Video Transcript: The Global Leader

I hope you guys have been encouraged, just just during your time, in your gatherings. I don't  know how your churches are doing but I've just been so encouraged lately. Like, I feel like  Gosh, this, this feels very much it's getting so close to what I imagined in my head. As far as  the family, the evangelism, the just the growth of discipleship. And I gotta say, you know, this  this morning, that Hebrews 10 passage took on a whole new meaning to me, as far as where  it says, to spur one another on to love and good deeds. See, I always when I hear that verse,  because we're all in the American church a lot about just talking and lessons and who can  give the best lessons, okay, who can give the sermon that will spur people on to do  something, but this week, it really was the body as we went around, just talking about our  week. And, gosh, I would say at least 80% of the people that we're sharing shared about their  opportunity to share the gospel with someone, and how they went out. And, and I just  thought, man, it just, it fires me up and fired me up to know that a crew of our, our church  was, you know, at the mall on Wednesday night, just talking to people just, you know, you just go man, that's so cool. That's so cool. You know, and just stories at work or in the  neighborhood and, and you realize, Wow, this is what the scripture is talking about, I have a  greater boldness because I see what the other people in the body are doing. Not from a  sermon of someone teaching Matthew 28 in a more clever way. But it's just wow, you see the  body of Christ, and you see your brothers and sisters, taking steps of faith, where they're out  of their comfort zone and just giving it a shot. And then suddenly, you're motivated. And I  think, again, here's this little group of 20 Something people, but I bet you the gospel went out from their lips more than a church of 1000. You know, and that, that excites me, that's, that's  success is when we're out on mission together. And then when that happens, you also just fall more in love with everyone in that room going right on, right on, you're out doing it, we're all  on the same team, we're all taking steps of faith, and we're spurring each other on to love  and good deeds. And I, I was just also just blessed as I looked around the room and thought  about how different everyone was in that room, their background or personality, and going,  man, there's so much to learn. When the body of Christ is diverse, and people have their  struggles, everyone's working in different places. And yet everyone was on the mission, and  they came back. And so that's, that's the goal. That's that's what we want to be is just these  pockets of people that are living out the Great Commission. And when I think of Matthew 28,  the Great Commission, a lot of times we'll talk about the ends of the earth. And one of the  things I've we struggled with back at my church back in Southern California was we would  send people out in the mission field, and a lot of people want to go on mission trips. But they  didn't want to talk to their next door neighbor, or they didn't want to talk to people at work.  And so like, we'll go overseas to be missionaries, but we don't want to talk to the people we  know. And the truth is, it's easier, right? It's easier to talk to strangers that you'll never see  again, in another country. And then you go back home. And it's even easier sometimes for  those of us who don't live in like the tenderloin or Bayview or whatever to go knock on doors  there. Talk to homeless people one day at a time, and they they want some attention. And  sometimes that's easier. And I'm not saying don't do it. I'm saying it's a great step of faith.  But sometimes the hardest one is okay. Now the people I see every day, whether it's family,  right? Like sometimes the most difficult to talk to or the people you work with every day  because you know, you have to face them tomorrow, and it'll be awkward, or the people in  your own neighborhood because you go man, I don't know how long I'm gonna live here. And  they're just going to look at me this way from here on out. But it's encouraging when you see  the body of Christ doing that. So in some ways now, I want to make sure we don't swing the  pendulum too far. And go man, local mission. Let's get to the people around here. Let's keep  doing that. Because I think that is such an example to the world. And I think it's right, it's  good and I think we all have peace when we finally go okay. At least I told my neighbors at  least I've talked to the people my workplace, because I'd hate to move from here. Again, in  light of what we read this week and zero 33, and being a watchman, and not having at least  warn them and, and have those conversations, but let's not get so focused on that, that we  forget what we're going to talk about today, which is the global mission. Because what what  Jesus said. And again, don't forget the context, in which he said it. This is Jesus after He rose  from the dead. He gathers the believers together. That's, that's a huge, that's a massive, 

massive deal. I don't I just don't know. That's why I don't want you to lose how this is set up.  The way it's set up is like no other moment in history, where someone rose from the dead and said, meet me on this mountain, I have a message for you. Okay, someone rises from the  dead that you saw murdered. Anything, gather everyone to this one spot, I'm going to tell you something. And everyone goes to that mountain. And then Jesus shows up. Okay. I mean,  that's that's just the craziest amount of anticipation. And then the way he starts it off by  saying, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. okay so here's a man, where  you're rushed into this mountain going, okay, he supposedly He rose from the dead, you  know, I saw him die. But I'm hearing these, these, these news reports of him being alive  again, this is insane. This is one day, I'm not gonna miss church, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go  to this mountain where he told me to go, and you get there. And he shows up imagine, you're  just shaking, right then like, it's true. It's true. Oh, my gosh, what else even matters anymore.  And then he goes, he was all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. A man rises  from the dead and says, I have every ounce of authority, in heaven. And on earth. In other  words, there is no one else you need to listen to right now. I just rose from the dead. And I've  every bit of authority that exists, period. Therefore what you know, go make disciples. I want  you to make disciples of all the nations. I want you baptize them in the name of the Father,  the Son and the Holy Spirit. I want you to teach them to obey everything that I've  commanded you. And I'll be with you always, even to the end of the age drops the mic  ascends into heaven, like that did. Okay. That's, that's, I don't think we can make too big a  deal over the Great Commission. To rise from the dead and say every ounce of authority is  right here. And here's what I'm telling you to do. Here's my last words on earth. You go make  disciples of every nation. And he was talking to a group of people who witnessed His  resurrection now. And his point was not get in small groups and disciple one another. Right?  Clearly, that's not what he's talking about there on that mountain. It's a miracle. There's a  whole world that does not know what just happened here. You guys are the ones that saw me, I was dead and I'm alive. And I'm telling you go out there, baptize them into my name, and  teach them to obey everything I commanded you to go. So it's a it's a huge deal. If we come  to the end of our lives, with no disciples, and no effort. And we go week to week not even  trying to make disciples not even. I mean, he was saying, Look, no one on the earth knows it's up to this little group of people to get it to the ends of the earth. make disciples of all the  nations, all of the nations, I got to get it out there. And, and so there's so much those of us  who are older, you look back in your life and you go, Man, I wish I'd done this differently. I  wish I'd done this differently. You know, in the for the most part, I trust the psalm to the Lord  and I and I feel like some things may have been blinded. You know, I didn't see them clearly.  But if if I can go back, you know, because you've always say, you know, you'd go back and  start church all over again. Which It's hard even think that way. It's like God took me down a  path. But yeah, the couple of things I do know that I would do differently. One is I would have  kept things more spiritual. You know, like supernatural focus more on prayer, rather than just  my typical pragmatic mindset of do this, this, this, and this will work and would have spent  more time on prayer and more, just deeply in the presence of God and, and pushing other  people just in closer communion with Him. But the second thing would have been a greater  emphasis on being global, and reaching unreached people. And like I said, I want to continue  doing local ministry. And, but as we do local ministry, we also have to keep in mind what's  going on around the world. You know, Jonathan just had a crew, they just came back from  Ethiopia, and, and they're just over there with a tribe, you know, this group of people that's  teaching them about Adam and Eve, and the creation and the fall and the flood, and, you  know, the nation's and, you know, going through Scripture with them, and, and it's been a  process, and now they're at Jesus, and they're about to get into the gospel this week. And I  mean, that's an exciting thing to, to go, they don't know anything about this. They've never  heard about this, Jesus, and it's going to take a miracle for them to hear this story and go,  Wow, I believe it, God's gonna open their eyes. And it's so important to keep that in mind.  Like, here's a group of people who've never heard the name of Jesus, and we're explaining it  to them. And there's a group, they're continuing this work explaining it to them. The reason  why that's important to know, while we're doing local ministry at the same time is, if you don't

get that picture, and realize there's many people who haven't even heard it for the same  time, you'll do a lot of what I did with my life, which is explained the gospel to the same  people for about the 15th time. You know, maybe if I get more creative, maybe if we do a skit, maybe a video, you know, maybe puppets, let's let's try over and over and over, because  maybe if we just do it the right way, and then and then we, you know, if they still don't  believe, then we feel like we failed. Okay, back to the drawing board, we got to get back to  those same people. And then you realize, no, wait, there's people that never even got the  chance to reject the gospel, this guy's rejected at 15 times, there comes a point, if if all you're doing is looking at this group of people that you've already shared with, and God didn't open  their eyes at that time, it could be that the Holy Spirit is telling you to keep going. But I also  say, You know what, we're going to get unbalanced here. If we don't keep in mind. Gosh, there are 1000s and 1000s, I believe. I don't even throw the number out there. And when say  something like 2 billion or so who don't know the name of Jesus, they don't understand what  happened on the cross that don't have a clue. And to go, Okay, Lord, we got to think about  that right. Now. We got to focus on that right now. And so, most of us, we get caught in the  here and now right, what you see right in front of your face, and that's good to a degree. But  we also want to keep in mind the bigger picture and the macro level, which is here's God who  wants the whole world to know about him. Jesus wants followers from every nation. Okay, so  we're here not to build a giant church not to do this, this or that. We're here primarily because we want to please him, right? We just want okay, Jesus, what do you want of your church? You know, cuz I know what I'd like if I did church my way. You know, I know what I would prefer.  But what do you want? What are you asking for? And he wants that family. Ke wants this  prayer fellowship, he wants us focus on community want people in the Word, He wants these  things, but God's also saying and I want these pockets of people, like in every single nation,  okay. It's want to see that little light right there. My city amongst that, that, you know, my  group of people amongst that whole city that rejects me, but, but at least there's that light  there, like there's something in the mind of God where He wants disciples in every nation. And so, because that's what he wants. We've got to get serious about this. And we've got to figure this out and Honestly, with this topic, specifically, I really need help on this one. I don't have  this one figured out at all, to be honest with you. And I don't know that it's for me to figure  out, but somehow I want the church to stay focused globally, somehow, we have to keep in  the forefront of our minds, there are people who have not been reached by the gospel, and  we've got to have some peace in that, you know, I want to run my lane and do what I'm  supposed to do. But somehow, we're also be a part of this larger mission, and I don't know  exactly how to do it. Yes, you know, we send some people and some short term things, you  know, one of our guys, you know, is out in the Philippines for maybe for good. You know, and  as time goes on, we can keep sending people out. But, and I don't know, maybe we don't  have to figure out the exact process, it's just maybe God's gonna call different ones of you to  different places. But we just, I just want to stay focused on this, and figure out how to do this  and to do this well, and I don't have it in here. And so be praying about that. We're a body. We don't have just one brain, you know, we have a lot of minds out here and to think through,  how do we have more of an impact globally? How do we support the people that are getting  to the ends of the earth. And so we've partnered with different organizations. But I just sense  the Lord has more for us. And so let's just keep focusing on that. I believe this idea of getting  this idea, this mission that Christ calls us on, to get the gospel everywhere to make disciples  everywhere. It's certainly so that we reach those people who've never heard, because  somehow, and I don't understand this completely, it's not God's desire, you know, for people  to perish without him. And he wants them knowing him and, and it's for their sake. But I  believe it's also for our sake, that we stay on this mission. And if we don't keep in mind what's going on around the world, we can start arguing about the stupidest things. And I really, that's why I say I think this is for us. Even this idea of knowing God's heart for the poor, for those  who are fatherless, and those who are impoverished and how, you know, Psalm 68:5 says that God is a father to the fatherless. James 1:27 that we studied this week, was about true  religion, you know, that it's good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Father is to care for  the widows and the orphans in their distress. and to keep oneself unstained by the world of 

Isaiah 58, that just doesn't matter if you're fasting, and praying, if you don't care for the poor.  He's not listening. That's massive, was a waste of a lot of prayer. I mean, this is what he  wants, he wants us caring for the poor. He wants us taking on his heart, because that's what  he does. And I think it's in us, those of us who believe to take on the Father's heart, like it's,  it's just a joy to be a father, to someone who doesn't have a father, to take on that role. And  to be at that picture of God to them is a joy. But again, this is what keeps keeps me from  whining. You start remembering what's going on out in the world, and you realize, I have  nothing to cry about. It's when I forget about them. You know, like right now. I mean, that's,  that's the crazy thing is is it we'll get together. And we'll do lesson time like this. And it's  needed, you know, to a degree, but we also have to remember that, like right now, as we're  sitting comfortably after lunch, sitting in this room, you know, there's moms everywhere, just  watching one kid die after the next starving, looking for clean water anywhere unable to find  it. And to go okay, let me keep this in the back of my mind as I'm prone to complain if my car  made a weird noise on the way here, right? And suddenly, I can just get so absorbed into that. And but how do I do that when I when I know what I've seen and I know what's out there and I know right now, you know, some woman is being raped or some little kid is being raped  repeatedly. That's been sold into slavery. And so I'm going to complain about Oh, but I got to  clean my house after our church gathering. Like waa, you know, or Oh, I got to get up early to meet with this guy. It's six tomorrow. Oh, you know, someone it's keeping in mind what's  going on around the world, not just the the hungry, the starving, I don't want to say just. But  then then there's the martyrs right now, right? We have brothers and sisters right now that  are being tortured, like right now. And so sometimes it's hard to reconcile man how do I live  my life? Knowing that's going on over there? How can I focus on anything here because I like  Hebrews, which we just read to Hebrews, chapter 13 verse three, remember those who are in  prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Okay, remember those who are in prison. And this isn't just talking about anyone that's  incarcerated, he's talking about back then the believers who were persecuted for following  Jesus. I mean, that's not to say we don't remember everyone that's in the prison, just like we  don't remember, you know, we're supposed to remember everyone everywhere. But there's  something special about believers who are being persecuted. Man, he's just because you're a  part of the body, those who are mistreated since you are in the body, like that's your brother  that's an extension of you, you don't forget, you know, your broken finger or your broken foot. You're connected to your broken foot. And here, he's talking about the body and the body that was being scattered everywhere, the body that was being persecuted. Some of them in prison in different ways, plenty of brothers and sisters. I mean, we've seen the beheadings, some of  us have seen some of the crucifixion that they're doing over there. It's an awful, awful sick  thing. Man, I've been to places where you're seeing people that are missing limbs and scars  all over their bodies, for the sake of the gospel. And now that I've seen it, and I've been with  them, and I'm going, Man, those are my brothers, it's just too easy to disconnect, and get into your own world. And go on man, you know, I don't know that that's a struggle here, right? This is our struggle is and so forth. It's just getting in our world and starting to complain and get  down about the dumbest things, and then we fight with each other over the stupidest things  when these things are happening. And, and it's the mission, and reminding people of the  mission, that suddenly we go, okay, my life's not that bad. Okay, you know, I'm going to stop  complaining about this, or this, or this, or my boss, or whatever. Because you know what, let  me keep things with this global perspective. And let me use that global perspective to  motivate me to even work harder at work, you know, so I can impact more people overseas.  So I can dig another well, so that I can, you know, whatever it may be, but we keep in mind,  the suffering, we keep in mind, the martyrs and we keep in mind those who are lost and dying without any knowledge of Jesus. And obviously, that's a topic we, we skirt often in, in our  church gatherings nowadays is to believe that there's any sense of judgment or suffering  afterwards. And yet, I'm just saying, read what Jesus said. Earlier, I was looking at Luke, Luke  16. Again, and a passage where Jesus is speaking and and some say it's a parable, but it  doesn't seem like it's a parable because Jesus never uses names in parables. And he talks  about a guy named Lazarus. He says there was a rich man who was clothed in purple, and 

fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day, and that his gate was laid a poor man  named Lazarus, covered with sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's  table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried off by the angels to Abraham's side, the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades  being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And  he called out Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his  finger in water and cool my tongue for I'm in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child,  remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner,  bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this,  between us, and you, a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from  here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. And it goes on, but But my point in that is we like to skim over some of these or just neglect some passages like this.  And, you know, Jesus, we're just constantly trying to explain away certain passages where he  talks about the outer darkness, weeping gnashing of teeth, he says, you know, when that  master comes back, and when cut into pieces, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm going  to do this as Jesus. And he uses such vivid imagery. He could have used other terms, he, but  he talks about these two people dying, and the rich man being in agony and being in this  place where all he's asking for, is, would you dip? Just dips? Just your finger? Can I just have  one drop of water on my tongue, please. It's all I'm asking for? And that chasm that happens  and says, what? Even if I would I, I can't, there's this chasm, now. You had your chance. And  I've shared before I, I get it, like, maybe there was a day when all they would talk about is  hell. And there's a lot more to Scripture than just hell. And the end and judgment, but to deny  that it's even in there. And to neglect it all together. That's not swinging the pendulum there  either. And just go, Look, this is this is real. And, and it's hard because it takes faith. It doesn't  take faith to know that people are starving, I could fly there and show you some people right  now. Don't take faith to tell you that kids are being raped right now we can have you meet  them. But the eternal things where God gives us a glimpse on earth of suffering, and saying,  look, there's a future suffering that's worse than this. It takes some belief. And, and it's, it's  not something most of us want to believe. And just like we want to ignore what's going on  around the world right now. So that we can keep our life going, we certainly want to ignore  the thought of any future judgment, so that we can really enjoy life right now. And that's just  kind of where we're at in as a culture. And not all countries are like this, because they're not  living in luxury like we are, and then have opportunities like we do. And so we get focused on  all of these other things. And so we, maybe more than anyone need to figure out how to keep  this mindset of keeping everything in perspective. And let's keep ministering to the people  around us. But let's also think about what God is saying about the future, and what he's  saying about what he wants around the world. And let's figure out how we as a church can  keep our people globally minded. So again, it's it's weird to throw something out there where I don't quite have the solution yet. Each week, it's like, okay, I know what we can do here. I  know what we can do here. I know what we can do about this. And we're moving in those  areas. But being more of a global church, I just, I'm just saying, hey, let's, let's all keep this in  mind. Let's work together on this and figure out the solution. Because we're not as globally  minded as I think Christ would like us to be. But I think even us as leaders, we forget this stuff. So imagine our people. And again, remember what we've been saying from the very start.  They're going to follow our example And so if I'm keeping in mind, all the things that are going on my people will be more so. But if I forget about it and just focus on the day in day out here, you know, you can go to these weird extremes where you can sit and just be so depressed of  what's going on around the world, that you're not actually active here, so that you can do  something about it. At the same time, you get so busy being active here that you just forget  about what's going on. I'm just saying, we've got to figure out how to do both. And we as  leaders need to be living that type of lifestyle, keeping that kind of mindset. And you know,  for me, it's even great because being aware of what's going on globally, and participating in  that has given me great opportunities here in this country to talk to other people. I mean, it's  a great open door, because in some people who don't believe in Jesus sometimes have more  of a concern about the things that are going around the world. And to know that we're 

actually sacrificing for those things. It just it's that open door. And so like this morning at our  gathering, it wasn't a lot of talk that got me fired up about an encouraged to just keep going  out and telling people about Jesus. It was the things that they were doing. And so with this  topic, I think we've all heard plenty of sermons about it. It's just let's figure out some practical things we can do. To keep this keep ourselves focused on the people around the world