1
00:00:10,687 --> 00:00:21,707
Number 3, this comes from Onyacache Anequa.

2
00:00:21,707 --> 00:00:23,367
I'm sorry Mr. Anequa,

3
00:00:23,367 --> 00:00:26,146
I know I butchered your first name for certain.

4
00:00:26,146 --> 00:00:28,102
He says, "How can I go into missions?

5
00:00:28,102 --> 00:00:31,047
I'm 22 years old, been saved for nine months,

6
00:00:31,047 --> 00:00:34,212
I am at university."

7
00:00:34,212 --> 00:00:36,935
Listen, I'll be real quick on this.

8
00:00:36,935 --> 00:00:38,412
And this goes for any of you that

9
00:00:38,412 --> 00:00:40,364
want to be involved in missions too.

10
00:00:40,364 --> 00:00:41,498
If you're a new convert,

11
00:00:41,498 --> 00:00:44,435
you've just been saved a little while,

12
00:00:44,435 --> 00:00:49,600
look - I'm going to tell you,

13
00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,555
biblically, missions flows out of the local church.

14
00:00:54,555 --> 00:00:56,882
You go to the book of Acts 13.

15
00:00:56,882 --> 00:00:59,834
Guess what? Paul and Barnabas are being sent forth from a church.

16
00:00:59,834 --> 00:01:01,198
From the church at Antioch.

17
00:01:01,198 --> 00:01:02,556
You want to be involved in missions?

18
00:01:02,556 --> 00:01:03,857
The best way to do it:

19
00:01:03,857 --> 00:01:07,011
you get yourself involved in a local church.

20
00:01:07,011 --> 00:01:08,203
A good church.

21
00:01:08,203 --> 00:01:09,419
One where you can function,

22
00:01:09,419 --> 00:01:11,831
one where you can use your gifts.

23
00:01:11,831 --> 00:01:13,943
Look, if you want to go into missions,

24
00:01:13,943 --> 00:01:16,420
you need to get yourself a church

25
00:01:16,420 --> 00:01:18,202
that is involved in missions,

26
00:01:18,202 --> 00:01:20,150
has a desire for missions,

27
00:01:20,150 --> 00:01:23,222
has elders that have a burden for missions.

28
00:01:23,222 --> 00:01:24,929
There are a lot of reformed churches,

29
00:01:24,929 --> 00:01:26,526
there are Calvinistic churches,

30
00:01:26,526 --> 00:01:28,861
that don't have much of an evangelistic passion.

31
00:01:28,861 --> 00:01:30,778
They're not very involved in missions.

32
00:01:30,778 --> 00:01:32,474
You don't want a church like that.

33
00:01:32,474 --> 00:01:34,801
You can get a lot of hyper-Calvinistic churches

34
00:01:34,801 --> 00:01:37,728
where they will kill any kind of missionary zeal.

35
00:01:37,728 --> 00:01:38,997
You don't want that.

36
00:01:38,997 --> 00:01:40,694
You want a church that has a reputation

37
00:01:40,694 --> 00:01:42,009
for sending forth missionaries,

38
00:01:42,009 --> 00:01:44,590
has desire, they pray for missions.

39
00:01:44,590 --> 00:01:46,834
That's a church you want to get yourself involved with.

40
00:01:46,834 --> 00:01:48,627
And you want to start using your gifts.

41
00:01:48,627 --> 00:01:51,426
Listen, if you haven't had your gifts tested

42
00:01:51,426 --> 00:01:56,873
and observed and recognized in the local church

43
00:01:56,873 --> 00:01:59,117
by other people beside yourself,

44
00:01:59,117 --> 00:02:01,884
you have no business thinking about going anywhere.

45
00:02:01,884 --> 00:02:04,931
We have too many lone ranger, self-proclaimed

46
00:02:04,931 --> 00:02:08,099
gifted people out there that don't have the gifts,

47
00:02:08,099 --> 00:02:09,987
think they have the gifts,

48
00:02:09,987 --> 00:02:12,599
go off and accomplish little to nothing.

49
00:02:12,599 --> 00:02:14,727
Because they weren't proven God's way

50
00:02:14,727 --> 00:02:18,832
in one of God's churches, under godly elders

51
00:02:18,832 --> 00:02:20,837
who identified those gifts.

52
00:02:20,837 --> 00:02:22,897
A church that recognized those gifts

53
00:02:22,897 --> 00:02:24,496
and then sent them out.

54
00:02:24,496 --> 00:02:26,305
While you're there, while you're working,

55
00:02:26,305 --> 00:02:28,331
read the missionary biographies.

56
00:02:28,331 --> 00:02:36,238
Listen. You will not suddenly, magically,

57
00:02:36,238 --> 00:02:38,919
become something on the foreign mission field

58
00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,519
that you are not right here.

59
00:02:41,519 --> 00:02:43,342
And too many people have this idea

60
00:02:43,342 --> 00:02:45,443
that if they were far away in another place,

61
00:02:45,443 --> 00:02:47,819
suddenly they would become something that they're not

62
00:02:47,819 --> 00:02:49,355
right here and right now.

63
00:02:49,355 --> 00:02:50,976
That doesn't happen folks.

64
00:02:50,976 --> 00:02:52,940
If you're not the kind of person

65
00:02:52,940 --> 00:02:54,904
and the kind of character

66
00:02:54,904 --> 00:02:56,917
and the kind of walk with Jesus Christ

67
00:02:56,917 --> 00:02:59,303
in the intimacy and the prayer life

68
00:02:59,303 --> 00:03:02,294
and the life of fasting and the life of self-denial

69
00:03:02,294 --> 00:03:04,659
that is required to be a missionary out there,

70
00:03:04,659 --> 00:03:06,695
and you're not already doing it right here,

71
00:03:06,695 --> 00:03:09,346
don't believe that you'll suddenly do it there.

72
00:03:09,346 --> 00:03:11,432
It will only get harder there.

73
00:03:11,432 --> 00:03:13,253
And you know what was said of Jeremiah.

74
00:03:13,253 --> 00:03:14,975
Jeremiah was finding it a little bit difficult

75
00:03:14,975 --> 00:03:16,343
at one point in his ministry,

76
00:03:16,343 --> 00:03:19,133
and God said, look, if you can't run with the footmen,

77
00:03:19,133 --> 00:03:21,433
how are you going to run with the horses?

78
00:03:21,433 --> 00:03:22,311
And I'll tell you that.

79
00:03:22,311 --> 00:03:24,481
If you can't do well

80
00:03:24,481 --> 00:03:27,481
here in the United States being faithful,

81
00:03:27,481 --> 00:03:31,232
serving in the little things, working your gifts,

82
00:03:31,232 --> 00:03:33,761
if you can't do that here,

83
00:03:33,761 --> 00:03:35,631
you're not going to do it there.

84
00:03:35,631 --> 00:03:39,406
And too many young folks have this starry-eyed idea

85
00:03:39,406 --> 00:03:42,096
of basically a vacation,

86
00:03:42,096 --> 00:03:44,578
just like they suck those young people

87
00:03:44,578 --> 00:03:47,612
into the military by telling them they'll get

88
00:03:47,612 --> 00:03:49,435
to travel and see the world.

89
00:03:49,435 --> 00:03:52,504
A lot of young people had that same mindset about missions.

90
00:03:52,504 --> 00:03:54,165
I'll tell you what, all you've got to do is be out there

91
00:03:54,165 --> 00:03:57,462
with Trevor Johnson where the mosquitoes eat you,

92
00:03:57,462 --> 00:03:59,430
you can't go to the bathroom without the natives

93
00:03:59,430 --> 00:04:02,516
staring at you; the heat is about 100 degrees,

94
00:04:02,516 --> 00:04:03,879
100% humidity,

95
00:04:03,879 --> 00:04:06,674
you're body is dripping and perspiring all the time;

96
00:04:06,674 --> 00:04:07,933
there's no breeze at night.

97
00:04:07,933 --> 00:04:10,569
You lay there in a puddle of sweat.

98
00:04:10,569 --> 00:04:11,975
You've got people that come after you

99
00:04:11,975 --> 00:04:13,080
with machetes.

100
00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,551
The bugs are bad, the mosquitoes are unbelievable.

101
00:04:16,551 --> 00:04:18,033
The snakes are unbelievable.

102
00:04:18,033 --> 00:04:20,019
Spiders like you've never seen before.

103
00:04:20,019 --> 00:04:22,269
Ants that are in the house all the time.

104
00:04:22,269 --> 00:04:25,076
You're uncomfortable and hot and bitten

105
00:04:25,076 --> 00:04:26,048
all the time.

106
00:04:26,048 --> 00:04:27,678
Mold grows on everything.

107
00:04:27,678 --> 00:04:29,358
And you start being in that for about a week,

108
00:04:29,358 --> 00:04:30,899
and you're thinking vacation's over,

109
00:04:30,899 --> 00:04:32,366
I want to go home.

110
00:04:32,366 --> 00:04:35,982
It's serious. You can't make it here,

111
00:04:35,982 --> 00:04:38,145
faithful in this church

112
00:04:38,145 --> 00:04:41,975
some church right here on main street U.S.A.,

113
00:04:41,975 --> 00:04:45,333
you're not going to make it over there.

114
00:04:45,333 --> 00:04:47,708
While you're being faithful here as a young man,

115
00:04:47,708 --> 00:04:49,993
or a young lady, and you're preparing,

116
00:04:49,993 --> 00:04:53,141
it's been said, Hudson Taylor was practicing

117
00:04:53,141 --> 00:04:55,745
self-denial before he ever got to the mission field.

118
00:04:55,745 --> 00:04:58,759
He was sleeping on boards, eating food that his friends

119
00:04:58,759 --> 00:05:00,338
were not eating - why?

120
00:05:00,338 --> 00:05:01,968
Because he was preparing for the self-denial

121
00:05:01,968 --> 00:05:03,661
that would be required out there.

122
00:05:03,661 --> 00:05:05,400
If you don't have the ability to deny yourself,

123
00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:07,205
you'll never make it out there.

124
00:05:07,205 --> 00:05:08,790
While you've got time here,

125
00:05:08,790 --> 00:05:10,240
while you're trying to serve here,

126
00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,283
definitely give yourself to reading

127
00:05:12,283 --> 00:05:13,745
missionary biography.

128
00:05:13,745 --> 00:05:16,870
And definitely give yourself to keeping

129
00:05:16,870 --> 00:05:19,524
informed about the country and the people groups

130
00:05:19,524 --> 00:05:22,122
that you are interested in one day going to.

131
00:05:22,122 --> 00:05:24,264
Because, folks, when you're informed,

132
00:05:24,264 --> 00:05:27,551
that will feed that fire of passion

133
00:05:27,551 --> 00:05:30,097
that you'll need to take you out there.

134
00:05:30,097 --> 00:05:32,523
But I'll tell you this, above everything,

135
00:05:32,523 --> 00:05:36,177
you need to be walking with Christ here.

136
00:05:36,177 --> 00:05:39,589
You need to be having an intimate prayer life here.

137
00:05:39,589 --> 00:05:41,901
You need to know what it is to fast here.

138
00:05:41,901 --> 00:05:44,440
You need to know what it is to find Christ here.

139
00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,681
You need to know what it is to walk with God;

140
00:05:46,681 --> 00:05:49,539
know the presence of God in your life.

141
00:05:49,539 --> 00:05:50,702
Because you know what?

142
00:05:50,702 --> 00:05:53,292
There's only one thing that wins the heathen out there.

143
00:05:53,292 --> 00:05:54,522
There's only one thing when you get out

144
00:05:54,522 --> 00:05:56,401
in those demon-infested lands

145
00:05:56,401 --> 00:05:58,959
that's going to hold you up and keep you going

146
00:05:58,959 --> 00:06:00,189
and give you any fruit,

147
00:06:00,189 --> 00:06:01,794
and it's the power of God alone.

148
00:06:01,794 --> 00:06:04,009
And if you don't know how to tap into God here;

149
00:06:04,009 --> 00:06:05,827
if you don't know how to walk with Him here,

150
00:06:05,827 --> 00:06:10,662
you don't know how to basically be sustained by Him here,

151
00:06:10,662 --> 00:06:12,787
you'll be coming off.

152
00:06:12,787 --> 00:06:14,433
You know what the average stay of the American

153
00:06:14,433 --> 00:06:16,037
is right now on the foreign mission field?

154
00:06:16,037 --> 00:06:17,708
It's like one year.

155
00:06:17,708 --> 00:06:18,794
That's bad, folks.

156
00:06:18,794 --> 00:06:20,479
You know why it's like that?

157
00:06:20,479 --> 00:06:21,767
Because people have a glamourous idea

158
00:06:21,767 --> 00:06:23,048
of what foreign missions is,

159
00:06:23,048 --> 00:06:24,375
and they get out there and realize

160
00:06:24,375 --> 00:06:27,458
it is not what they thought.

161
00:06:27,458 --> 00:06:29,414
And it's not a piece of cake.

162
00:06:29,414 --> 00:06:31,357
I want you folks to go to the mission field.

163
00:06:31,357 --> 00:06:33,243
I hope numbers of you young people

164
00:06:33,243 --> 00:06:36,812
will ultimately go, but don't have a dreamy,

165
00:06:36,812 --> 00:06:39,215
unreal attitude about it.

166
00:06:39,215 --> 00:06:40,429
And I'll tell you, read Hudson Taylor.

167
00:06:40,429 --> 00:06:41,814
Read Adoniram Judson.

168
00:06:41,814 --> 00:06:43,869
Read William Carey.

169
00:06:43,869 --> 00:06:48,132
Read some of these "Lords of the Earth."

170
00:06:48,132 --> 00:06:51,651
Peace Child - those are written right from that area

171
00:06:51,651 --> 00:06:54,226
over there where Trevor Johnson's at.

172
00:06:54,226 --> 00:06:55,632
Read about some of these missionaries.

173
00:06:55,632 --> 00:06:59,075
Read about the C.T. Studd's. The Livingston's.

174
00:06:59,075 --> 00:07:01,960
Read about some of these that went forth.

175
00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,709
Read about the Moravians.

176
00:07:04,709 --> 00:07:09,267
There's lots of missionaries you guys can read about.