Mission Trip Message

What is a missionary?

A missionary is one who is sent, particularly one who is sent on a mission. They can be sent by the Church or a direct calling from the Father thru the Holy Spirit.

The Brethren Evangelist wrote:..

Sometime ago a boy fell into an old well. In a short time $40,000 was raised in the small community to bring in the necessary earth-moving equipment for his rescue. In 1937 Amelia Earhart attempting a round-the-world flight, was reported lost. For the following 10 days, our government and others spent over $250,000 a day searching for her. We place highest value on this life, We spend comparatively little on seeking lost souls!

Was missionary work part of the Old Testament?

2 Kings 17:27
Then the king of Assyria gave this order: “Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.”

1 Chronicles 16:23-24
Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Psalms 18:49
Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name.

Jonah was called to do what he though was a dirty job, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it.” No way; they were hated enemies; so he ran from the Lord.

How long did it take to turn him around? “The LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land”. Jonah conceded and went to Nineveh and preached; still hating them he sat on a hill waiting for God to destroy them.

Was missionary work part of the New Testament?

Saul had a mission which he started with great passion, but how fast was he turned around by our Lord and he became the missionary Paul.

What Luke describes in Acts 13:1-3:
Paul and Barnabas were missionaries sent out to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

The biblical term for missionary is "evangelist."

Acts 21:8
Philip, the evangelist, was a missionary.

An evangelist is a carrier of the gospel, a deliverer of the good news.

2 Corinthians 8:1-9
And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

A little boy started to Sunday School with two nickels, one for the Lord and one for himself. On the way he dropped one and it rolled down the sewer. The boy stood there looking down the sewer and said; there goes the Lord’s nickel.

Is it always the Lord’s money that gets lost?

Psalms 24:1
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

The Greatest Missionary
Among all the great missionaries, who is the greatest?

He was the Son of God sent by the Father into the world:
"God has only one Son and He made Him a missionary".

Jesus our Lord, left His place with the Father and was sent to earth in a human body to teach, preach and fellowship only to die that horrific death; to provide a way to Salvation for mankind. Most missionaries left something valuable behind. They left their countries, relatives, possession and a comfortable life to go to a foreign country. Jesus gave up more. He gave up His glory, riches, honor, privileges and the services of thousands of angels in heaven to come to this sinful and lowly earth.

He knew the humility, poverty, pain, loneliness, suffering, hardship of the human life on earth.

The last recorded words from our Lord and Saviour before His ascension.

From Matt. 28:18-20 & Mark 16:19-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Matt. 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Mark 13:10
And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

Your love has a broken wing if it cannot fly across the sea.

Luke 24:46-47
He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Acts 22:10
“‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. “‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’

The DNA of the Local Church is made up of core values, a vision and a mission. If someone were to walk up to a member of the church and ask: "What is the mission of this church?" What would your answer be?

We can thank the Lord and we are willing to go.

2Corinthians 5:20
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

The gospels recorded that He evangelized day after day. He went from village to village. He preached in the street, in the houses of the people, in the temple court, by the sea shore and in the wilderness. Big crowds of people gathered around Him and He preached to them. He was diligent and tireless in saving souls.

John 9:4
He said to the disciples: As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.

While Jesus was doing the work of evangelism, He had great compassion for the people.

Matt. 9:35-36
"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness." When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus messages were for the whole world.

John 3:16-17
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Jesus was the greatest missionary because He did not only set an example in His own life to preach the gospel, He trained his disciples to do the work of evangelism.

Luke. 10:1-2
Jesus appointed seventy disciples and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

He did not just preach the gospel, He accomplished salvation for mankind.

Matt. 28:18-20
Jesus sent out His disciples to be missionaries in the first century and He is sending out missionaries to the nations today. He has the good news of salvation for the world.

Many people in the world are held in the bondage of sin even though they do not actually go to jail. They live a miserable life because they cannot overcome their sinful habit such as drinking, gambling or using drug. But if they turn to God and accept God's salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to deliver them from any bondage. Jesus said to the believers: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

This is the age of grace that God will receive anyone who repents and comes to Him. The age of grace has lasted almost two thousand years already. Billions of people have been accepted into God's kingdom. When will this age of grace come to an end?

As long as there is today, the people of the world still have the chance to be accepted into God's kingdom.

Let us become a missionary like Jesus. Jesus said to the disciples: "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." Let us follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to tell the good news of God's salvation to our neighbors and friends.

If the Holy Spirit moves you to go out for short term or long term missionary work, you should obey His leading.

A Pastor of a church asked an artist to paint a picture of a decaying church. When he was done it was beautiful, everything was perfect. The Pastor asked him why a decaying church looked so picture perfect, the artist said look at the plain square box marked “Collection for Missionary Work”, covering the slot was a huge cobweb.

A church without mission work is a church without a mission.

We have the Gospel because missionaries came our way.

Prayer;
Lord I thank you that you sent us on the mission trips that you did and through it we were greatly blessed. Lord I pray that everyone has a chance to go and find the blessings we found.

In His Holy name.
Amen