors. That's right. We're talking about other shepherds. Other shepherds who were starting the church, and so they've got to be biblically And the other important point to recognize is Paul was already a pastor. He had been a pastor for a while before he sent as a missionary.