All right. Thank you so much for that song. I love the old songs like that. How many of you have ever heard the song, Hallelujah Square? Anybody ever heard that song? That's an old, yeah, I love that song. And sang that before several times. But anyway, fill my cup, Lord. And really, that ought to be our prayer this morning. We're all here, and we know the Lord is our personal Savior. Then our cups are full, right? However, as a child of God, then we go from there, and we want to have them overflowing. I'll fill my cup, fill it up, and make me whole as we go on in service for our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Thank you so much. Thank you for the privilege of being here. Once again, I would imagine after a certain amount of time, some of you might get tired of seeing me. But anyway, I get tired every morning. But I'm kind of stuck with me for the duration. But anyway, it is always a privilege to be here with you. And so my wife wanted to be with me today as always, but she, several have asked about her and have told me that you're praying for her. And we so appreciate that. We still have more questions than we do answers. And so just appreciate your, your prayers for her each day. That's what keeps her going. She would tell you that. And what keeps all of us going, isn't it? Yeah. Do you ever stop and think, how in the world would we make it if it wasn't for the Lord? We wouldn't. I mean, we see all kinds out there today that are trying, but without the Lord, it's just, it's not going to work. But this morning, I'd like to go to, if we might, the book of Acts, Acts chapter 8. And I'd like to basically speak about missions this morning. And I'm preaching to the choir. You guys have a great missions ministry. And you support several of IPM missionaries. But if you're like me, I need a boost every once in a while. I need a re-energizing. I often wish I was like the Energizer Bunny. Of course, his batteries do wear out. And ours do too, don't they? And we need recharged. And sometimes when I'm traveling through an area in a well-known church that I know the pastor very well, a lot of times I'll not call the pastor that I'm coming through. Because if I do, I'm going to end up having to speak. Now, you have to understand it's not that I don't want to speak, but I need to be preached to too. And so I asked one of the pastors one time, I said, if I don't call you, would you have me preach? He looked at me and he said, well, if you don't bring your wife with you, you're not even worth coming anyway. And I said, well, thank you, brother. I really appreciate that. But of course, he was joking. But anyway, but we all need that, don't we? And so we're going to go to Acts chapter 8 this morning. I'd like to read the first four verses, if we might, and then we'll have a word of prayer together. passage that we know well. And Saul was consenting unto his death. Let's back up for just a minute in reading that statement. In Acts chapter 7, we find the stoning of Stephen. And we find Saul of Tarsus at that time, who was not yet saved, who became Paul the Apostle, was the one who was consenting of his death, of Stephen's death. He gave permission for them to stone Stephen to death. As a matter of fact, Saul was holding Stephen's coat while they stoned Stephen to death. In Acts chapter 9, he gets papers of authority from the Jewish leaders to go to Damascus, if you remember, and to take believers captive, and we'll see this here in just a second, and to drag them out in Damascus and to persecute and so on. So, he's consenting unto the death of Stephen, verse 1. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial. and made great lamentation over him. They mourned sorely and grieved as a result of this man's life and certainly of now his death and the type of death that he had just had. Verse 3, as for Saul, this is Saul of Tarsus, he made havoc. Now that word havoc means ravaged. So he went in and he tore up, he ravaged the church. entering into every house, and as I was telling you a little bit ago, entering into every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison. Now the word hailing there means to literally be hauling them out physically, forcibly dragging them out. And that's the whole idea of that word, okay? Therefore, they that were scattered, the word scattered is the idea of sowing seed, as you would pick it out of the bag and sow it, throw it to sow the seed. And they, the disciples, and they were scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the word. Father, I pray this morning that you would bless our time together. Lord, we thank you for another opportunity to be in your house. Father, as believers, to become together, to encourage one another, to edify, to lift up, to help us to be able to face this next week, the problems and the trials that we'll have or that we're going through now. And Father, as believers and brothers and sisters in Christ, we go through it together and we can be that encouragement one to another. Lord, I pray that you would just meet with us during this time. I pray that if there's any events yet to take place today, that we might just put those aside and that Father, we might allow the Holy Spirit of God to speak to our hearts, to direct us, to show us what you would have us to learn this morning from your word. We thank you for your word, how precious it is to us and how precious it ought to be more so with every day that we live. Thank you for the sound mind that you've given to us to be able to read it, but not only to read it, but to comprehend it, and to then to take and assimilate it into our lives, that we might be a better servant for our Savior. So Lord, we ask for your help today. Lord, just the messenger, but we ask you to take your word and may it settle upon our hearts and may you show us that which you direct to us. And Father, may we take that and be willing to make whatever changes are necessary in our lives, that we might be conformed to the image of God, that we might be transformed by the renewing of our minds, according to Romans 12 too, and prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God in living for you in these last and very dark days before you come again. Father, I pray that you'd be with Pastor and Cindy as they're away from their flock, that, Lord, you would minister to them in a very special way. Give them rest, re-energize them, Lord, keep them safe, and then, Father, I pray that you would bring them back to these dear folks here at Faith safely, Lord. And I thank you for these folks and for their love for us and for their prayers and for their encouragement. Lord, it's interesting how, as we travel around the country and we come into contact with believers all over the country, even when we travel overseas and many times, our brothers and sisters in Christ are closer to us than even our own flesh and blood. What a blessing that is. And we know that that's from above. So Father, even now I pray again that you would meet with us, that we would see you this morning high and lifted up. For we ask these things in our dear Savior's name and for his sake. Amen. As we think of Acts chapter 8 and verses 1 through 4, it's kind of a springboard from where we're going to be going this morning. But as I think of this passage of scripture, I want to consider, if I might, missions and just kind of visit with you this morning in regards to a little bit of the philosophy of missions. Every last one of us believes something about missions. We may not all believe the same things exactly about missions, but every one of us believes something about missions. And I believe that if we get the simple principles that are laid out regarding missions, that how we can be involved in missions, God will do great things. God is doing great things. By the way, God is doing great things in ways I believe in our own country right now that we're really not seeing a whole lot of it yet. But I see things that are transpiring and believers beginning to stand up and step out and stand firm and be vocal about our faith. And that's what it takes for us to stand up. How do we fight darkness? By turning on the light. You know, it's very simple for us, right? When we come into the room, and we just simply hit a switch, and the light comes on. The current is there, and the light comes on. The electricity flows. You know, it's not any harder for us. It's harder in the sense of our human nature. Don't get me wrong there. But it's not any harder for us, because we have Almighty God, who is the electricity, if you will, for us as believers. And who says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I'm with you always. I go with you. I'm your refuge and your strength. I mean, on and on we could go, right? And so he's there with us. He said, you go, and I'll be with you. He told Moses, you go, and I'll tell you what to speak, and I'll help you. And he did, didn't he? And so that going, of course, the Lord came to earth. He was the greatest missionary. But I want to consider this morning if we might the total man, the total person in missions, us, as the total person in missions. And so if I gave it a title, it might be called the Deployment of Missions, something like that, for the believer. And so as we think about this this morning, our belief, every single, like I said, every single one of us believes something about missions. And frankly, our belief is based on what we've been taught, right? And what we've accepted after we've been taught. So let's think about that a little bit. And of course, we know that the emphasis is on the Lord because the Lord is the one who gives the increase, right? We plant, we water, we cultivate, but it's God who gives the increase. And I look at the book of Acts here in chapter eight. And I think, you know, as we think of the Lord, he took the form of man and became obedient to the cross, even to the death of the cross, the Bible says. What was the mission of God? The mission of Christ was to get us back to heaven, to reconcile us unto himself, right? He came, he shed his blood, he died on the cross, he rose again to get us back to God, to reconcile us unto himself. And so the great story of missions as it involves man is shown in the book of Acts. And if you wanna go back with me, hold your finger here, but go back with me to Acts chapter one and a very familiar verse there. And you'll find in Acts chapter one in verse eight, it describes the way that man is both commissioned and empowered to carry out our ministry or even our ministry of missions the Lord Jesus Christ look what it says but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and then to the uttermost part of the earth notice what he says at the first part of the verse but ye might receive power that what it says help me out here No, no. But ye shall receive power. That's future. But you shall receive power. When do we receive the power of God? At salvation. And he says, you shall receive power. And after that, the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Then you shall, what? Be witnesses unto me. both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth. What happens then, we come over to Acts chapter 8, and verses 1 through 4. And so God told the disciples, He said, listen, He said, when you get saved, He said, you're going to receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you're going to be witnesses for me. Alright, that's Acts 1. And we come over to Acts 8, and they're still in Jerusalem. Okay? It was God's purpose for man to scatter over the earth. Look at verse 4. I'm sorry, look at verse 3. As for Saul, he made havoc. He ravaged the church, entering into every home and dragging men and women, hailing them and committing them to prison. Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went about everywhere. What? Preaching the word. What does that tell me? They may have been preaching the word, but they weren't preaching it everywhere. In Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth. So, we find here that this... It was God's purpose to scatter them over the earth with the gospel. They didn't go willingly. Does that sound like 21st century? We're talking first century here. That hasn't changed in the 21st century, has it? We didn't willingly go. We don't willingly go. We don't willingly do things at first. And when we shop, when we think about our Christian lives, do we really do things willingly at first? But no, sometimes we don't. And we can go back in scripture. Moses was called by God to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Did he do it willingly? Not at first. You got the wrong guy. I can't talk. God said, I'll help you. I'll give you Aaron. He'll go and he'll be your spokesman. Do you ever find Aaron speaking? No. We find Moses speaking before Pharaoh, don't we? Why is that? Because God didn't call Aaron. He called Moses. Let's move up a little further, if we might, through history. And I think also of a man by the name of Jonah. We all know Jonah, don't we? None of us are like Jonah, are we? No, Jonah was called by God to go preach to the Ninevites, wasn't he? Very wicked city, God said. I want you to go and preach to them. And Jonah said, nope, sorry, not me. So he gets in a ship, sails to Tarsus, and we know the extent of that story. He is thrown overboard. He ends up in the belly of a great fish. And by the way, the Bible says when he was in affliction is when he began to pray. God heard his prayer. The great fish spewed him out. onto the land. And God comes to Jonah again, doesn't he? And what does he say? Jonah, I want you to go where? To Nineveh. God's mission didn't change. It was the same. Jonah, you need to go to Nineveh, and you need to preach to the Ninevites, that wicked city. And he did. And so when we stop and we think about that, he didn't want to go. And so we're like that. We don't want to go. Here in Acts chapter 8, they didn't want to go willingly. And in verse 4, the Bible says, therefore they that were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. You know what? I think the church was enjoying old-time religion. They were enjoying old-time preaching. But they were not going beyond their city walls with the gospel. Remember back in the Old Testament, there's another occasion where we have what was called the Tower of Babel? And they built this tower, and everybody spoke the same language, and everything was going good, and God said, no, this is not good. And what did He do? He confused the languages, didn't He? And what I mean by that is when God broke up the different languages. So what did they have to do? They had to separate. They had to scatter with those who spoke their own languages. But they wouldn't have done it had that not happened. And so I believe here that this time, they weren't going beyond their city walls with the gospel. And somebody once said this. He said that the church in Jerusalem, number one, had the people. It had the miracles. It had the message, but it didn't have missions. They weren't going and preaching the gospel. What does Matthew 28, 19, and 20 tell us? To go and teach all nations, right? To go and spread the gospel. Matthew 9 tells us the same thing. And I think for a church to be greatly blessed, which I believe God is here, but there's things that we need to kind of, to just kind of take in and absorb and just refresh ourselves, if we might, and encourage ourselves. For a church to be greatly blessed of God, it needs to have a mission as the number one priority. I don't think anything means more to the Lord than reaching precious souls. I mean, is that not why he came? To reach you and me. I may have asked this question here before, but I don't remember. But if I did, then you should still remember the answer. Well, let's see. How many of you were led to the Lord by a missionary? Have I asked that here before? Everybody, I don't think I have because of the facial expressions. How many of you were led to the Lord by a missionary? So I see two, two hands, three hands, four, five. More have been led to the Lord on this side by a missionary than this side. No, I'm just kidding. Now, I have to say this, that is a loaded question. Okay, you know where I'm going? How many of you here this morning know Christ as your Savior? Don't be ashamed of it. You're a missionary. I was led to the Lord by my mom, who was a missionary. And she led a little seven-year-old boy to the Lord at her bedside. My sister, who was a year older than I am, was led to the Lord by my mom at her bedside when she was eight years old, I guess, because she got saved before I did. We're all missionaries. What are we told to do then? To go and spread the gospel. All of us. I had one guy ask me in a church, he said, before I said it was a loaded question, he said, well, what about a missionary's daughter? I said, well, yeah, that'll work. But yeah, we're all in it together, aren't we? And so God spread them because they weren't going. But you notice what it took for God for them to go. And it was persecution. Because we become so satisfied, I think, where we are. And in America, we have been blessed, haven't we? We've had God's blessing upon our nation. By the way, this is still the greatest nation in the world. We've got our problems, and we've got a lot of them, but this is still the greatest nation in the world. The reason is because it was founded by God. And I believe still today it's because of those believers who are willing to stand for God, those righteous believers. but God has brought us maybe to a place or is bringing us to a place maybe where we need to get busy. Why are we where we are? People ask that question. Why are we where we are in America today? And frankly, folks, it's because of the church. We're where we are because of us. being satisfied where we are, not spreading the gospel like we should, and this is where we are. But this isn't the end, okay? And so here we see the church in Acts chapter eight, we see the believers being scattered. And so what I wanna do for a minute is just take a few minutes, and I only have three points. I know that means nothing to you, but I only have three points. And I just wanna look at three brief points. Number one, missions has to start in the head. Okay, because I'm speaking about missions. And we're missionaries. By the way, where is the mission field? Tell me. Ah, very good. It's right here. The mission field, you know, you see the signs where it says, yes, you're going outside, you're now earning a mission field. That's true. But the mission field is also inside the church. OK? We are in missions together. God saved us, and we are in missions together as a church. And we are called to go forward. So when I think of missions, and I'm thinking of the total person and the deployment of missions of us as believers, whether it's collectively or singularly, personally, individually, if you will, number one, missions has to start in the head. You say, what? I thought missions would start in the heart. No. We'll go there in a minute, but it's got to start in the head. You say, well, why is that? Because the head's where the brain is. Duh. That's where our mind is, right? That's where our consciousness is, our cognizance is, our reasoning. That's where our thinking takes place. And so for us to believe the old-time religion, the Word of God, then we must take it where? Into our mind, right? Scripture tells us, faith cometh by They come by hearing and hearing through the word of God. So how do we take that in through our hearing? By the way, what literally hears? Is it our ears or is it our brain? Ah, the brain sends the signals and receives the signals. And so we have to take it into our head. And so when we think about missions and the purpose, you know, sometimes maybe this is something that we can take in And maybe you have somebody that's asking you questions or something about missions. And so we have some ammunition, if you will, just to be able to go and help others to understand the aspect, some of the aspect of missions. But missions serves the purpose of educating us, you know, a missions conference serves that purpose as well. A missions emphasis Sunday or, or, uh, missions month, or whatever it may be, serves to educate us the purpose of what the Bible has to say about missions. So the bottom line simply is this. What I believe is not important. Unless. Unless it is what God's Word teaches. God doesn't need my opinion. Right? He doesn't need my help. But it's what God's word teaches. So what I believe is not important unless it's what God's word teaches. And that in and of itself is what makes belief important. Okay, so here's another question. Is it Bible? It's pretty simple, right? Is it Bible? Is it what God's Word says? Will I allow myself to be conformed to His image by the transforming of my mind? Romans 12 says that. be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove, or that you may live out that which is acceptable, and good, and perfect will of God. You say, okay, so what do I have to do then in the aspect of mission starting in the head? Number one, we're dealing with truth. So, you have to recognize the truth. What did Jesus say in the Gospel of John? I am the way, the The truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. So in order to come to Christ, we have to recognize, do we not, the truth. And we know who the truth is. And we know that Christ is the one who speaks the truth. So therefore, as we read the word of God, we know that this is God's word, and we know that it is truth. Right? And does truth ever change? Does Jesus ever change? No. He says, I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. Isn't that great to know? We sing the song, what a friend we have in Jesus. Wow, and how true that is. And there's no other friend like him, folks. No other friend like him. We have to recognize the truth. The Bible tells us in Psalm 119 and verse 105, he says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. The truth is a lamp unto my feet. And in the Psalms, we find several words there that mean Christ and that are speaking of the word of God, its judgments, its law, And there's several others I can't remember off the top of my head. But we have to recognize the truth. And David knew this in Psalm 119 and 105. And he tells God thy word. The truth of God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Why? Because outside of the lamp, outside the glow or the light of the lamp is what? Darkness, right? And we cannot see where we're going or where we're walking in the darkness. I don't know about you, but I really don't care just to get out in a field somewhere on a cloudy night. And I say cloudy because the stars and the moon give us light. But I don't like to get out in a field somewhere or in the woods on a dark cloudy night and nothing's around and it's totally quiet and it's totally dark. Especially if you don't know the area where you are. I don't know how many trees you would walk into, how many rocks you would stumble on over, how many holes you would fall into. I don't know. But that's why the truth, the light, is so important, right? So that we know where we're going. We have to recognize the truth. Secondly, not only must we recognize it, but we have to respond to the truth. Jesus tells us that again in the Gospel of John. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Christ. God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So we have to respond to the truth. But in order for that to happen, in order for us to respond in the right way to the truth, we have to have a teachable spirit. When I taught in Christian school years and years ago, And I love teaching in the elementary school, because in the elementary school, you had to have a whole lot more energy. And I don't know if I could do it today, but I loved doing it at that point in time. I mean, if they didn't care whether they knew the answer or not, man, they'd raise their hand. And they would raise it and want you to call on them and so on. But when you got to middle school and high school, then it got a little more difficult. Then it became like, no, I really don't care. to answer, I don't want to respond to the dream. And you know, we asked him to raise their hand. It was kind of like, you know. It's like, really? Talk about half-heartedness. Man, can't even raise your hand. But if we're not careful, that can happen to us in our Christian lives, in our spiritual lives. God calls. And so do we raise our hand like the third grader? Or do we raise our hand like the 11th grader? Well, if you really need me, I can. And sometimes they'll do it so you really can't see what, hoping that you won't call on them, type of thing. Yes, even in Christian schools. But yes, we are made up of that same nature, aren't we? But we have to respond to the truth. We have to be willing to be teachable. And so the question is, if we're unwilling to let the word of God fall on good ground in our lives and respond favorably to it, if we're not going to do that, then it's not going to happen. Then our attitude's not going to be good. You see, it's not going to achieve its purpose. And I think as Christians, our attitude should be, God has something to say, and I will listen. Well, let me change that. God has something to say, and I must listen to what he has to say, to what's being said. I must listen to what's being said in the Word of God. We were all kids once, right? And as children, our parents would call us for chores that needed to be done. And we would hear our name. And when we were kids, we didn't have VCRs and all these. game things that these kids have, babysitting them today, and all these other things, you know, we had an imagination when we were growing up, right? Didn't we? Yeah. Get out in the dirt and play with cars and trucks and you run your own engines and move them around. Yeah, I mean, if we do anything, ride bikes, you know, about halfway kill yourself, whatever. But we lived, we survived. They didn't have seatbelt rules back then, you know, teeth marks were left in the dash, but we survived. And But as kids, mom would come, Brent, come do whatever it was, whatever the chore was, whether it was make my bed or take out the trash. OK. Five minutes later, Brent, come do your chore. I'll be there. I'll be right there, right there. Now, what's that say? That's an indication of I'm on the way. Five minutes later, then it's my full name. or my first and my middle name. When that middle name hits, that's the indicator that you better move now, because there is no calling next time, right? But what does that say? We're hard-headed, you know? We're stubborn. That's us. That's our makeup. God knows that. Aren't you so glad that God knows our frame? He knows we're made of dust. He knows we're frail. He knows our our nature. He knows where we do great. He knows our problem. I mean, he knows us, the Bible says, better than we know ourselves. But yet he's so long-suffering, and he's so patient with us. Can you imagine that? You ever tell your child, you've just about worn out my patience? You know? But God is so gracious, isn't he? and so merciful. And we must respond to Him. And when we respond, when we recognize the truth, we respond to the truth correctly, that means that we will receive the truth. Receive the truth. Once you recognize it, and you respond to it accordingly, then it's time to receive it. And you may pray as David did in Psalm 119. Open down mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Open mine eyes, but until our eyes are open, we've got to be willing to let God open our eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of the book. And those wondrous things are God talking to me. Me, as an individual. You, as an individual. He wants to teach us, even in this aspect of deploying us into missions and using us in missions. And we have to receive the truth. David also prayed in Psalm 119 in verse 34. He said, give me understanding and I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Psalm 119 verse 125, David says, I am thy servant. Give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies. That's the word of God. How precious those Psalms are to us. So we have to receive it. Number two. When we've done that, that verse, Psalm 119 and 34, where David said, give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law, yet I shall observe it with my whole heart. That leads me right into the second point. So now, once he gets into the head and through the head, then we get to the heart. So the heart's number two, all right? Gets to the heart. The heart's where the seedbed of emotions is, isn't it? Yeah, that's where we begin to feel. That's where we begin to anticipate what we believe. It's where the Word of God has begun to do its faith work in my life, in our lives. And again, remembering that verse as we quoted earlier, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And there's some out there that would have us believe that faith is just so sterile. There's nothing about faith. It's just a mechanical application of truth. That's a bunch of baloney. I've been saved too long to believe that. And all of us, I'm sure, have had incidences in our lives where we see that as well. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. I heard the Word of God. God convicted my heart. I came to know Christ as my own personal Savior, and He saved my soul from hell, and He set me on a solid rock, and He sent me forward for Him. And that's the way it is and should be for all of us. It's where the Word of God has begun to do its faith work. But let me say this, faith will affect how you feel. Where's the excitement we had when we got saved? Where's the excitement we had when we were saved by faith? Ephesians tells us that. For by grace are you saved through what? Faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We were excited, man. When you first got saved, you know, you would go and tell everybody. I was a seven-year-old kid, and I came to Christ, and I was so excited, as excited as a seven-year-old could be. And I had an uncle who was saved, and he was, Different but he was saved and you know one of the first things he came to me and said after I had gotten saved when I was telling him that I'd gotten saved was some kind of a thing to this I Forget what he said it was almost to the intent that you yeah, you really at seven years old got saved And it was like I was just a real Disappointment to me discouragement to me that I just gotten saved you know and and even Christians can be like that We can quench the fire, the eagerness, the excitement in another believer because of the misery in our own lives. And that ought not be. I don't know about you, but I hate to be around miserable people. You know, when you come up with somebody, and it looks like they drank a quart of pickle juice, and it was like, no way. I mean, I could give you a couple of names of some people that it's almost like their life goal is to make as many people miserable as they are. Seriously. I don't like those kind of people. I mean, I would like to see them get saved. If they're not saved, if they're saved, they need to get happy. You know? The only way that's going to happen is through Christ. Wouldn't you much rather be around a believer who's excited about what God has done for them, how God's using them, what God's done for them in their lives, and share with somebody and encourage a believer? I mean, we got enough going on in this world to discourage us. Why do we need to be discouraging one another? We need to be lifting up one another. And that's part of our mission. is to edify the believers, to encourage one another, to pray for one another, to pray with one another. I pray with them on the phone, you know, part of our ministry, part of our mission. And I don't know where I was going with all of that, but evidently I was going somewhere with it. But missions has to go to the heart. Oh, I know where I was going. Faith affects how we feel. OK? Faith affects how we will feel. But let me say this. How we feel should not affect our faith. You with me on that? How we feel should not affect our faith. How many of us get up every morning and you feel like you're saved? You feel like you're saved. If I went on my feelings every morning, man, there would be many mornings that I didn't feel like I was saved, you know? When we get sick, we don't feel good, right? We don't always feel like we're saved. But does that mean we're not? No. Man, once we're saved, we're always saved. We're saved, we're sealed into the day of redemption. And it cannot be taken away from us. So our feelings, Our feelings should not affect our faith. There's a big difference there. And so folks, as we allow this then to get to our hearts. We receive the truth, and we're looking forward to the deployment of missions, and we see the truth from our head, we receive it, it goes to the heart, and as it goes to the heart, there must be a passion for missions. And as we study the word of God in regards to missions, we need to develop strong feelings. I mean, we might even use the word convictions, which you don't hear a lot about today. but develop convictions about the importance of missions, or even, literally, to plan a program of missions, according to the word of God, going after souls, according to what we call the Great Commission, right? The definition of passion is intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction, a passion. And as we learn what God's word says about missions, we should become even more passionate regarding missions. Matthew 28, 19 and 20 says what? You go. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." A passion to get them. Bring them in. You know, we sing all these great mission songs, don't we? Rescue the perishing. Bring them in. But is it happening? And when that takes place, then there will be a compassion in missions. Go back with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 9 for just a moment. A passion, a compassion in missions. When we have strong feelings about something, then we have the potential for compassion. In Matthew chapter 9, if you flip back there with me for just a second, the end of the chapter, Verse 36 to 38. Compassion means having a sympathetic consciousness of others' distress, OK? And together with that, having a desire to alleviate that for them, to help them in that. That's compassion. Look at verse 36, if you would, in Matthew chapter 9. The Lord had been preaching and healing all through Matthew chapter 9, and we come to the end of the chapter. And by the way, this is instruction for his disciples, as well as other believers. And it says in verse 36, but when he saw the multitudes, stop there for just a second, that's the seeing, that's the hearing of the multitudes as well. But when he saw the multitudes, where did that go first? to the head. When he saw the multitudes, he was moved in the heart with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. And so here the Lord says then to his disciples in verse 37, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few, literally puny in number. But you pray, verse 38, you pray, or pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest, and that word, forth, or send forth, is the idea of to expel out, to thrust out. He will send forth laborers into his harvest. You willing to go? He'll send you forth. He'll send you forth. The head, The heart, and lastly, very quickly, missions has to continue then, and is deployed out through the hands. Okay? Look at Matthew 9 there, and verse 36 again. When he saw the multitudes, he was what? He was moved. That's an action verb. It literally means he was motivated to action. He was moved with compassion. So it's not the idea, well, I feel sorry for you, or I'll pray for you, in which a lot of times we forget to pray for somebody when they give us a request. But it was the idea that not only am I concerned about you and will pray for you, but I am putting feet to my compassion, if you will, here. And we see what the Lord did. Continue out with the hands. The hands symbolize action, don't they? I've been up here preaching this morning. I probably preached as much with my hands as I have with my voice. And we all do that, don't we? Illustrations, all different kinds of things. There's very few things that we do without our hands. We work with our hands. We talk with our hands. We minister with our hands. We fight with our hands. We write with our hands. We sign contracts. You know, the ladies were playing the pianos up here this morning with their hands. And we could go on and on, right? By the way, we also use our hands to show joy, right? Right? When somebody makes a touchdown or a home run and we're so excited about it, what do we do? Yes! Yeah! How about in church when they're preaching the Word of God, and God excites us about it, do we? Yes! Amen. Or here's one of the things that a lot of Christians do when they say something and they agree with, they'll go... Yeah, it's like preach it, but they just grunt, you know. Really? Amen! I don't have a problem with an amen. You know, I don't even have, and Pastor Merrimite kicked me out, I don't know if he's watching this, but I love you, brother. I don't even have a problem with a lady saying amen, as long as it's appropriate, you know? Listen, the Spirit of God speaks to all of us, does he not? He moves all of us. He works in all of us as believers. Each one of us have a specific ministry that God has called us to. And some might say, well, I can't work in missions because I don't have anything. Listen, I believe, and I'm a firm believer, that God has gifted every single believer with one gift, at least one gift. Well, I don't know what it is. Well, then pray about it. And somebody will say, you know, the thought may come into their mind is like, If I pray about it, he might shoo me. Yeah, right. When I was growing up, I was in my teenage years and getting interested in a young lady in our Christian school. And I told mom about it. And my mom was a prayer warrior. And I told mom about it or something. I forget the conversation, but it was like I said something to mom about her. And she said, well, I'll pray about it. No, mom, I don't want you to pray about it. I want to get married before Jesus comes. I want to have kids for her. But she wouldn't. She'd tell you about it. I'll pray about it. And I'm glad she did. But here we are. We all even use our hands to show disgust, don't we? But our hands reveal something about us. Dishpan hands, hands that are soft. Carpenter's hands are rough. A logger's hands are rough and calloused. And on we go. And somebody made this statement one time. They said, the position of your hands is symbolic of the position of your heart. I've still not figured that out completely. But I thought, that is an interesting statement. Because the position of our heart in Christ, if we're serving Him, we're going to be doing things for Him, right? With our hands, with our bodies, with our feet in going. Wow. Yeah. The hands symbolize action. When the head's right about missions, the heart's right about missions, the hands need to be right, and there needs to be something going on. That's the idea. The Army asks for volunteers. Several of you were in the military in here, right? Thank you for your service. When you volunteered, they signed you up, and then you volunteered from that point on, right? Some of it was mandatory volunteer. But you volunteered. A sergeant would ask for volunteers and volunteers to raise their hands. They did and they admitted they understood what they were asked to do. And really, they were admitting that, you know, I have feelings about this. And so much so that they were willing to raise their hands and volunteer and go and die for the cause if need be. But where is that for us in our Christian lives today? And that's what missions is about. God's looking for volunteers. Jesus is looking for volunteers. And he hasn't stopped since he came to this earth the first time. He told his disciples, didn't he, what? Follow me. Follow me. I mean, he called all kinds of disciples, didn't he? And to do what? To follow Jesus. Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Follow me, and I'll train you, and I'll disciple you, and I'll teach you, and I'll send you forth. And in Acts chapter 8 and verse 4, he had to scatter them, because they were still stuck. Hands of surrender. Hand of surrender. Make sure that our will is not overriding God's will. Moses had to turn loose the staff, didn't he? Because it became a crutch to him. what may we be holding on to that we need to let go of. There's got to be hands of service. Proverbs 6, 4 says this, He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. In other words, the implication of the verse is simply this, the lazy person is not going to prosper, nor is the person who refuses to do the work. And there are other verses in Proverbs about that as well. But here we are. We've got the head, the hands, and the heart ready to be deployed. And missions, for the believer, is not something formal as you would think of a missionary, because we are, as believers in Christ, all missionaries. God saved us to serve, folks. He didn't save us to sit. Sometimes I wish we would go back to the old unpadded benches, straight-backed benches. There are a few old churches that I've been in that still have the old pews. They're good to keep you from going to sleep. If you go to sleep, you fall off and you hit the hard pew in front of you and it makes noise. And by the way, it'll wake you up and it'll wake everybody else up that went to sleep as well. Isn't it great to be a child of God? Aren't you glad you're saved? I am too. And I'm just like you. And I say this in closing. Let's prove it. Let's prove it. Let's go forward and prove our love for our salvation, for our Heavenly Father. service for him. Father this morning, what a great God you are and how we love you. Thank you Lord that you've taken us as frail people and are willing to use us and to train us and teach us in your Word. And then Lord to even put us in ministry to allow us to work in your harvest field and tell others about Christ and lead them to you. And Father, what a blessing we have in Christ Jesus, not only for salvation, but to lead others to it as well. And so Father, I pray this morning that as we think about the message and what you've given to us through your word, that Lord, we may not stay where we are. that we might scatter ourselves, if you will, and go forth in missions, in service for Christ. Lord, I thank you for these dear folks. We are always blessed and encouraged when we're able to spend time with them. And we just ask that you might hold them tight. Father, keep them close. direct their ways, enlarge their coast in this church, as well as Pastor and Cindy. Father, continue to use them as only you can in this area. As I was coming up the road this morning, and from way off, Father, I could see Faith Chapel sitting at the top of the hill from a long distance away, and I thought, What a lighthouse for others to see as they come through this area. Lord, I just pray that you would continue again to use and make their light shine brighter in this area in Carlisle and beyond. Speak to our hearts and Father, if there's anything in our hearts this morning that we need to take care of, I pray that we would do that before we leave. If there's any here that knows not Christ as their own personal Savior, that Father, they would take care of that before they leave. Thank you for meeting with us. Father, as we sing this closing song, if there's a need in our heart, truly as a believer or one yet to be saved, that we might take action upon it. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.