But if you look in your program for tonight, you'll see that the title for the message tonight is, Me? A Missionary? What is My Role in God's Work? use that as our topic tonight and really focus on the role of the local church and missions. And as you look at your bookmark, you might say, well, that's a lot of points for him to cover in a message. And it is a lot, but we'll be going through those quickly. We won't be doing expositions of those texts very often, just really kind of commenting as we go through. But I hope it will be helpful to you to realize what your role really is. The question Me, a missionary, suggests that you should ask that question to yourself, right? And so I have a question for you. Is every believer a missionary? Well, yes and no. I set you up for that one, right? Most of you are shaking your head like the right answer is yes, we all are missionaries. Technically, that is not the case. Okay? Let me try to explain that. We'll be working through that tonight and tomorrow. There is a place for all of us in missions. There's no question about that. In fact, I think you'll be surprised at some of the things we learn tomorrow, especially about, you know, what role people have in missions and how you use your gifts in missions. Someone has put it this way, and I think this might be helpful as an introduction to understand what's going on in missions. If everything is missions, then really nothing is missions. You lose meaning if everything is missions. And if every believer is a missionary, that term which is properly understood a Bible term, although you don't find it in our English Bible. But if everyone's a missionary, then that term loses its meaning in the Christian church. And so what is a missionary? What does that word mean? Well, it comes from a Latin verb and a Latin noun that means someone sent. on a mission, someone sent for a purpose with a role to fill. And so technically then a missionary is someone who is sent, and we're going to see that in Acts chapter 13 as we'll get into that more tomorrow, but even now we can go ahead and ask you to turn there. So a missionary technically is someone who is sent. on a gospel mission. And you are not all sent officially by the church to do missionary work. It's good to see Ben and his family here. Talked to Ben for the last few years, knew that he was going to Indonesia. Actually had an opportunity to do a survey trip about the same time you went, I guess. Did Brother Hannah go with you on that trip? Okay, great. Matt Hanna is a dear friend with Baptist Mid-Missions. He's a missionary in Taiwan, and we have one of our missionaries working with Matt. And I knew that Ben was on a survey trip as well. But those are some of the things that we do, but Ben is sent on a mission to do church planting in Indonesia, and so he is a missionary, maybe I could use the word proper. The word sent is very critical as we think about missions. Let me ask you this. How do you distinguish in the Old Testament someone who's a true prophet and someone who is a false prophet? How did God distinguish between those kinds of people? Well, it had to do really with whether He had sent them or not. Let me just give you a couple of references. You don't need to turn there. But Jeremiah 14, 14, the Lord said to me, the prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. These are false prophets. He goes on to say, "...I have neither sent them, nor commanded them, nor spoken to them." What you find in the Old Testament is that true prophets were sent by God. Another reference, Ezekiel 13.6. They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, the Lord declares, when actually The Lord has not, what do you think it says, sent them. So in the Old Testament, you have this concept of being sent by God, and about 200 times, that word's used 800 times, very common word in the Old Testament. But about one fourth of the times, it's God who's the subject, and He is sending prophets. And if He hasn't sent them, they're false prophets. So let me just ask you this. was every believer in the Old Testament times a prophet? No, right? So in the same way, in the New Testament times, not every believer is a missionary in that technical sense. But we all do have a very important part to play. And the fact is, we have to be careful not to be super dogmatic about definitions of missionaries. I'll just give you a hint where we're going tomorrow in one of the messages. Paul talks about co-workers. And as we look at some of those co-workers, we're going to find out that some of them were not really sent as missionaries, but Paul calls them sun ergos. Sun in Greek means with, ergos is the word for work. They are working with Him. That's the Bible word that's used, but we'll find out. Some of them are what we might call laymen. So there is a place, and there is a special place for these co-workers. So, just a couple of New Testament references about this concept of scent, and we'll get into your role as a local church, as a local church believer, in God's work of missions. But John the Baptist. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. Jesus Himself says that the Lord has sent Me to proclaim liberty. So this concept of sent is key, and that's where we get the word missionary, and that's really what it means in Latin. And we've just brought it over into English. Okay, so, if you want to look at your, and I don't have one with me, but I think I have all the points here. The first thing, and this is not necessarily a totally logical progression, but I think all these things are part of what we are to do. So if you would, turn to Acts 13. Participating. How do I get that? Well, Acts 13, famous text, but a lot of times maybe we don't get out of this everything we could. So just notice verse 1. Now, there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, and you have a list here, Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaan, and Saul, and they ministered to the Lord and fasted. And as they did that, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. You say, well, that's about Barnabas and Saul. Well, wait a minute. What is this meeting happening in verse 1? Think about what's going on here. Try to picture this back in that day. Is it just these teachers that have gathered to pray and fast? Well, we don't know absolutely, but the implication is that this was a church-wide thing. And the church has gathered specifically to pray about evidently something very special, again very specific. Now when we pray, what happens is the answer, right? You understand what I'm saying? When we pray, God's answer is what happens. Now here's, let's take that logically then. What happened here? The Holy Ghost said, okay, we've got about six teachers and preachers here, and I want two of them to go. That's the answer. What was the question that they were praying about? You follow what I'm saying? Are you with me on this? Maybe not. The answer was Barnabas and Saul, so the question was, Lord, here we are, who do you want to go? And maybe they were also praying, what do you want us to do? Where do you want us to go? So, here's what's happening then. This church seems to be praying specifically about their missions outreach. They're having a missions conference, like you are. And they're asking, okay, here we are. We're praying, we're fasting, we're very serious about this. Who do you want to go? And where do you want them to go? And God's answer is Barnabas and Saul. So, the whole church seems to be participating in this. Now, notice, remember the early question, is everyone here a missionary? What percentage of the church people were actually sent? It's a very small percentage, right? Now, it could be a larger percentage, but in this case, it's two. And actually, there's one other one. Do you know who the other one is? He's not spelled out here, but he is a little later in the chapter. Who is that? John Mark. That's right. We'll get to him. So we see that it was a small percentage. We see that those sent were actually those who were best trained. These men have already been doing this work. Barnabas and Saul have already been busy teaching and preaching. Paul's been evangelizing in other parts. Barnabas is the one who came to Antioch and really organized things. So these were the best trained. And it does seem that there was one other person who went, but he's not spelled out as chosen by the Holy Spirit. Now I don't know what that means, but there's nothing here about John Mark in verses 1-3. But if you look in verse 5 it says they also had John to their minister. That's John Mark. So participating. You are participating. You're doing exactly what the New Testament church did when you have a meeting like this. There needs to be a preparing for serving the Lord. The role of preparing for service is absolutely critical. Someone might say, well, I feel God's calling me to be a missionary. That's great. And then you might contact a mission agency, or you might talk to your pastor and say, well, I think God's calling me to be a missionary. I'm ready to leave tomorrow. I had a phone call this week. This was a fellow who had gone to our website. We have on our website some opportunities. One of the opportunities is teaching in Canada. Actually my wife's brother has a little Bible college up in Edmonton, Canada and he needs another teacher. And so this young fellow called me, seemed like a really nice guy. I didn't know him, he lives in Oklahoma. But as I talked to him, He said, he's been kind of, he used this word, I didn't use it, church hopping. And he said he was doing that so he could just see the various kinds of ministries. And I said, well, you know, where do you go to church now? And he said, well, I go to this church, but he said, I'm not a member yet. Okay, so he wants to go teach. Who do I talk to to find out if he has a gift for teaching? if he's prepared for ministry. Well, I call his pastor, but he doesn't have a church. So this matter of preparation is absolutely critical. You're not ready to go if you're not serving the Lord in your local church and having their commendation of you. These men, verse 1, What are they doing? They're already teaching, they're already serving, they're already prepared. So I want to know, are you fervently serving the Lord where you are? Romans 12 is a great text, it says, Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Well, another aspect of our participation in missions is obedience. God does call people. People sometimes say, well, what is the missionary call? Well, I don't have time to get into all of the definition, but I usually just use three simple words. I use an acronym, PCC. There's a personal aspect. There's a subjective. You have to sense this yourself. There's a corporate aspect. That's the church. The church has to be behind this. And then there are circumstances. Those have to allow you to go. But in this case, they are obeying God's call. Look at verse 2. He ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. So there is this obedience to God's call. It's interesting how God's call works. And again, we don't have time to develop this, but in Acts 16, it talks about Timothy. And you say, well, how was Timothy called? Well, if you just read Acts 16, you would find out that it had a lot to do with Paul's desires. In fact, it just simply says in Acts 16, 3, Paul wished for Timothy to go with him. It's almost like, okay, what's Timothy's part? Timothy almost just has no choice in the matter. In other texts we read that the church was behind him, there was prophetic preaching about how God would use Timothy. So there's this obeying of God's call. So if God is calling you, then you must obey. Secondly, or fourthly, there is this matter of sending. Now I want you to notice the word used here in verse 3. When they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. You know, that's kind of hard for churches. You got a very fervent person here in your church who's faithful, and you're going to send them away? Yes. You know, God doesn't bless those who are seeking to build empires, who are seeking just to build their own church. God's work is bigger than a church. We look at it this way as a mission agency. We have recommended other, sometimes people go with other mission agencies. Why is that? Because the work is bigger than our agency. It's God's work and it might be a better fit for them to do that. And if God is calling someone from your church, you need to send them. Now what does that word send mean? This is a fascinating word. Let me just give you some references. You remember what Pilate did with Barabbas? What did he do? He set him free. That's the same word. Pilate released Barabbas. He told Jesus, I have power to release you. And Jesus, of course, that's not true, but that's the word. In Acts chapter 4, Peter and the others are taken captive, arrested, but then they let them go. In Acts chapter 15 it talks about an assembly of people, and it says they were dismissed. So this word in Acts 13, 3 is not so much sending, It's more the idea of what? Releasing. Alright, let them go. Set them free from their responsibilities here so they can go and do what they need to do. So there's this matter of sending them. And ultimately who is it that sends? Look at verse 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost. So it's the Holy Ghost who sins, of course the church does sin also, but that word really means to release. Then you have the matter of the church proclaiming. Now, that has two aspects. There's no question that the Great Commission applies to every one of us, right? I think that's why you answered earlier that yes, you are a missionary, because the Great Commission is given to every believer. There's no question about that. So in that sense, we are all witnesses. We're not all sent missionaries, but we are all witnesses. And we're all to be proclaiming that message. But what I find fascinating is that God uses churches that are fervent for Him. And what you find, for instance, in Thessalonica is an amazing testimony to a church. You know how that reads? It says this about the Thessalonian church, sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God is spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything." Do you understand what that's saying? That's saying the church in Thessalonica or the church in Flat Rock, people in Columbia know about you. How? Because of your fervent testimony. It's not that you go out there and say, Hey, let me tell you about us. They heard about this church in Thessalonica all around that area. Why? Well, part of it was no doubt some of those people were taking the gospel to those areas, but part of it is they just had a wonderful testimony because there had been such a change. They had turned to God from idols to serve the true and living God." And the word here is kind of like, their testimony was like trumpeted abroad. They were aflame for the Lord. Well, what's another role that the local church has? Of course, the matter of praying is huge. And I'm not going to give you all those verses, but let me just mention one in particular. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 11 says, Paul is writing to these believers in Corinth, which by the way doesn't seem to be so much a praying church. But this is what he says to them, you also helping together by prayer. Other translations say, you also must help us by prayer, or you joining and helping us through your prayers. Now, we have another bookmark back on the table, and it's about biblical praying for missionaries. I'm not going to have time with you this time to go through that, but it is a reference to every place where Paul asked prayer for himself. And there aren't that many places where Paul said, pray for me, and the implication is pray for me as a missionary. These are things that I need for you to be praying about. And so if you want to get that bookmark, you can never go wrong praying those things. It asks for opportunity, open doors, praying for boldness, praying for clarity, making the message clear, and praying for effectiveness. That's where he says, pray that the Word of God would run, that it would be glorified. What does that mean? That it would be effective. He prays for protection. He prays for acceptance, which I'll talk more about, and then he prays for refreshment. So, your part is praying for your missionaries. You are actually helping Brother Ben, when he gets to Indonesia by praying for him, you're helping him. Do you believe that? And then there's this matter, and I think it's a little different on the, I've tweaked this slightly over just recently. But I have, I don't know what I have on that card. Is it advising? What does it say? Advising, okay. I want to put a slash on there and put refreshing. The church does counsel, the church does encourage. It talks about that in I Corinthians 16.8. But let me give you this reference. Romans 15.32. I don't believe this is on your card. It needs to be. I'm going to try to update the card slightly. Romans 15.32. Paul says, and this is one of those texts where he's asking prayer for himself. He says, I want you to pray for me that God would protect me. And I want you to pray for me that I would be able to come to you by the will of God and with you be refreshed. What is your part with missionaries? Part of it is to refresh them. Paul had never been to Rome. He hadn't been to see these believers. Why was he looking forward to getting to Rome? He says, Well, I want to be able to impart some spiritual gift. I want to be able to help you. I want to be able to counsel you and teach you, but I also want to be refreshed by your fellowship. And that is something that is just so important, especially for missionaries on furlough. They need your refreshment. They need your encouragement. This is a big part of what you can do as a mission-minded church. You can refresh. You can counsel. You can do those things. But I like especially here to focus on refreshment. You know what? It says in 1 Corinthians 16 about Stephanas. He says, they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Let me give you another reference that uses that word refresh. Jesus said, come unto me and I will give you rest. That's the same word. You can do what Jesus does for you. You can do that for another missionary, for another believer. Isn't that amazing? And then there's a matter of supporting, of course. We're talking here about financial support primarily. You support them by praying, but also financial support. Again, I don't have time to deal with this text. I would love to have a whole message about 3 John, but let me just put it to you as a question. Let me start out with a statement. Missionaries go around to other churches, and what do we call that? Ask Ben, he'll tell you if you don't know. Okay, you said it. Deputation. Deputation. Is that scriptural? It's what Ben's been doing. Is that really biblical? Putting him on the spot, right? Well, let me ask you this. If it is biblical, where do you find it in Scripture? I kind of stole my own thunder here, didn't I? You know what? You don't really find it in Paul's ministry, right? You don't find it in Paul's life. Paul didn't go around on deputation. Paul was a tent maker. Early on, some of those churches he planted, they helped support him. But did Antioch support the Apostle Paul financially? Well, if you can find where that's the case, please let me know. I'd be glad to say that's the case. I'm guessing that it probably was true that they helped him financially, some, but there's no written statement. That's totally speculation. Paul worked with his own hands. Read Acts chapter 20. He talks about that. Read the books of II Thessalonians. He said, I work night and day. So I could set an example for you. You don't find deputation in the life of Paul. So is this really right? Well, you study 3 John. I would like to preach that to you. But that is really about deputation. Because it talks there about people who went out for the sake of the name. It says that they took nothing from the Gentiles, and John commends Gaius and the church for showing love and for sending them forth, I forget exactly how it's worded, in a godly manner, I think it says, in a godly sort. In other words, there were these, and it talks about them as strangers. Did you catch that sometime? Again, I'm not going to have you turn there, we don't have time. But it talks about these brethren who also are called strangers. So what's happening is you've got these people who've gone out for the sake of the name, for the truth, but they're strangers to John's church. He didn't know them. They weren't from his church, they were coming from other places. And he says it's good that you receive them, it's good that you send them forth. That word is sort of a technical word for financial support. So that's where you find the closest thing to today's deputation in the Scriptures, 3 John. So supporting missionaries. And of course, Paul talks about the church in Philippi. They sent money to him. He said that was a wonderful encouragement. It was like an aroma, like a sweet fragrance. And he also calls it literally fellowship. So you are supporting missionaries, that's part of your role. But then, the last thing, and that's over in Acts chapter 14. And if you would turn there, I'd like for you to see this now. Acts chapter 14. When Paul finished his ministry, and by the way, notice how it's worded in verse 26. This is the end of the first missionary journey. God sent Barnabas and Paul. The church released them. The Holy Spirit sent them. They are missionaries. Did they do what they were sent to do? This has all kinds of implications because, for instance, is a missionary sent for life? Is a missionary called for life? I would say yes, but the work that he does may not always be in the same location for the rest of his life. And that's a scriptural position because notice what Paul and Barnabas were sent to do. Within a couple of years, they actually did it. I wish I could do my missionary work in Japan in two years. It takes longer than that a lot of times. It could take a lifetime. And when a missionary goes, that's generally his mindset. It's going to take me a lifetime, and I'm fine with that. But notice what Paul says, or what God says about Paul's work. Verse 26, And thence they sailed to Antioch. So they're coming back home, so to speak. From whence they had been recommended, and we might even say sent, okay? Recommended to the grace of God for the work. There's a particular work, ministry, that they were sent to do. And notice what it says. which they fulfilled. Now they went back later, but what they had been sent to do, the Bible says they fulfilled it. And that's really what every missionary is hoping to do, is to fulfill the work that God has sent him to do. But we're talking about your role. We're talking about the local church's role. How do you participate in missions? Well, look at verse 27. When they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them. Is that bragging? Depends on how you do it. I mean, it could be, but apparently it's not in this case because they're giving glory to God. God has done something. This is amazing. When you think about missions and what they did with God's help, and Paul says, one of your texts, I don't, yeah, here it is. Paul says, I planted, but Apollos watered. But neither one of us is anything because God has to give the increase. And so that's what he did. And so they reported what God had done with them. Those sitting in the pew heard that? And what's their response? Well, in this case it doesn't say so much, but in other places it talks about people rejoiced when they heard what God had done. It says, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles, and there they abode long time with the disciples. Can't you imagine those disciples? Can't you imagine what you would do? If Paul was here in Barnabas and they had just come back from their missionary tour, you would say, well, tell us more. That's amazing how God worked there in Derbe or Lystra or Iconium. I mean, that, and really, I mean, you suffered like that. I mean, there's all kinds of stories. And so what is your role? Point, you're listening, you're hearing. That encourages the missionary, but it also encourages you. Let me take you to another verse, it�s just maybe on the same page. Look over at chapter 15 and verse 3. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Pharnaces and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. That's what happens when we participate in missions, when we listen, when we hear these reports of what God has done. So, you may not be a sent missionary. You may be. God may be calling someone here even now, lately, maybe even this weekend, I don't know. And if that's the case, you need to obey God's call. But the rest of you, what about you? Do you have any role in missions? Absolutely. You have a vital role. You help the missionary with your praying. You are to be actually even praying about who from this assembly should go and where they should go. You help by listening, you help by supporting financially, you help by obeying God's call in your own life. So, missions is teamwork. It's great to have a team, isn't it? I always liked team sports. Of course, I didn't mind, you know, golf. I like golf, too. That's kind of an individual sport. But missions is not like golf. Missions is more like football or basketball. It's a team effort. And you are part of the team, and you're a vital part of the team. And we'll find out more tomorrow about what kinds of people God uses. in his teamwork of getting the gospel around the world. So, pray for tomorrow's time together, that God would just encourage us, that He would inform us, that He would challenge us, He would help us to lift up our eyes on the harvest fields. We just came back from being in Poland and France. And, you know, the needs are just incredible wherever we go. And Poland has hardly any missionaries. When you start looking at what's happening in Poland and the percentage of believers, it's really just about like Algeria or Saudi Arabia as far as the number of believers and the number of Christians and the number of evangelical believers and the number of missionaries in that country. It's amazing. I had no idea. We had not been to Poland before and just to see the paucity of laborers and churches in that country, it's just staggering. So there's a need For more workers, there's a need for a strong home base. And that's what you are. So thank you for what you do for missions. We know you support some of our GFA missionaries. You've been very encouraging. I think you even support Dr. Petore, our director. And so really appreciate your part. Let's close in prayer. Then I'll turn it over to Pastor Hockey. Our Father, we thank you tonight for the opportunity to consider the role of the local church You've given us a vital part in the mission's effort. It's a team effort. Help us to do our part. We pray for each individual here that there would not be anyone who misses his role or her role in this. We need the help of those who stay behind and we need those who are willing to go. And we pray that You would speak to our hearts this week, especially tomorrow. Give us a good night of rest. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.