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To The Ends of the Earth

Metro Region

by Brian Campbell

  • Welcome

    Today is one of my favorite services of the entire year. It's Special Missions Day. Guys, this is a celebration. We've been saving all year to give sacrificially to support our churches and the missions that are going on around the world. I just love it because you've been saving, you've been waiting and today is the day. And I'm grateful we get to do it as a family. We get to do it collectively and God gets to move powerfully through that. Wasn't it inspiring last week to be with the whole Boston church, whole congregational up there in Lowell? The worship, the vision for the church where we're going. It was so inspiring to hear that and I'm grateful we get to come back together as metro and start doing continuing our good work here in the metro west.


    Announcements

    Do we have any parents of teenagers in the house? Okay. You guys are heroes right now because teenagers are quite difficult and we want to give you some resources to help support you with your parenting and helping your children navigate their high school days. Directly following service down the teen room, there's a special meeting with all the parents of teenagers. So right after church, skip fellowship, go down there and you're going to get fed and get some help how to best support your teenage kids in their faith development. Amen to that?


    To the Ends of the Earth

    All right, that's where the parents are going after this. But we are in the middle of a series called Follow me. Everything in Christianity boils down to this call to follow Jesus. If you can summarize it, simplify it, what does it mean to be a Christian?


    And it's been cool. This is our fourth installment of this series. We've got to cover the invitation that Jesus invites us to come have a personal relationship with him. We got to hear this calling to follow him. Two weeks ago we talked about the wild adventure it takes us on and we follow him wholeheartedly.

    And today, well, it wouldn't be a special mission Sunday without talking about following Jesus to the ends of the earth. Jesus calls us to follow to the ends of the earth. Missions, worldwide missions was why Jesus came to be a spark to call all of God's lost sheep home. As Jesus's earthly mission came to an end after his death, burial and resurrection, he gathered his faithful community together and empowered them with the holy Spirit to go to the ends of the earth to tell anyone and everyone about the good news of Jesus. The good news of the resurrection. The good news that their sins could be forgiven and that they could have a real relationship with God. And what started 2,000 years ago is continued out to us today as we are called to go to the ends of the earth as well with Jesus.


    And the reason why we preach about it is because we understand the cosmic event of Jesus dying on a cross, being buried in the grave in three days, rising from the dead. The world needs to know about it, and it has cosmic consequences if the world does not hear. We want to be a part of this.


    The mission is the end of the earth, it's not something we want to water down. It's not something we want to discredit, not something we want to downplay or disregard or deem legalistic or burdensome. It's something that's worthy of our time. It's worthy of our all. It's worthy of our courage and our heart to participate in this mission and to participate in spreading the gospel of salvation. Jesus gave his life for this great cause, for the salvation of the world, and it's up to his hands to feed his people, to go and spread this news of the gospel.


    And it's an honor and privilege that we get to do something. This is something we should preach about like we will today. It's that we should talk about amongst each other. It's that we should encourage each other and challenge each other in, because this isn't natural. It takes some courage, it takes some intentionality to share about the gospel message and what Jesus has done for us.


    But hear when I say this if you're willing to participate and accept his salvation, you must be willing to participate and accept his mission. The two go hand in hand. You can't be grateful for the salvation you have and not want to share it with others. The two go hand in hand and I find the more I tell people about Jesus, the more grateful I am, the more I fall in love with them, and the more in touch I am to his grace, the more I want to tell others about it. The two go hand in hand.


    And we're called to follow Jesus to the ends of the earth with this mission. Here are some of these last words that he shared with his disciples before he has sent into heaven. In John, chapter 20 here we get to hear Jesus send them out. It says in



    In the Gospel of John, he portrays Jesus as one who was sent by God, which we know he was sent by God to bring lost sheep home to Him. And the word sent is used 55 times in the Gospel of John, and most of it incorporating that that Jesus was sent by the Father with a specific mission, objective to tell people about God's love and to bring them back to Him. And Jesus is saying, in the same way I was sent by the Father, I'm now sending all of you. I'm sending you out just as God sent me, I'm sending you to the ends of the earth. And there's like kind of this weird scene that I don't know exactly what happened, but he breathes on them to symbolize receiving the Holy Spirit. I just kind of think about God breathing life into Adam in the beginning, or I think about Ezekiel, where God's breath brought this valley of dry bones back together to a vast army. That when you receive the Holy Spirit at your baptism, you are empowered by God, commissioned by God, equipped by God, handpicked by God, and ready for this cosmic task at hand to deliver the good news of Jesus Christ.


    We Can't Do it On Our Own

    To accomplish this mission to the ends of the earth, we can't do it on our own, can we? We desperately need the Holy Spirit. We need God's power to be the source that helps us overcome our fears and insecurities and our hurts. To accomplish this, we need the power source, which is the Holy Spirit, and that's God's promise to us. He says, I'm about to send you out to the ends of the earth, and I'm going to give you exactly what you need to accomplish this task.


    That every baptized, authentic Christian will be empowered by the Holy Spirit and able and capable to carry out this mission. He would give this power to all, to equip all of us for the task and what's our part? It's to go. It's to trust him. It's that I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, and it's compelling me to go tell others about what Jesus has done for my life.


    The crazy thing about the mission is no one is excluded. It's for the old, it's for the young, it's for the quiet and it's for the loud. It's for the introvert, it's for the extrovert, it's for the physically able and the physically limited. It's for everyone. As long as you have a pulse in your body, God can use you and wants to use you through the power of His Holy Spirit to be sent out to tell people about his love.


    The Task at Hand

    Have you ever been sent on a specific mission before? With, like, specific tasks to go do? As a young minister, I was like 22 years old at this time. I had the specific task to go pick up an international missionary at an international airport. Now, he's from Thailand and his name is Boonsong, and I hadn't met him before. So even the task of finding him an international airport was a mission in and of itself. But I was supposed to get him, entertain him for a few hours and bring him to the lead evangelist house where his wife had been preparing a special Thai meal all day, that they would encourage Boonsong with his home dish.


    Simple enough task, right? I find Boonsong here's a picture of Boonsong right up here. We're hanging out. We're having a good time. I'm like, how is your flight? It was 27 long hours. I'm exhausted. And I'm like, how is the airplane food? He's like, I didn't even get to eat it. I'm like, so you're hungry? He's like, yeah, I'm hungry. And me being 22 and lifting heavy weights at the time, like, if I hadn't eaten in 27 hours, what would I want? I'm like, Boonsong, have you ever had American barbecue? He says no. What is that? And I said, Let me make your day. I took him to a special barbecue restaurant in Denver where they have this sandwich called the Brother. The Brother is piles and piles of pulled pork with a sliced spicy sausage on top, coleslaw, baked beans. And I'm like, we have 2 hours before we have to get to the [?]'s House. Surely he could eat this and be fine. And man did he love the brother sandwich. He's eating it. He's chowing down. And then he got really sluggish. He got really tired and really slow. And I'm like Boonsong. You okay? He's like, I'm full. And I'm like panic struck me. I got to take you to my boss's house where his wife has been making a special Thai dish all day. In 2 hours. I'm like, what am I going to do? We're near a mall. I'm like, let's go to the mall and walk around.


    So we're like speed walking around this mall. I'm trying to get his metabolism going. We get to the [?]'s House, which was the lead evangelist of Denver Church, and they get this special meal down. I'm just like biting my tongue. I don't need to confess if he eats. It's okay. If he eats, I don't need to say what happened. He was only able to manage a few bites. And John pulled me aside and he said, Brian, what happened? You just had to find him at the airport, entertain him for a couple hours and bring him here.

    His wife was in tears. I mean, this was a dish that took like 8 hours to prepare. And he asked me what I was thinking. And I was just like I was thinking like a 22 year old hungry man. And John's like, Brian, the amount of protein he ate is the average amount of protein portions for three days for a Thai person. He's in a coma.


    It took some apologizing and luckily Barry forgave me. But I failed the mission. I found him. I took care of him. I encouraged him. But the goal was to bring him there hungry. I failed. I messed up.

    No matter how sincere I was, no matter how goodhearted I was, no matter how much I was enthusiastic about barbecue, it didn't change the fact that I was given a task and I got sidetracked. I got distracted. I lost sight of it. Jesus sent us on a mission with specific orders to seek and save the lost. Eternity is on the line for lost souls around us. We don't have time to let ourselves get sidetracked, to get distracted.

    We can't have side missions of barbecue trips. There's too many souls at stake. There's too much on the line for someone's eternal destiny. We are sent. We got to be focused. We got to give ourselves that. We got to try. We got to grow in this area because there's a cosmic task at hand to bring lost sheep home to God, to get to the ends of the earth.


    And there's so many good things we can do. There's so many things that the world needs help in. At the end of day, if someone's soul isn't going to heaven, what are we really, what are we doing in the end? You know what I'm saying? And there's so many things of loving and serving and taking care of and encouraging. It leads someone to see God's love. That helps people to feel God's love. But if we don't actually ask someone to come to church or to study the Bible or get to know Jesus, they're not going to get it.


    The Great Commission

    In Matthew 28, we see another passage, one we're super familiar with and referred to it a couple of weeks ago. But it's it's good to hear Jesus calling to follow him to the ends of the earth. He says, When Jesus came to them, in Matthew 28, verse 18:



    And Matthew paints this picture that Jesus has all supremacy, that he is over heaven and he is over earth and everything in between. And that Jesus has handpicked you out of billions on this earth, has called you by name with all your inadequacies and all your weaknesses, and picked you for this task to go to the ends of the earth to make him known. And he gives us this fourfold description of his supremacy, of his power. He says, all authority that could be possibly given on heaven and earth has been given to me.

    And I'm the one commissioning you. I'm the one telling you to go, and I'm the one who has your back. So if anyone's got beef with that, well, they can talk to the one who has all authority. He says, I want you to go to all nations, all social, cultural, racial lines, cross them all, because this gospel message is for every person, all nations, all tongues, all people, for all time. And he says, you're supposed to teach him to obey all my teachings, everything I have taught you.


    This command includes the same one I'm teaching you right now to go make disciples. It's my authority, Jesus saying, is to be respected and obeyed. And he says, I'll be working amongst you all the days. I will be with you, I'll be working among you. I am the one sending you on this mission. Between now and the Second Coming, and every day in between, I am with you, and I am calling you to the ends of the earth.


    The Messenger

    It's mind boggling to think that he has all power, all authority, and he chooses to back you. I mean, would you pick you? I wouldn't pick me, but he picked me. I'm like, man, he picked you. He sends out us disciples to go subdue his enemies. Anyone who's not a disciple of Jesus is his enemy that's perpetuating evil in this way. He says, subdue them with love, teach them to become disciples, convert, win their hearts to Jesus, help them become a disciple.


    And then not only do you help your enemy become part of your family, but they go out and they go and spread this gospel and this mission to the ends of the Earth. This is his master plan. You are once his enemy. Now you're his ally, now you're his people. It's amazing what God sends us out to do.

    His part is his cosmic authority, his all supremacy, his all power is to back you, support you, to be with you all the days as you go out on this mission.


    And what's our part? To go. We just got to go. We just got to be a warm body and some vocal cords or even write it down or hand it out just to go and try to get this message out. God has used some of the most pathetic invitations to help people become Christians.


    I even had, like, a Burning Heart retreat invitation one day. I would never repeat this invitation that was made. I got some discipling afterwards for making this invitation, but this one guy saw it, said this is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Studied the Bible became a Christian. God will use any utterance of strings of words you put together, one click on a computer to send an email. He can use any of it because his authority is behind you.


    He is Our Authority

    It's hard to go do something that's challenging without authority. Have you ever noticed that? I shared with you guys how I used to work for the Boxing Commission in Denver, Colorado? And I don't know about you guys, but boxers, MMA fighters, coaches, they're not the most compliant people in the world. They're used to kind of running their own show, and if it doesn't go their way, they go to blows. And I'm in the back in the locker room. It's my job to keep order and make sure no one does anything illegal and that their hands are wrapped properly and they're ready to go fight. And so I'm back there, and there's this decorated coach who's a famous coach and a famous fighter, and he wrapped a hand illegally. And I had to confront this guy. This guy's much larger than me and very scary.


    He's like a guy doesn't say many words, but his eyes say it all. And I'm like, Coach, your fighter cannot go out and fight. These are illegal. And he said some words that day. He was very angry and said, I'm not changing these hands. We're going out. I said, well, you're going to regret that decision.


    So I go back to ringside and there's a guy called a chief Inspector. Chief inspector has all authority to decide who fights and who doesn't fight. I tell him the story. He says if he doesn't change his fighter's raps, he will not fight. The guy comes back with me. I said, I know you didn't respect me, but maybe you'll respect the guy who can decide whether or not your fighter can fight. He throws down the ultimatum, hey, fix the wraps or Your fighter doesn't fight. It's amazing how compliant he became when all authority of the evening appeared.


    The one who can determine how the night was going to go. It's amazing how compliant he rewrapped it. He asked me along the way. Super nice. His eyes changed.

    Sometimes I feel like I'm sharing my faith, like I have no authority. Hey, maybe I mean, I chicken out. I was even in the grocery store today, I was trying to talk and I was going to share and I didn't. And I just kind of walked down. I was like, what's wrong with me?


    But the truth is, I got Jesus with all authority. It's like behind me saying, you're going to do this. I got all authority of heaven and earth. Like, you listen to my boy Brian, because he's my boy. That's what he feels about you.


    We've got to change the way when we open up our mouths or when we think about this mission, you're not some sheep out to the slaughter. Like, you're empowered by God and his authority is backing you. You gotta trust that. You got to believe that, because what do you truly have to lose if all heaven and earth's authority is behind you?


    Be A Witness

    Luke, chapter 24, verse 46, says this. He told them:



    Jesus commissions his disciples. We're seeing these last commissions, he adds, and I want you to be a witness. A witness is a legal term in the Greek language that means to testify of what you've seen and what you've heard. Jesus, what he wants us to do to the ends of the earth, is testify about what you've seen and what you've heard.


    • How have you seen Jesus change your life?

    • How has the Bible changed you?

    • How has it moved you?

    • How has it formed you?

    • How has repentance come into your life from Jesus entering your life?

    • What have you seen?

    • What have you heard?

    • What have you tasted?

    • What have you witnessed Jesus do?


    That's what I want you to testify to the ends of the earth. Give an account of his death and his resurrection, how that's changed your life. That's the good news that's preached the ends of the earth.

    And it's all going to begin in Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit is going to come and scatter you guys out to the ends of the earth. What's God's part? Well, once again, the power of the Holy Spirit is going to come and it's going to send you. What's our part? To simply witness and testify to what God's already done in our lives. Sharing our faith, it's more than just an invitation, although it can be an invitation. Please grab an invitation. There's a couple of thousand out on the table behind those doors. Grab them. It helps me to share, to be able to hand somebody something with my name, my number on at the address. It's a helpful tool, but sharing is inviting someone, but it's also sharing your life.


    And you just slip this in at work, you know, you're having a group meeting and they put you in charge of something. Maybe like, if you guys would have known me in college before I became a Christian, you would not want me to be a part of this. But Jesus has changed me. Like, it's amazing when you can just slip stuff in, like even taking out the garbage. I'm like, you know how many times I never took out my parents garbage and I could see my neighbor out there? I'm like, yeah, the garbage is harder than it looks isn't it? Yeah, you always see that guy scrambling in his pajamas the next day, like, that was my childhood. Now I'm like, oh, I can be responsible now. Jesus helped me slipping in stuff, like about my parenting. When I'm out seeing other kids in any store, I'm like, man, that is so hard what's going on right now. It's easy for me to lose my cool. And they're like me, too. You know what helps me? Praying. And they just kind of look at me. I'm like, you should try it. You know, you should try it. Like, you can slip in your testimony anywhere, anyhow, at work with your neighbors, with people out and about. I mean, you can look at someone, how's your day going to the checkout, lady? It's bad. You know what? I've had many bad days, too. You know what helps me? What? God's word. And they're like, what's that? What's that? It works. It gets people's attention.


    One of my neighbors is a famous yoga instructor in the Boston area, and he teaches yoga for the Patriots every week. The Patriots players, all who want to participate in a yoga class. He has it and he's famous. He gets flown all over New England, the world to teach yoga. And he sees me on my prayer walk every morning with my daughter.


    He drives by, he honks, we wave, we're about the same age. He has two kids. And he asked me the other day, Brian, can I join you on your prayer walk? And I was taken back because he doesn't pray, he doesn't believe in God, he's not a Christian, he meditates, but he's like, you do something different than what I do, and what are you doing? And I'm like, well, come with me.


    And so he's got his two kids in one stroller, I got Aspen in another. And I thought I was going to pray, but he just asked me questions. So what do you pray for? I told him, I mean, I pray for purity every day. I pray for humility, I pray for my children, I pray for you, Braxton. And he's like, what do you pray for me? I'm like, yeah, this is what I pray for. And your kids. And he's like, what? And then he's like, Why do you do that? I'm like, well, because I need it. And we talked through all this stuff and like, he got way more than he bargained for for that 50 minute walk.


    But I just shared in my life and he's opening about his job and his career and it's amazing what happens when you just share a bit of what Jesus has done for you in your life. People are really attracted to that. People are looking for hope, and you've got it, you're living it each day. It's just a matter of sharing it to those around you. Because who can argue or deny authentic change?


    Who can argue or deny that a power helped you that was greater than yourself? That resonates no matter where someone comes from and no matter what their background is. And you plant these little seeds by just testifying, and God waters it and God makes it grow.


    To the Ends of the Earth

    The last passage, our kind of theme passage for today, if you could say Acts, chapter one, verses six through eleven. Jesus said about 40 days, which would have been interesting days on earth before he ascended up into heaven. This is his last departing words to his disciples.

    He gathered them together. Verse six.



    This is an interesting departure, verse 6-7. The disciples still don't get it. They're like, at this time, are you going to establish a monarchy again in Jerusalem that will rule the entire Earth and make everyone follow you? He says, no, actually, that's not what I'm going to do. My rule, my reign, goes beyond the earth. It's heaven and earth. And my supremacy and my authority transcends every race, culture, sex, language, you name it, I transcend it all and I'm over all.


    And my rule and authority is not about monarchy. It's about changed people like you going to change the world. And I'm going to change it not through force of man, but by love. I'm not going to do it by soldiers, but by people who've humbled themselves and have changed. I'm going to change the world in a way that no monarchy has ever changed the world before.


    And this is a kingdom that will last forever past this earth. And their minds are just like, boom. Finally they start to get it. It has no boundaries. He has rules over all history, all human life, for all time.

    And he's going to use changed men and women like you and me to change the world. That is the plan. And he broadens the horizon. He says it's going to start here in Jerusalem. The Spirit is going to come upon you and then you're going to Sprout to Judea, then you're going to go to despised Samaria, and then you're going to go to the Gentile Nation and you're going to make it to the ends of the earth.

    Guys, we stand today an historical continuum of the first century church. We are continuing the mission to the ends of the earth. Isn't that mindboggling? We are continuing this mission to the ends of the earth. We are witnessing to the impact of Jesus first coming and we're preparing people for his second coming.

    What a calling. Jesus in Matthew 24, verse 14, when the gospel of the kingdom will be preached into the whole world as a testimony to all nations and the end will come. See, this calling to follow Jesus continues until it ends, both time and space. Til we've reached everywhere on earth. Until all time is over, this mission stands and his people carry it on.


    Do you hear the calling from Jesus to the ends of the earth? This isn't a Boston church thing. This isn't an ICOC thing. This is a Jesus thing. This is for all who call themselves disciples.

    And like I said earlier, I mean, Jesus is giving you everything you need. All power on heaven and earth is with Him and he is backing you. He is sending you to go make disciples. He's promised the Holy Spirit and he's given you the Holy Spirit and your personal testimony and repentant change is all you need to share with the whole world.


    It Isn't About You

    If the mission and commission for us to participate to the ends of the earth is so clearly seen, and why do we get so distracted? And why do we disobey it? Let me say it again. If it's so clear, so clear what we looked at today, why do we let ourselves get so distracted? Why do we deliberately disobey when the Spirit prompts us to share? Why are we snuffing out the Spirit?


    It doesn't take much to share. So what's in you or in me that causes us to water down what we've read, to discredit what we've read, to downplay what we've read, to disregard it, to deem it legalistic or burdensome to share our faith? You see what I'm saying? There's something we have some heart change that needs to happen.


    Now granted, I'm sure we've all had different experiences with what I'm talking about, good and bad, but people are destined for hell around us and you have the eternal solution for their soul on the tip of your tongue. You got to see that this isn't about you. It's about the eternal consequences. And the people closest to the people around you need you to get over yourself. They do.


    I mean this in the most sincere way because their eternal destiny is at stake. And yes, we're fearful, yes, we're insecure, yes, we're anxious and yes, we're scared. But there's something way bigger on the line. You know, it's an honor and privilege to get to share and participate in this. I'm not saying you guys share with the X amount of people in one week to be a good Christian. I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying we just got to practice this. We got to take baby steps in this. We got to just try. We got to go for this.

    It's been a while since I've set a sharing goal and the different region leaders, we all set some sharing goals and it was good for my heart. It was good because I share consistently, but I also go days without it being on my mind at times and there's times I'm other focused. So it's nice to have a goal and I have this goal to share 200 and I'm on my way there. But it's been harder than I thought and it's also been easier than I thought. You see what I'm saying?


    Like it's way easier than I thought. But it's also things in my heart it's revealed that needs to change and grow. And I want to get there and I want to be there. It was cool to go out with some young dads last weekend with Ben Cohan and Jesse Brady where I'm like, let's bring the kids out, let's go share our faith. And Aspen just had a complete meltdown down the entire time.


    I'm like my charm, my good luck charm, just crying, I'm trying to share my faith, my child's just dragging on the ground. I'm like, trust me, I'm a better dad than this looks like. But I was grateful that the Cohas kids and Brady kids were having a much better day that day. But it was fun, you know, not one bad things happened to me that I feared would happen and only good things have come from it.

    It's amazing. I long for this room right here to be filled. Metro is about 250 members right now. What if we could grow in the next couple of years to become 300? What if like the balcony is filled, this is filled and we have to go to two services?


    I mean, what would we do next? What if it's like standing room only and what if we had to put a TV in there so people could see. I'm just saying, like, the goal is not to stay the same. And each person represents a soul and each soul represents generations changed, destinies determined on a different path. But guys, the Metro West needs us.


    Every nook and cranny from Umbridge to some of you guys live up in Lincoln. I'm like a little town like all this stuff in between walking all these towns. These towns need us. They need us to focus, they need us to share. And as we do that, you'll be amazed by what happens.


    Communion

    Jesus is calling us to follow him to the ends of the earth. It's the cause he died for and he gave us some specific instruction to follow. You know communion, well, let's finish out here as we transition to communion. It says in one Corinthians eleven, verse 26, communion is actually a time when we recenter ourselves to the cross, but also to what Jesus has sent us to do. It says in one Corinthians 11:26 in this discourse Paul is saying about communion, for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.


    Communion is not only a time to center us off on his grace and his sacrifice, it's a time to center us on our desire to proclaim the Lord's death until he returns.


    Let's take some time right now to pray for communion and to center ourselves on the motivation of his grace and of Him loving us and dying for us and what response that elicits from us.

    God, I can only imagine what it must have been like to watch your son suffer and die and pay a price for people who were rebelling against and people who wanted him dead, people that didn't want a relationship with you, but somehow you would use 100 plus disciples to tell about the Testament, how you changed their lives, how Jesus caused them to repent. Jesus showed them your love. And those testimonies of those eyewitnesses became a movement, a movement of thousands a movement of hundreds of thousands that changed the world.


    And here we stand, God, just 2000 years later thanking you and praising you for your son's death and his resurrection, what that means for our life. I pray we can get more in touch with your grace. I pray that gratitude overflows our hearts and moves our mouths to be open, to tell people to testify, to share what you've done for our lives. God help us. Help us to be your hands and feet, to help others know about you and to be saved. Thank you for what Jesus death means, that everyone on earth has a chance to be saved and have a relationship with you. Please use us to the ends of the earth. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.


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