Beacon Sunday Service: June 29, 2025 (Consider Your Ways)

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, the Bible says you are called to global mission work. 100%, so that's clear. Okay. You are called to missions. Alright. Otherwise, you gotta you're discounting the whole of the scriptures. Secondly, not engaging in global mission work is disobedience, and it's a sin of omission. A sin of commission usually is one in which we do something that God has told us not to do. The sin of omission is one where we actually don't do something that God has clearly told us to do. So in Jesus' parables, the person that commits the sin of omission usually hears the word, you wicked lazy servant. So that's not something you want to hear. So if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are called to global mission work.

Not engaging in global mission work is disobedience. And you and I are called to this now, not later now. And so that's the main point of the sermon. So if you turn off your brains for the rest of the sermon, that's fine. Okay. But just remember this point, or this four-point point. And I'm gonna use the rest of our time unpacking these thoughts. We are called to biblical global missions, and that's crystal clear. So our passage today, as I read for you, uh, comes from the book of Haggai. Now, the book of Haggai, it's a very short book, just 38 verses, and in it, we see God's people receiving a similarly great commission to rebuild the temple of God. The worship of Yahweh their God was to happen at the temple.

And these Jews, they started off well. They started building things well, but we find a very well-meaning people of God who had become entangled and distracted, and then sidetracked from that mission. So they had lost sight of their purpose. They got sidetracked, and 20 years after laying the foundation of the temple, the work was still left unfinished and it remained under construction for 20 years. So in Haggai chapter 1, we see God gently correcting his people through his prophet, and we see God reasoning with his people. Set your heart to consider your ways. And he says that twice. Set your heart to consider your ways. So if you're taking notes, I want to outline today's sermon by exploring four questions that we're gonna be thinking through as we examine this short book, and also the statements that are super bold that I made just before this, why we can come to those conclusions.

Okay? So the first question that I want to think through is what is the historical context or the background of this short book? Second, who are the recipients? Third, what derailed their mission? And then fourth, you actually see them getting back on track. So how do they get back on track? Okay. So Haggai 1, it reads, in the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheel Til, governor of Judah, to Joshua, the son of Jehosedak, the high priest, saying, and that's the introduction. So the book of Haggai opens up with a time marker. So this was written in the second year of Darius.

So that's either 516 or 520, depending on which records you use. In the historical context, it's super important here. So I'm gonna ask you to pay careful attention as we track through a little bit of the history. Okay, some of it's gonna be familiar to you, some of it may not, so please do track along. When we think about modern Jewish history, uh, what's the most traumatic thing that's happened to the Jews in modern history? The Holocaust, right? That's pretty simple. That's probably the most devastating thing that has ever happened to the Jewish people post-Jesus. Six million Jews were killed in it, so for sure it was devastating, but something actually even more devastating happened around 600 BC.

What can be more devastating than six million Jews losing their lives, right? Something more devastating to the whole nation happened around 600 BC. So I'm gonna start a 612. Babylon, and it's a name you've heard before. They're led by King Nebuchadnezzar. They overthrew Assyria to become the world's greatest power. And this spelled a lot of trouble for the people of God and for all people. If you've read through like a children's Bible, they make Nebuchadnezzar look like a nice king, like simply a misguided king. But he actually was very evil, very murderous, and very violent king. The last king of Judah, what he did to that king was that last king of Judah was in his late 20s, and he had a bunch of small children.

What King Nebuchadnezzar did was he killed them in front of Zedekiah, plucked out Zedekiah's eyes, so that's the last thing he saw, and marched into captivity into Babylon. So he was a cruel, torturous king. So the children's Bibles give them a big nose and smile, but that's not actually the case. He was very, very powerful and wicked and evil. So by the judgment of God, Babylon came into power, and that was not good. And then in 606, Nebuchadnezzar, that evil king, turned his attention away from cleaning up everything in Assyria, and then he turns his attention toward Jerusalem, which is a capital of Judah. Jerusalem was quickly besieged, conquered, and under Nebuchadnezzar, the ruthless and very pagan king, the people of Judah were stripped of everything.

All the stuff they had been blessed by through Abraham, through Joseph, through King David, King Solomon, they lost it all. As the Babylonians started displacing and exiling the people, separating family members on purpose from one another, they lost their homes and they lost their loved ones. The Jewish people, they lost their wealth. Their armies were all slaughtered. And the once mighty military nation now had no power because Nebuchadnezzar ravaged them. They also no longer had a country. They no longer had a land. And it is at this point in the Bible, they're referred to as the Jews. Because previous to that, they're known as the Hebrews or the nation of Israel. But after this, they're now called the Jews because they have no country.

So they were those of Judah, Eudon. Okay, so that's where they're called the Jews. They were now a captured people and an enslaved people. They had lost everything, and it appeared that God had abandoned them completely. They left the best of the best youth men alive. And they were taken all these men into Babylon. And then the city that formerly was known as Jerusalem became a wild land inhabited by beasts, the poor, the diseased, and nomadic peoples. So that everything was gone. Okay? And the lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah begin with these words. How lonely? And the word actually means devastated, lies this city that was once great with people. She has become like a widow who was once great among the nations.

She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer. And then it goes from bad to worse. 586. The people of Judah going against the prophet Jeremiah's counsel, they decide to rebel against Babylon. They think we could take them down.

But Nebuchadnezzar quickly smashed the rebellion and they carried off every item of value in the temple, and then he destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, which Solomon had built, which was the visible symbol of the dwelling place of God. So the Jewish hope was now crushed because now even God was destroyed. And it appeared to them that Yahweh God was powerless to stop this. And now they couldn't even worship. They couldn't even pray at the temple. They couldn't offer sacrifices at the temple. They had been completely abandoned. So the people of Judah now suffered the most devastating and most traumatic event in the nation's history. And with the few exceptions of a couple happenings in the book of Daniel, there is complete biblical silence for about 70 years.

So I'm going to fast forward 70 years. Hopefully I haven't lost you yet. In 538, something absolutely astounding and unthinkable happens. The Babylonians were overthrown by the alliance of the Medes and the Persians. And Cyrus, the Persian king, actually did the unimaginable. And this is prophesied in the book of Isaiah. All the exiles, he said, if you want to go home, go home. So this pagan king even commissioned the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and gave them money to rebuild the city and to rebuild the temple. He backed them with gold and silver and a bunch of, and even provided animals if you go sacrifice to your God. So the worship of Yahweh was to be established once again. So 70 years without land, without power, enslaved by a pagan nation, without opportunity to worship, the Jews were now able to return to the temple and to rebuild God's chosen nation.

In 536, about 50,000 of them committed to returning. That's Ezra 2. But they returned to a very, very different Jerusalem. Seventy years have passed and a lot has changed. The Jerusalem of 536 was a wasteland. But the people had a holy burden to rebuild the house of God to rebuild the temple, and they wanted to re-establish the worship of Yahweh. So initially they all were excited, and then they laid down the foundation of the temple, and then no more. So something happened. The worship of God just started moving down on the priority list. And for the next 2 years, no further work was done on the temple. None. And it was an eyesore. Every time you pass by it, it was just almost a heap of rubble, just the foundation.

That was a sin of omission. They did not do what they were supposed to do. And now we find ourselves in the time of Haggai and Zechariah. God waited 20 years. So the history is done. Okay? So now hopefully your mind's like too many facts. So I'm going to leave this up a little bit. God waited 20 years. He's a patient God. He comes with a very gentle rebuke. I've heard people say that the descriptions of God in the Old Testament make God appear to be angry, the God of wrath, and that the God of the New Testament appears to be all grace, patience, and love. That's actually a biblically illiterate statement. God's character is actually consistent in both the old and the new testaments. Amen. So in the book of Haggai, I don't see an angry, impetuous temperamental God.

I see a God who is patient and who is long suffering. He is slow to anger and even slower to apply the rod. So 20 years of neglect, God comes and seeks to reason with his people.

But verse 2 of the opening of Haggai is the sin which the Jews committed, and God brings the charge. He says, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, this people says, the time has not come. Even the time for the house of Yahweh to be rebuilt. So this brings us to the second question, the second point. Then who are the recipients? Who is this people? So first they were saying, not yet. The time has not come for the house of Yahweh to be rebuilt. Why wasn't it time yet? Verse 4 tells us that they were prioritizing the building of their own houses and neglecting the house of God. They are not too unlike us. So, as I mentioned before, these were a very well-meaning people. They all knew that this was important.

And these were all a people very passionate about the renown of God. They were a people who started this journey with an understanding that God's glory was the utmost priority. What is a chief end of man to glorify God and to enjoy him forever? Amen. Let's go, let's build. These guys are like the fifth, the serious Christians of our time, who not only pray for mission work, they actually save money, they get extra degrees, they prepare, and they go out to the missions field. Those are the people that we're looking at here. They were the ones who had responded positively to King Cyrus' decree in Ezra 1. So this is what King Cyrus said. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may God be with him.

Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. So everyone who remains at whatever place he may sojourn, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold. So all you Persians give to this these missionaries to be with goods and cattle, together with a free will offering for the house of God, which is in Jerusalem. Remember, this is a pagan king. Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, arose, that is, of everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of Yahweh, which is in Jerusalem. So according to Ezra chapter 2, this people, they were the 49,697 who left the comforts of Babylon to return to Jerusalem.

These are the guys who got stirred up. It's been suggested that the majority of the Jews who lived in Babylon scoffed at the idea of returning to Jerusalem, which was a wasteland. So this is a 50,000 that is far from the majority. Many of us are from Korean descent, of Korean descent. Imagine if we heard tomorrow that the Korean peninsula has been reunited, and now it is our duty to go to North Korea to help rebuild it. All the diaspora Koreans all over the world, prioritize going to your mother country and rebuild it. Would you go? Stephen. This is recorded. Stephen, would you go? Howard is not here. Howard's in Korea. Harold, would you go, right? Like it's not that appealing.

Seventy years. Remember, for 70 years, Jerusalem had been a place that was left untouched and uncultivated. Wild animals dwelt there. And 70 years is a long time. Think of just where we are 70 years ago. 1955. There was no C town. Right? Because the Korean war was still just ending. There was still segregation in Los Angeles. So if you're born and you're raised in a certain place, that becomes home, especially after 70 years. So most Jews did not go back. Most Jews stayed behind in what was Babylon. Haggai 1, 3 to 7. Then the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses while this house lays waste?

So now, thus says Yahweh of hosts, consider your ways. Set your heart to consider your ways. Hey, you've sown much, but bring in little. You eat, but there is never enough to be satisfied. You drink, but there is another enough to become drunk. You put on clothing, but no one is warm enough. He who earns, earns wages to put into a bag with holes. And thus says Yahweh of hosts, set your heart to consider your ways. Something happened to these missionary, zealous 50,000 people. What caused the stoppage in the work first? First, there was opposition from those who had since moved into that area formerly known as Jerusalem. So this mission work turned out to be very difficult and frightening. I mean, we would have more people to sign up, become missionaries if we knew that there would be no opposition.

Right? We definitely would have more people pack up their stuff, go abroad if we knew the work was easy. They knew that it would be new and difficult, but they didn't realize how hard. Once the work on the temple began, the Jews were constantly harassed because they had no city walls. Because they had no city walls, they were constantly in fear. Opposition, tension, fear, perhaps even satanic disruption. These things contributed to a work stoppage and the rebuilding of the house of God. Just eyeball those verses. I can imagine the people praying, God, you're the one who called us to your holy city to build your temple. You brought us here. Why are you making this so hard? Why don't you come and help us?

Wipe them out. Why are you allowing all this opposition? Why are you okay with it? We did not leave the comforts of Babylon to struggle like this here. So first, there was opposition to this holy work from the people of the land. Ezra 3 and 4. Secondly, the well-meaning people of God had faced physical and economic hardships. The years shortly after returning to Jerusalem, they were met with severe drought in the land. So their day-to-day lives also became hard. We saw in the verses, they never had enough to eat. They never had enough, they had water, they didn't have enough like drink to just numb their pain. So basically, these people were struggling. How could they focus on rebuilding the temple when there's a food shortage?

They had mouths to feed.

So in addition to the opposition, their daily physical needs and the needs to tend to their families' needs, got in the way of them doing the job they came back to do. It wasn't that they did not care about the temple. It was simply that they couldn't seek first his kingdom and his righteousness because all of these things had to be taken care of first. The time had not yet come for the house of Yahweh to be rebuilt because they had to make a living for themselves. Once all of these things are done, guys, then we can get back to building the temple of God. There was physical and economic hardships. Third, there were also perhaps generational differences that caused some disunity. So among the 50,000 that returned, there were a lot of old men, heads of clans, many of whom had physically seen Solomon's temple.

These were old men, probably whose dying wish was to go back and to rebuild that temple. I actually like to imagine Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were part of that group of old men. Remember those young men who were saved from the fire? They were now old. They go back. When these men had been taken away as young teens, that temple had still been standing. And that image of that large seven wonders of the world, magnificent temple was probably still in their minds. And they probably shared stories to their grandchildren of how large and how magnificent this was. They probably spoke at length of how amazing the armies were. They probably spoke at length of what they enjoyed in old Jerusalem.

So these guys want to go back to return to glory. But in addition to the old men, there were also young men. And young men are pretty stupid. Right? Raise your hand if you're a young man. Yes, we're we're admitted, we're pretty dumb. We're all about the new adventures. We're about passion, about the glorious cause. So the Jewish culture is a very Asian culture. Old men demand respect. Young men are very able and proud. So the Jewish culture that we see in scripture is not too different from the Asian cultures today. So imagine that. And the old and the young typically don't work well together. They grow up in very different cultural contexts. They have different values, they have different opinions and expectations.

Pride of old people manifests itself very differently from pride of young people. But it's just as bad, right? Ezra chapter 3, we see almost a comical and a depressing scene. And this might give us an insight into the work stoppage. And I want to read this, so pay attention carefully, okay. They laid the foundation. Many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' households, the old men who had seen the first house of Yahweh, were weeping with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes. While many in loud shouts with gladness were raising their voice and cheering. So that the people could not distinguish between the voices of the shouting of gladness from the voices of the weeping of the people, for the people were shouting with a loud shout, and those verses, voices were heard from far away.

Imagine that scene. Foundation is laid. Old people are like, This is so small. This is not what we had envisioned. This is not what we came back for. The young people are like, dude, we are God's gift to the land. Look at this mighty thing we had done. Hooray! And everybody is loudly screaming and wailing and cheering, and it's not for the same reason. Think of why missions work today doesn't always go well. When the foundation was laid, the old men wept because this was a tiny temple. This is not what they remembered. At the same time, the young men were pumping their fists and shouting and celebrating as if they had done something absolutely grand and mighty for the Lord. And it was only the foundation.

It wasn't even the temple yet. Can you picture this scene? My assumption is that 20 years prior, the work stopped because the people couldn't agree on the plans. And the young men were probably possibly even thinking, we just need this first generation to die. Then we can do things our way. So there's human disunity and division. When your leadership is divided, there is disunity. You can't move forward as a people for any kind of major work. Think of the Christian environment that we live in today. So many Christians have so many differing opinions and so many preferences on so many different things. And when there is disunity and division, the worship of God moves down on the priority list.

Opposition, circumstantial hardships, differing opinions and expectations, division, all of these things contributed to the hindrance of missional work. Pay attention because Satan's strategy is always to divide, distract, and conquer. There's nothing new under the sun. In Haggai chapter one, we see God, after waiting patiently 20 years, after saying, consider your ways. People, consider your ways. Let's reevaluate and revisit these priorities. Have you forgotten the very purpose for which you return to Jerusalem? And I want to read verse 8 to 11 for you. Go up to the mountains, bring wood. Rebuild the house of God. That I may be pleased with it and be glorified, says Yahweh. You look for much, but behold, it comes to little.

declares Yahweh of hosts. Because of my house which lays a waste while each of you runs to his own house. Therefore, because of you, the sky has restrained its due, the earth restrained its produce. I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on men, on cattle, and all the labor of your hands. It wasn't a punishment, it was a reminder. So here's God's charge to get back on track. And this is the fourth question to that outline. How did they get back on track? Well, the spirit moved, truth was declared, people were reminded.

It's almost as if God was saying, hey, if you keep building your own house first, you're only going to be left with futility, frustration, and emptiness. So consider your ways. Remember your calling, your purpose. And let's get to work. And I'm so blessed by how they respond. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shieltiel, Joshua the son of Jehosadakh the high priest, with all the remnant of the people. They listened to the voice of God and the words of Yahweh the prophet, as Yahweh their God had sent him. And then the people feared God. He was not their best friend. He was God. Then Haggai the messenger of Yahweh spoke by the commissioned message of Yahweh to the people, saying, I am with you, declares Yahweh.

So Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Sheeltiel, the governor of Judah, the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehosadak the high priest. So the political leader, the religious leader, both of them were stirred up, and that helps. And then the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and did the work on the house of Yahweh, their hosts, their God, on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king. They obeyed. And they built that pretty quick. Work that had been left untouched for 20 years. The people moved, put their minds to it, the spirit moved, they were stirred up, there was a revival, and then they finished the work in a matter of weeks.

So those in Haggai's audience, and you and me, and the disciples of Jesus Christ have three things that are very much in common. One, our purpose is the same. Amen. Do you have a different purpose from the apostles or the old testament saints? No. Our commission is the same. Make worshipers of Yahweh. And then Emmanuel, God is the same. What did he say in Haggai? I am with you. What did he say at the Great Commission in Matthew 28? I am with you always to the very end of the age. Our purpose, the 12 disciples' purpose, and the purpose of the people in the time of a guy, all the same. So the purpose first and foremost is to prioritize the worship of God. So I'm going to put it another way. The purpose of your existence is to be spent, to be exhausted, to be maximized for the worship of God.

That is your purpose. And now sometimes we want to rebel against it.

Amen.

We might know that, man, I'm messing up here. But that is truth. Outside of giving glory to God, your life has zero purpose. You're like the chaff that blows in the wind if it is apart from God. So we have to be careful not to let opposition, circumstantial hardships, distraction, disunity, division derail us from the purpose. Now, I doubt that you will find a single churchgoer. You will never find a single churchgoer who says that mission work is not important. Have you ever found a churchgoer who says mission work is no longer necessary? No. I doubt that we will find any Christian that says that the renown of God and people hearing the gospel and being saved is unimportant work. The problem has never been a rebellion against the purposes ideologically.

The problem is we always get sidetracked. We get entangled. We get distracted. We are not unlike the 50,000 people who were well-meaning, who got derailed by life's challenges and hardships. We also get discouraged by opposition. If you get cussed at after you share the gospel, the next time you go, it's a little scary. And then putting food on the table, taking care of someone who's aging and sick, having young children. Those are all good things, those are all blessings, but sometimes we hide behind them and we say, now is not the time. Because after all, what's wrong with paneled houses? What's wrong with living in a way that's safe for my family? Our purpose is to glorify the Lord. Our primary task is to build his church and to build his kingdom.

Is that great commission in theory for you, or is it a practical obsession? Is making disciples of all nations and teaching them to do everything that God had commanded? Are you part of that work? Or have you reserved that to the clergy, the full-time pastor or the missionary only? Our life's purpose, we have been created by God and for God to love God and to serve God. You agree with that if you are a Christian, you better. Or you're reading a different Bible. So I have been created by God and for God to love God and to serve God. But how do we apply then this great commission into our lives? How do I tangibly and practically go into my mountain, bring down wood, and do my part in building the kingdom in my life?

So first, it's live as a missionary. Do you guys know what a missionary is? It's just a Christian living away from home. Right? On purpose. That's what a missionary is. Are you a representative of God living away from your true home? Yeah. On purpose. So a missionary is simply a believer of Jesus living in a foreign context. If you are living amongst non-Christians or working amongst non-Christians, you are a missionary, you are light in the world. It doesn't say try and be light of the world. You are light in the world. You are a missionary. Overseas work is of supreme importance. But the first thought that enters your mind should not be, is God calling me to oversees work? No, the first thought that enters your mind should be in the mission field that I'm already in.

Am I being faithful to my task? The location of your mission may vary, but the task of mission work is essential. That's a non-negotiable. And not making disciples is disobedience. And I'm unpacking what I first said in the beginning. It is a sin. In the mission fields that God has already divinely placed me in, am I being faithful to my task? The call is not to make converts in your field. Because God does that. But the call is in front of all the people in the situations that I'm placed in. Am I consistent with the teachings of the scriptures? Do you know pursuing non-Christians is actually very difficult? I deliberately go after non-Christians in my life. Not because I want to.

Because I felt I feel compelled to. Sometimes it's like I feel like this meeting with this person is a waste of time. But he doesn't know the Lord. I have to. There are family members who aren't Christian. There are not coworkers, because I'm the only worker here at the church. There are people that I don't necessarily like that I have to try to love only because they don't know Jesus. We engage in our missions field, not because it comes naturally or because we enjoy it, but because our God is a missionary God and He desire, He delights it when people get to know His name.

That's kingdom economics for you, right? If you're faithful with little, you're gonna be faithful. You will be faithful with much. If you are faithless with little, you're gonna be unfaithful with much. The call for you is to build God's church, his kingdom, one spiritual brick at a time, and that's your primary obsession. Amen. So what is your role? John, Alex, Judy, Billy, what is your role in building the universal church of God? What is your role in building up this local church at the beacon? For the 50,000 exiles who returned to Jerusalem, you had a governor in Sheshbazar. Zerbubel, aka, right? You had a high priest in Joshua, the son of Jehosadak. You had prophets in Haggai and Zachariah.

In Ezra chapter 2, it's a list and a number of all the so you know these parts of scripture that you just skip over? Okay, like, oh my gosh, just oh, I finished chapter two, all 68 verses. These are important because here's a list of everybody that returned from exile to Babylon or to Jerusalem to build the temple. You had male servants, female servants who were gonna attend to the temple. You had singing men and singing women, you had people serving as caretakers for the 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, 6,720 donkeys. I don't know why so many donkeys. Maybe they're extra fruitful, right? You had gatekeepers. You had a list that goes on and on. I'm sure there were carpenters, masons, stone cutters, architects, buff men, because you also needed to carry these old men who couldn't walk.

All of them.

One purpose, one task, many moving parts. So here's an important question. What moving part are you? In a smaller scale, are you a hand? Are you a foot? Are you a belly button? Are you an armpit? Are you an elbow? What are you? On a macro level, part of that hand. Are you a little cell? Are you a little uh mitochondria in that cell? What are you? Because every cell serves a function. Are you being faithful to the task? Maybe you and I too need to set our hearts to consider our ways. Zerubel son of Shield healed Joshua the son of Jehosedak the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, listened to the voice of Yahweh, their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh their God has sent him, and the people feared Yahweh.

And then Haggai, the messenger of Yahweh, spoke by the commissioned message of Yahweh to the people, saying, I am with you, declares Yahweh. He's moving.

It's what are you blessing, Lord? Let me get behind it. He is with you if you bear the name of Christ. And I would love for us to respond the same way I see the people respond here in Haggai 112. They did not wallow. Do you see them wallowing? Over 20 years. We're so dumb. No. They got up. They obeyed the voice, they obeyed the voice of the Lord. They showed reverence to the Lord. They feared him. Does it say they feared Zerubbabel? Does it say they feared Joshua or even Haggai? No. They feared God. Some people say that Zerubbabel and Joshua, there were things that they did not get along with. They fear God. Even if their leaders were in disunity. So they worshiped, they reflected, they obeyed and got moving.

In verse 13, God speaks to them, I am with you. And that reads like the Old Testament version of the Great Commission, doesn't it? This is the God we serve. This is the God we proclaim. This is the God who is worthy of all adoration and worship. And the worship of God is not happening in many places on the earth. There are many tribes, peoples, nations, and tongues who've never heard that they've been created by God and for God to love God and serve God. They've never heard that there is a God for whom they have been separate from whom they've been separated from, but now can be reconciled back to himself through Jesus. Romans 10, 17 tells us that faith comes from hearing and the hearing of the word of God.

Many people still have not heard. So consider your ways. Is it a time for you yourselves to prioritize your paneled houses while the worship of God and the place of worship of God lies desolate? Now at our church our size.

But you may be thinking, how could a church of 20 get involved in global missions? The time has not yet come. I think we need to wait till we're about a hundred. Do you know that smaller churches oftentimes do a much better job at global missions than large churches? Sometimes larger churches, they're quicker just to throw money at the cost. And they're not praying for, and they're not behind the mission work. I'm not saying all.

Amen. Whether you're going, whether you're sending, whether you're praying, you're called to it. Matthew 28, this is you, and a lot of times this is just read in the summers. It's summer now, so I'm going to read it, all right. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So may we consider our ways. May the Spirit move. May we be stirred up. And may we be involved in anything and everything that brings worshippers into the family of God.

Amen. Missions is important. Pray for me as I pray for the direction. I'm in contact with people right now. And I'm just trying to think through what's the best way for our church. What can we handle? What can we be engaged in? Not just for a summer trip. Because the command is not go and take pictures of all the nations. It literally is to be involved in the disciple making process. So I'm trying to figure out, Lord, what would you have us do? Yes, local stuff is important. But global stuff is just as important. But we also want to get behind and involved in those kinds of things. So pray with me. Okay. So I'm going to ask the worship team to come back up. We're going to go into a time of communion.

It is the end of the month.

The communion table, it is a reminder of who we are and whose we are. So if you are a child of God, this communion table is for you. If you've been baptized, this is for you. So what I'm going to just explain some logistics. Just get up, come up to the front, and then just take uh both the bread and the cup. And then go ahead and return to your seat, but remain standing and just hold the bread in the cup. And I'm going to walk us through a passage and then together we're going to take in the bread, and then I'm going to read another passage and we'll partake together of the cup. Okay. So before we do all this, let me uh uh pray for us. Father, thank you for just this morning's reminder. And Lord, would you encourage and stir us up so that we're not hiding behind shame or guilt or embarrassment?

But Lord, here and now, that we would effectually give of ourselves to you and to your work. Lord, help our hearts to break for the lost, because we know that your heart breaks for the lost. And I pray that you would use us, not begrudgingly, but willingly. And as we take a time of communion this morning, just remind us afresh of the great cost of our salvation. So we thank you, Lord, for just this monthly reminder. And we offer up even this time into your hands. Pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.