Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=89335

1. Adapted from a Steve Shepherd sermon
http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=89335

2. The Presidential Inauguration is behind us. We
have a new President & Vice-President.
God bless them &
God bless the United States of America.
God doesn’t care anymore about those people
in Washington DC than He does you and me or
the orphaned AIDS child in Africa or the
millions of people living throughout this world
who never have heard about Jesus.

3. We need to think about worldwide missions
because God thinks about all the people in the
world.
He isn’t just concerned about what is going on
in America.
He has every hair of every head in this
universe numbered!
His love and compassion knows no limit!

4. ESV

5. Our mission is to make disciples or followers of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because we believe He is the Christ, the Son
of the Living God and Savior, it is our desire to
turn people onto Him!
Teach them & fan the fire the Spirit sparks in
them!
And do this worldwide!

6. Christianity Today: Missions Incredible. South
Korea sends more missionaries than any
country but the U.S.
And it won’t be long before it’s number one.
Samuel Kang was God’s improbable choice to
be a leader in the world’s fastest-growing
missionary movement.
Kang was born in Japan when the Japanese
empire was forcing alien Shinto beliefs down
Korean throats.

7. At the end of World War II, the Kang family
returned to Korea and grew deeply fervent in
their Christian faith.
The Kangs dedicated their son Samuel to God,
and they told him, "You will become a
preacher."
Kang rebelled. "I did not want to accept my
parents’ dedication of me to God without my
consent," he says.

8. For years, he resisted God’s call.
But by the time he was 20, Samuel’s heart
softened, and he felt compelled to give himself
to God.
"No one can escape from his sovereign call,"
Kang says.

9. It took another 20 years of discipling and
discernment before Kang set foot on a mission
field.
At age 39, Kang and his wife, Sarah (who had
discovered her own call to missions work), left
South Korea for Nigeria.
When they departed in 1980, there were only
93 Korean missionaries worldwide.

10. During the next 11 years, Samuel and Sarah
Kang raised a family, planted Nigerian
churches, and started a Bible college for
Nigerian preachers.
Kang’s eyes sparkle as he recalls his days in
Africa.
"The Lord gave me this wonderful opportunity
to serve him," he says.
"If God gives me another life, may I give it to
him as a missionary."

11. Kang doesn’t look backward very often.
Now 64 years old, with silvery hair and a gentle
smile, he is leading an ambitious 25-year plan
to help South Korea send out more
missionaries than any other country.
(Commitment, dedication, passion!)

12. Kang is chief executive director of the Korean
World Mission Association and dean of the
Graduate School of World Mission at Seoul’s
influential Chongshin University.
He has helped move South Korean missions
into a place never before imagined:

13. South Korea today sends out more
missionaries than any other country except the
United States.
In terms of missionaries per congregation,
Korea sends one missionary for every 4.2
congregations, which places it 11th in the
world.
(The U.S. does not rank in the top 10.)
Kang and the association plan to send 100,000
full-time Korean missionaries by 2030.

14. Scott Moreau, chair of intercultural studies at
Wheaton College (Illinois) said, "The day of
Western missionary dominance is over, not
because Western missionaries have died off,
but because the rest of the world has caught
the vision and is engaged and energized."
God wants us to catch the vision of worldwide
missions!
We are to go into ALL the world, not just
Buffalo, MO! Not just the USA!

15. ESV
ESV
ESV

16. Everyone needs a method to their madness,
whatever that madness is.
What is it you like or need to do or you are
good at doing?
Could be anything, fishing, farming, baking,
traveling…
Whatever it is you have a method, a process, a
way you want or need to do it so it is done well
& to your satisfaction.

17. How do we get it all done?
There are so many things to do.
Housework, homework, away-from-home-
work, schoolwork and church work all demand
our attention.
We have got to bring home the bacon, put it on
the table, get the kids to the ballgame, get
everything done around the house, spend time
together as a family and find time for the Lord
all on the same day.

18. This probably does not even begin to describe
your busy schedule.
In a world full of things that need to be done,
where do we go to get some sense of what to
do first?
How do we determine our priorities?
Most of us just jump right in and overload
ourselves.
As a result we begin to get very nervous. We
say to ourselves, "Well, I will just have to try
harder. After all, other people seem to be able
to manage all this, so I should be able to do it
too."

19. The tension which results from this overload
seems to correspond directly with the amount
of hair on our heads.
The more we overload ourselves, the more we
pull out our hair in frustration.
Finally we realize that we just cannot do it all.
With this realization comes two choices: We
can go crazy trying to keep up with the
unhealthy pace we have set and be grouchy,
mean, unsatisfied, unfulfilled and unhappy.

20. Or, we can prioritize our lives to decide which
activities are the most important and thus be
happier, more fulfilled and much more satisfied
with the direction we have taken.
Jesus told His disciples to be "wise as
serpents." ESV

21. How can we become wise?
How do we go about the process of organizing
and prioritizing our lives?
Here are some suggestions that will help us
get started.
Pray. This is the single most important thing
that we do.
We need guidance from the Lord, and He has
promised to give it to us if we will only ask Him
for it.

22. We need to be as specific as we can, not for
God's sake, but because it will help us to focus
on exactly what we need to do and be asking
for.
ESV

23. Seek wise counsel. Since we cannot know all
that we need to know on every subject, we
need to be searching for counsel from people
we know who are wise.
Plan. Without an organized plan, even the
noblest of ideas will fizzle out.

24. Prioritize. Once you have set your goals,
decide which parts of your plan need your
attention first.
You may find that you need to streamline your
objectives-maybe even cut something out.
ESV

25. Act now that you have prayerfully and
thoughtfully designed your plan, take action.
Watch as some of your worries seem to
disappear and your hair begins to grow back.

26. There must also be a method to worldwide
missions work.
There is translation work, as in the case of
John and Marsha Relyea’s work and there is,
of course, dealing with the people on a one-to-
one basis, which they also did.

27. But the basic method of worldwide evangelism
or missions is simply this:
1- Someone has to go
2- And someone has to send.
We either go or else send someone in our
place!
That’s the method of worldwide missions!

28. ESV

29. Have you decided what you are going to do?
I can hear some of you say, “Hey, it’s too late in
the game for me. I’m on the downhill slide,
etc.”
Maybe.
Maybe not.

30. Look at what one organization has done to
defeat one disease.
Rotary International has been fighting polio
since 1979. In 1988, there were 350,000 polio
cases.
At the end of 2005, there were 1,670 cases
worldwide—better than a 99 percent reduction.

31. There are 1.2 million Rotarians around the
world.
Now just imagine what 2 billion Christians
might accomplish as one faithful force against
one disease.
Imagine the possibilities for proving church-
mocking skeptics wrong.
Imagine closed doors opening for the gospel.
Imagine the lives saved.

32. What are we saying?
We can do far more than we think we can!
The Lord’s church can do far more in regard to
reaching the lost of this world than she
realizes, imagines or is presently doing.
Of every dollar given to a U.S. Protestant
church, the average amount that goes to
overseas missions is two cents.

33. In 1920 the church gave 10 percent of the total
offering to missions, compared to today’s 2
percent.
(http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2007/06/what_christian
s.html)
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR
MISSIONARY ZEAL?
The method is: we either go or send someone
in our place.

34. ESV

35. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of
God.
And we might add for His cause in this world.
We’re talking passion, compassion and love.
Our ultimate motivation.
The love of Christ.

36. Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres, from 1982 to
2001) has been one of the best hitters in major
league baseball.
Gwynn has hit .300 or better in 17 major
league seasons.
He’s won 8 league batting titles.
He has collected more than 3,000 hits.
What the secret of his success?
It’s not a secret to the people who watch him
work every day.
Gwynn says, "There’s got to be a passion for it,
a love for the game. And I still love it."

37. San Diego Padres General Manager Kevin
Towers said, “I think the key thing is his
passion for the game, a passion for what you
do.
Never take anything for granted, keep trying to
hone your skills and be better… that’s what
Tony Gwynn is all about.”
Tony Gwynn is not the only person who is
passionate about something.

38. "I’m not a preacher, and I’m not a pastor. But I
really feel my career was leading me to make
this," Mel Gibson has said in reference to The
Passion of the Christ. "The Holy Spirit was
working through me on this film, and I was just
directing traffic. I hope the film has the power
to evangelize.“
And indeed, God has used Gibson’s "The
Passion of the Christ" to evangelize.

39. Bob Kraemer of Campus Crusade Canada
shares the words of a young Muslim man:
"I was raised as a Muslim by my father.
I was never really fond of the religion.
After seeing The Passion of the Christ and
knowing Jesus did so much for me, it opened
my eyes.

40. It made me wonder if I was worth it.
I think I’m not worth it.
He did so much for us and yet people reject
him.
Well not me, because today and till the day I
die and so on I’ll always love Him because He
saved me and also because He loves me too."

41. Thank God for those who have a passion for
Christ and for the millions who are lost without
Him!
Thank God for those who have a passion to do
something about it.
The story is told of General William Booth, the
founder of the Salvation Army, and the day
Queen Victoria of England asked to meet with
him.

42. Because she had heard so many favorable
things about his work in the slums, she asked
him for the secret of his success.
“Your Majesty,” he replied, “Some men have a
passion for money.
Some people have a passion for things.
I have a passion for people.”
So be it. And may it somehow be with us.

43. The mission: reach people for Christ.
The method: Go or Sent!
Pray, Plan, Prioritize!
Any method is better than no method at all.
The motivation: the love of Christ in us.
If the love of Christ doesn’t motivate us,
I don’t know what will.