From Middletown to Spain: The Gideons' Journey - Wednesday Evening - October 9, 2024
This podcast episode features a powerful message from Colton Gideon, a missionary preparing to serve in Spain, emphasizing that missions exists to make disciples of Jesus who worship and enjoy Him forever. Colton shares insights into the spiritual landscape of Spain, where less than 2% of the population profess faith in Christ, and highlights the urgent need for gospel-preaching churches in the country. He discusses his family's mission to plant healthy churches and make disciples, illustrating that true discipleship is about becoming apprentices to Jesus and living out His teachings. Pastor Josh also reflects on the importance of prioritizing the Great Commission within the church, encouraging listeners to support missionaries like the Gideons as they embark on this vital work. The episode concludes with an invitation for the congregation to engage with and pray for the Gideons as they prepare for their journey.
As the Middletown Baptist Church podcast unfolds, Pastor Josh introduces a special evening dedicated to supporting missionaries Colton and Allie Gideon, who are preparing to embark on a mission to Spain. The conversation flows with warmth and sincerity as Pastor Josh connects his past experiences with Colton, illustrating the deep ties they share through their faith journeys. The Gideons articulate the dire need in Spain, where only a small fraction of the population identifies as Christian, despite the country’s historical ties to Christianity. This revelation sets a poignant backdrop for their mission of church planting and discipleship, aiming to reach those who have been disillusioned by traditional religious practices.
Colton and Allie share their personal stories, reflecting on how their backgrounds shaped their calling to serve. Allie's upbringing in a missionary family instilled in her a passion for spreading the gospel, while Colton recounts a transformative experience during a missions conference that solidified his commitment to reaching the unreached. They discuss their strategy of first learning from seasoned missionaries, which emphasizes their desire to build a solid foundation for their future ministry. This approach not only highlights the importance of cultural understanding but also the essence of discipleship, which they see as essential for fostering genuine faith among those they aim to serve.
Wrapping up the episode, Pastor Josh calls upon the church community to actively support the Gideons, emphasizing that the mission of spreading the gospel is a shared responsibility. He urges listeners to consider how they can contribute, whether through prayer or financial support, reinforcing the idea that the church is called to be a beacon of hope and transformation. This podcast episode serves as a compelling reminder of the global mission field's urgency and the vital role every believer plays in fulfilling the Great Commission, encouraging a proactive approach to evangelism and discipleship within the church.
Takeaways:
- Missions is not just about getting people into heaven, but about transforming lives.
- The Great Commission emphasizes the importance of making disciples who worship Jesus.
- Spain has a significant need for gospel preaching churches, with many towns lacking them.
- Colton and Allie's desire is to share the love of Christ in Spain.
- Worship is the ultimate goal of missions, serving as both motivation and purpose.
- Understanding the cultural context in Spain is vital for effective ministry and outreach.
Links referenced in this episode:
https://www.thegideons.org/
00:00 - None
00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast
00:17 - Welcoming Special Guests Colton and Ali
02:00 - Colton's Mission to Spain
03:47 - Understanding the Need in Spain
04:10 - The Call to Discipleship
20:26 - The Great Commission Explained
28:28 - Missions: Worship and Discipleship
51:11 - Conclusion and Call to Action
Pastor Josh
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Pastor Josh
My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.
Pastor Josh
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.
Pastor Josh
Now come along.
Pastor Josh
Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Pastor Josh
We have many different speakers come into our church through the year, and every one of them we're thankful for.
Pastor Josh
But I can tell you honestly that I have a vested interest in this family.
Pastor Josh
One being that Brother Colton and I are from the same place.
Pastor Josh
We went to the same church, had the same pastor for a while, and we have a lot of things in common in that concept.
Pastor Josh
I actually had the privilege and the opportunity to be at Colton's ordination this past summer.
Pastor Josh
Some of you know, I went down there to South Carolina, and I told you this before, it was the best ordination I have ever been to.
Pastor Josh
It turned to a worship service in the middle of the ordination, and so it was great.
Pastor Josh
I was greatly encouraged by it.
Pastor Josh
Colton and Ali are faithful, and there's nothing like seeing someone that you taught have children and be in the ministry that makes you feel really, really old.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
I had an opportunity to hang out with their family today, and I'm like, I cannot believe that they have children.
Pastor Josh
And this is making me feel really old.
Pastor Josh
But Colton is a fella that even though he's younger than me, I look up to his wisdom.
Pastor Josh
He is really, really blessed and gifted in studying the word and preaching the word.
Pastor Josh
And so I want to say, first and foremost, I'm proud of you, Colton.
Pastor Josh
And that's in the biblical way.
Pastor Josh
I'm thankful for what God is doing in his life.
Pastor Josh
His parents were my Sunday school teachers.
Pastor Josh
So through the years, there was a lot of things that we had in common.
Pastor Josh
And I always been telling people tonight, everything that he is, is despite my teaching, okay?
Pastor Josh
It isn't because of my teaching in school, okay?
Pastor Josh
He made it through and survived on the other side, and so we're thankful for him.
Pastor Josh
And Colton and Ali are going to be going to Spain.
Pastor Josh
They're on deputation.
Pastor Josh
And so as they're coming in, they're looking to gain support in different churches, and that's what they're doing.
Pastor Josh
They're traveling around the country.
Pastor Josh
They're starting that process.
Pastor Josh
And so I'm thankful for them.
Pastor Josh
I'm thankful for what they're doing for the Lord.
Pastor Josh
And I'm looking forward to what God is going to do in their life.
Pastor Josh
Colton has been serving at Grace Baptist down in west Columbia, South Carolina.
Pastor Josh
Some of you might know the pastor there, my former pastor, Pastor David Goforth.
Pastor Josh
And so we just have a lot of commonality in that way.
Pastor Josh
And so I really know that your hearts are going to be blessed through his presentation here this evening.
Pastor Josh
I encourage you to stop by the table.
Pastor Josh
I encourage you to get more information about what they're looking to do for the Lord.
Pastor Josh
And I'm also going to say that here this evening at the end of the service, just prepare your hearts.
Pastor Josh
We're going to be taking up a love offering for them, and we want to make sure that we're a blessing to them as they travel on.
Pastor Josh
They're heading up to New York for a missions conference this weekend, and so they have a lot on their plate when it comes to that, and so just be praying for them as they go through this.
Pastor Josh
So what we're going to do now is we're going to show you a video.
Pastor Josh
Is that good?
Pastor Josh
We're going to show you a video of their ministry, a little bit about what they're doing.
Pastor Josh
Then after that video, Brother Colton's going to come up, share a few things, and then he's going to bring us the word this evening.
Pastor Josh
And I know that our hearts are going to be blessed through that.
Colton
Hi, I'm Colton and this is my wife, Allie.
Colton
These are our daughters, Audrey and Annette.
Colton
We are the Gideon's family and we are missionaries to Spain with biblical ministries worldwide.
Colton
In spite of Christianity being in Spain for the last 2000 years, today only less than 2% of its population actually professes belief in Christ.
Colton
My wife and I have always desired to go to an unreached place, and for the longest time, we thought that would be somewhere in what's called the 1040 window places in the Middle east and South Asia.
Colton
However, it wasn't until recently that the Lord really made us aware of just how unreached places in Europe still are.
Colton
In the country of Spain, Christianity has been present for about 2000 years.
Colton
However, today, less than 2% of its population actually professes faith in Christ.
Colton
And most of the people who do profess some sort of religion follow Roman Catholicism.
Colton
But even then, each generation over the last 40 years or so has continued to get more and more irreligious agnostic, atheist, throwing off any belief in God whatsoever.
Colton
And in addition to that, out of the 8000 towns or so there are across the whole country, 7000 of them still do not have a single gospel preaching church among them.
Allie
I grew up in a ministry home.
Allie
My parents left for the mission field when I was just one year old, and so missions was all that I ever knew, and I loved it.
Allie
My parents still did a wonderful job of just being very real and genuine and showing people the love of Christ and preaching the gospel wherever they went.
Allie
And so when I accepted Christ as my savior, missions was always on my heart and on my mind.
Allie
And as I went to college, that desire to go into missions began to grow.
Allie
And Colton and I met, and we both had that desire.
Allie
The Lord really used missions to bring us together and to make it clear that it was his will for us to be.
Allie
And so we got married in 2019.
Allie
We have two little girls now, Audrey and Annette.
Allie
We decided to stay in the United States for a few years to get some ministry experience while we were growing our family.
Allie
But the Lord began to make it clear that it was time for us to go into missions.
Colton
For the first few years there in Spain, we'd like to take some time to work under some veteran missionaries, learn ministry in Spain with them, also take that time to go through language school, get accustomed to the culture, and get to know the people there.
Colton
We're also praying that the Lord would, during that time, guide us and help us to identify another place that is in need of a gospel preaching church so that we could go there and plant a church among those people.
Allie
Because I grew up in the Caribbean on the mission field, the spanish speaking people have always had a special place in my heart insomuch that the spanish culture really is part of who I am.
Allie
So when Cuom came to me and said, what do you think about going to the country of Spain?
Allie
I was very excited about the possibility.
Colton
One of the things that has drawn us to the country of Spain and really given us a burden for its people is the knowledge that many of the people who have grown up there under Roman Catholicism have come to reject a gospel that they really haven't even understood yet.
Colton
They've been given a picture of who Christ is, and many of their young people are now rejecting that completely without really understanding who Jesus is and how much he really loves them and how amazing his grace is towards them.
Colton
We are so excited to see how the Lord leads our family as we seek to join in his work that he's already doing there in the country of Spain.
Colton
And so we'd like to invite you to also consider praying for us and financially supporting us so you, too, could be a part of what God is doing there in the country of Spain.
Colton
Well, good evening, Middletown Baptist Church.
Colton
We are excited to be here with you and just share a little bit about what God has called us to do and to let you know more about us, our family, the field that we believe God has led us to.
Colton
Our family's mission.
Colton
Our mission statement is to make disciples and plant healthy churches in Spain that the people may know and worship Jesus.
Colton
You know, the book of Revelation paints a picture of the end of time when the great commission is over and we see a picture of people from every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every family worshiping Jesus at his feet.
Colton
In revelation five nine, it says they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
Colton
So we believe that Jesus is worthy of worship from every nation on the earth.
Colton
And our desire is that God would use us to play a part in his plan of redeeming a people from the spanish nation so that they too, with all of us, can enjoy worshiping him for all of eternity.
Colton
Like we mentioned, like Pastor Josh mentioned, my name is Colton.
Colton
My wife's name is Allie.
Colton
We are the Gideon's family.
Colton
We have two little girls that are in the nursery in the kids program.
Colton
Audrey is three years old, Annette is one, and so they're here with us this evening.
Colton
We come from west Columbia, South Carolina, where I've been serving on staff as an assistant pastor there for the past four years.
Colton
About four years.
Colton
And our pastor there was my pastor growing up, Pastor Josh's pastor there in Florida for several years.
Colton
That's how the Lord ended up leading us there.
Colton
And so, like we mentioned, I'm originally from Tampa, Florida, where you've probably seen that in the news quite a bit lately with the storm that is coming up through that area.
Colton
I've got lots of family there who have evacuated, so hopefully they will all stay safe there.
Colton
But my wife, even though I grew up in one place, grew up in Florida, most of my life just moved away after we got married.
Colton
My wife actually grew up all over the place.
Colton
She mentioned in the video that her parents were missionaries in the Caribbean.
Colton
They spent time in Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic.
Colton
Her parents are Chris and Don Phillips.
Colton
Chris Phillips, my father in law.
Colton
I believe many of you would know.
Colton
He was just here recently for a marriage conference, I believe it was.
Colton
So that is Allie's dad.
Colton
So she grew up on the mission field with them, and so she speaks Spanish already.
Colton
I'm trying to learn it.
Colton
And then my in laws, after serving on the field overseas for several years, came back to the states, planted a hispanic church, a spanish speaking church in Charleston, South Carolina, and then now are part of a counseling ministry that he may have talked about when he was here just a few weeks ago.
Colton
Now, around the time that Ali and I met in Bible College, we came to believe that the Lord wanted us to serve him in international missions.
Colton
And the Lord did that through a missions conference that we got to be a part of at the church there at our Bible college.
Colton
And so it was during one of the missions conference sermons that the speaker simply read these words from Romans, chapter ten, verse 14.
Colton
It says, how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
Colton
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Colton
Now, at that point, I was in Bible college studying to go into ministry.
Colton
Knew God wanted me to be in ministry, but I was still wrestling with what exactly God wanted me to do, how he wanted me to serve him.
Colton
And it was during that message that the Holy Spirit used that truth from scripture, that there are people in places all around the world who will never hear the gospel unless someone shares it.
Colton
And God used that truth to grip my heart, to convince me that he wanted me and my family one day to go and serve him in reaching an unreached people.
Colton
Now, when you hear the term unreached people or unreached places, what kind of places come to mind?
Colton
And you can answer.
Colton
You can just shout it out if you feel more comfortable raising your hand, I can call on you if you want to do it that way.
Colton
What comes to mind when you hear the word unreached, whether people or places?
Pastor Josh
Africa.
Colton
Yeah, of course.
Colton
Any others?
Colton
South America.
Colton
Aborigines.
Colton
What else?
Colton
Asia.
Colton
Yeah.
Colton
So when I hear unreached, I think of the 1040 window.
Colton
Now, I forgot to use the clicker here to.
Colton
Is it gonna work?
Colton
Hi, I'm Colton.
Colton
It is.
Colton
I don't know where it is.
Colton
I don't know if you want to find where that presentation is.
Colton
And then I'll get going.
Colton
There it is.
Colton
Perfect.
Colton
Perfect.
Colton
Okay.
Colton
Yes.
Colton
Yeah.
Colton
So, when I hear the term unreached, I think of what's called the 1040 window.
Colton
And I'll show you a picture of that real quick.
Colton
Sorry, it's kind of gotten a little out of order here.
Colton
There it is.
Colton
The 1040 window.
Colton
How many of you ever heard that term before?
Colton
Yeah, so it's between ten degrees, 40 degrees latitude on the eastern hemisphere, and it's known among missions, organizations as being one of the most unreached places in the world.
Colton
If you hear the term unreached people groups, the vast majority of them, billions of people among these people groups, live in that region of the world.
Colton
So naturally I thought if God wanted me to go to an unreached place, it would be somewhere here in the 1040 window.
Colton
The Middle East, South Asia, North Africa.
Colton
I never once had Spain or anywhere in Europe on my radar.
Colton
In my mind, most people in Europe are probably christians, right?
Colton
Or maybe if they're not mostly christian, there's at least enough believers there that they can spread the gospel without any outside help.
Colton
Well, I used to think that, but then a few years ago, I became aware that that is not the case.
Colton
I'll jump back a couple slides here.
Colton
So God made me aware, just through studying and learning different things when he was preparing us to go into missions, made me aware of just how significant the need in Spain is.
Colton
First of all, the number of believers in Spain actually remains significantly low.
Colton
Less than 2% of the population of the entire country professes faith in Christ.
Colton
And that's not much higher than many places across the 1040 window.
Colton
You go to Iran, Iran is a little more than 1% that would profess faith in Christ, and Spain is not much more than that.
Colton
Now, Roman Catholicism, as I'm sure you're aware, is still pretty strong in Spain, but even that is dwindling pretty quickly.
Colton
Each generation is actually becoming even more and more nonreligious.
Colton
If you look at this, this kind of shows you the 18 to 29 year olds over the last 25, 30 years or so, each generation, every ten or so years, the number of people who are just throwing off any belief in God or religion whatsoever is growing rapidly in different parts of the country.
Colton
You see that even higher.
Colton
Now, there are many people, again, who still claim to be Roman Catholic.
Colton
But something interesting you'd find there.
Colton
In fact, when we took a trip there, we would meet people who would say, I am Roman Catholic, but I don't really know if I believe in God, because Roman Catholicism is.
Colton
Catholicism is so ingrained in their culture, they still claim to be part of it.
Colton
But again, most of them will say, I don't actually believe in God.
Colton
And to them, their perception of Christianity is what they were raised on with Catholicism.
Colton
And in their minds, it is all about rules.
Colton
That's one of the things we heard from those very same people who said, I'm Catholic, but I don't believe in God.
Colton
They would just talk about their upbringing and how strict it was, and how harsh it was.
Colton
Because in their mind, their perception of the gospel of Christianity is simply about a list of rules to follow and to be punished.
Colton
If you didn't follow their rules, there's no room, no understanding of the love and the grace of Christ.
Colton
And so with so few believers in the country, it's not a surprise then that actually most towns across the whole country still do not have a single gospel preaching church.
Colton
In fact, there's close to a little over 8000 cities, towns, villages across the whole country.
Colton
And out of those 8000 or so, over 7000 do not have one gospel preaching church.
Colton
And that's not just a baptist church.
Colton
I'm not just saying they have a healthy church of some kind that probably will be wrong on other things.
Colton
I'm saying they don't have a church that at the very least preaches salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.
Colton
Not one.
Colton
Most of them, in fact, all of them really will have a large cathedral in the middle of their town.
Colton
Even if it's a really tiny town of just a couple hundred people.
Colton
They'll have a large catholic cathedral, but not a single gospel preaching church.
Colton
So there's just a visual there of every single town in the country that does not have church.
Colton
And one other interesting thing about the country of Spain that really makes us aware of how needy it is, is that even though Spain is not in the 1040 window, even though it's not considered one of those traditionally unreached places, many of the unreached people from these places are coming into Spain.
Colton
They have people from South Asia, East Asia, the Middle east, and especially from North Africa.
Colton
A lot of people moving in, especially to the major cities and the major population centers of Spain.
Colton
Now our plan first of all, is we desire to go to find a church that already exists and to seek mentorship.
Colton
We want to find a place that's already been planted, an established church, and take time there while we're getting settled and while we are going through language school and discerning what exactly the Lord would have us do and where he'd have us go to plant a church, we want to take that time to partner with a local church that already exists, to learn from them, to serve with them, and to hopefully through that relationship, allow God to guide us to where he would want us to go.
Colton
So during that time, we're hoping to also identify another unreached community, find another one of those towns on that map that don't have a gospel preaching church, and then go on from there.
Colton
And so the region of the country that we believe God would have us go to is this little part here in that highlighted area of the map, the northern coast of Spain, called the Basque country.
Colton
Now, this region is known for being the homeland of the basque people.
Colton
And something really neat about the basque people is they have lived there in Spain, in that region of Spain for thousands of years.
Colton
They actually lived there since long before the people who eventually became the Spaniards ever settled the peninsula.
Colton
The basque people have, for some reason, somehow, over the last few thousand years, maintained a distinct culture, a distinct identity, their own language, completely separate from the spanish language and the spanish people.
Colton
And so when Ali and I took a trip there earlier this year, we got to go to that region of the country and meet the basque people, and we just fell in love with those people.
Colton
And so we, through that, came to believe that that is where God would have us to go.
Colton
And through that trip, we also got to meet a couple of missionaries, a couple of churches that are there that we are praying about and hoping to possibly partner with when we land in Spain.
Colton
If you look there on the map, you probably can't see it.
Colton
It's pretty tiny.
Colton
But the city that we'll be in is called San Sebastian.
Colton
It's the second largest city of the region.
Colton
About half a million people in the whole area, and maybe about 15 or so gospel preaching churches of many different kinds in that region.
Colton
So in significant need of more churches to be planted.
Colton
Beyond that, our plan is to do what every local church exists to do, and that's to share the gospel, to make disciples, and just to plant more churches to start more communities of disciples, people who can know and worship and love the savior that we know, love, and worship.
Colton
So we are partnering with our home church, Grace Baptist Church from West Columbia, South Carolina.
Colton
They've agreed to be our sending church.
Colton
And then we also have decided to partner with biblical ministries worldwide as a missions agency that has provided a lot of help for us in training and teaching and connecting us with churches.
Colton
And our hope and our prayer is that churches like yours would also consider partnering with us so that we can go to Spain to make disciples, so that people can know and love and worship Jesus.
Colton
Now, if you have your bibles for just the last few minutes here, we're going to look at Matthew, chapter 28.
Colton
Matthew, chapter 28, verse 16.
Colton
If you are familiar at all with missions, then I am sure you already know this passage.
Colton
It is the great commission that Christ gave a well known, probably the most commonly known passage of scripture that deals with the subject of missions.
Colton
So go ahead and turn there to Matthew, chapter 28, and we'll read in just a few minutes there in verse 16.
Colton
This past April, when my wife Allie and I were able to take our survey trip to the country of Spain, one of the things that we decided to do was to rent a vehicle to drive ourselves around the country.
Colton
People would tell us, you know, the public transportation is great, but we were going to be going over quite a big distance from Barcelona on the Mediterranean, all the way to the basque country on the atlantic coast.
Colton
So we figured it probably better just to rent a vehicle.
Colton
But one thing that I did not think about ahead of time, I failed to think about was whether or not I was going to be able to read the street signs.
Colton
Now, fortunately, most of the signs, they're pretty self explanatory.
Colton
I figured it out pretty quickly, but there were some things that really threw me off.
Colton
For instance, go ahead and take a look.
Colton
Oh, I'm going to have to go.
Colton
Oh, there it is.
Colton
Perfect.
Colton
Thank you.
Colton
This sign here, looking at these two signs, I want you to tell me, which one do you think means no cars allowed?
Colton
The one on the right.
Colton
That's the one that we would see here in the US, no cars allowed.
Colton
But it's kind of a trick question there.
Colton
Actually, both of them mean no cars allowed.
Colton
The one on the right, that's what we would see here.
Colton
But in Spain, their sign looks like the one on the left.
Colton
Whenever you see a circle sign that has a red ring around it, that usually means it's prohibiting something.
Colton
But I didn't know that.
Colton
All right, I see that, and I think it means cars are allowed to go down this road.
Colton
So there I was in Spain, driving down a super narrow road in a very tiny town where the road is so narrow, it seems like our mirrors are about to scratch the walls on both sides, and we're driving around and I want to turn a corner.
Colton
Google Maps is telling me to go a certain way, and I don't remember if this particular sign was up above, but there was some sign up there that before I made the turn, I remember Allie pointing it out and questioning, like, are we really supposed to go down that road?
Colton
And I thought, yeah, of course, you know, Google Maps is telling us to go this way.
Colton
So I turned down the road, and so now I'm driving down an even narrower road, and people are walking all around.
Colton
And I hit somebody.
Colton
I'm just kidding.
Colton
I didn't actually hit anybody.
Colton
The story is much less dramatic than that, I promise.
Colton
We just came up to an end where there were some, you know, poles or something blocking the way.
Colton
Made it obvious this is actually just for pedestrians.
Colton
And then I had to do like a bajillion point turn just to get around and get out of that narrow alleyway.
Colton
So fortunately, I didn't actually hit anybody.
Colton
But I could have, right, driving down a street that apparently wasn't for cars.
Colton
And I was doing that because I misunderstood what this sign was for.
Colton
I had a flawed view of what the sign was for.
Colton
I could have hurt someone at the very least.
Colton
I wasted our time getting to wherever it was that we were going.
Colton
But all of that happened because I had a flawed view of what the street sign was for.
Colton
I am convinced that many of us have a flawed view of what Jesus has commissioned us to do.
Colton
We have a deficiency and an incompleteness in our view of what missions is really for.
Colton
And, you know, many of the problems that we face in our churches, I believe, actually stem from this deficiency.
Colton
Many times we hesitate to share the gospel because we have a deficient view of the great commission.
Colton
We in many churches across our country, we habitually lead people to make professions of faith in Christ, just to see them quickly turn away.
Colton
And we do that and we see that happen, I believe, because we have a deficient view of the great commission.
Colton
We even have disagreements and arguments and disputes among church members where we refuse to forgive and to reconcile.
Colton
And I believe that happens because we have a deficient view of the great commission.
Colton
And when I say we, I don't mean you.
Colton
I don't mean some kind of nebulous we other people out there.
Colton
I mean, first of all, me.
Colton
I operate.
Colton
I live and act many times with a deficient view of the great commission.
Colton
I hesitate to share the gospel.
Colton
I have led multiple people to make professions of faith just to see them quickly turn away.
Colton
It didn't mean nothing.
Colton
I have struggled to forgive people in my own church because of my flawed view of the great commission.
Colton
I've done all of those things because I often forget what missions is really for.
Colton
You know, for some reason ingrained into my thinking is that the great commission is primarily about getting people into heaven.
Colton
And that's true, right?
Colton
We want people to live forever with God in heaven.
Colton
That's part of it.
Colton
But missions is not merely for getting people into heaven.
Colton
It's first of all for getting heaven into people.
Colton
Because when you get heaven into people, you will get people into heaven.
Colton
What do I mean by that?
Colton
Another way to put it, or what we're really going to look at tonight.
Colton
What scripture teaches us from Matthew 28 is that the reason missions exists is to make disciples of Jesus who worship and enjoy him forever.
Colton
It's not just about preparing people to die.
Colton
It's about preparing people to live with and for Christ.
Colton
So let's look here at Matthew 28, verse 16, and unpack this here from the text this evening.
Colton
In verse 16, it says, then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
Colton
And when they saw him, they worshiped him.
Colton
But some doubted, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Colton
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
Colton
And lo, I am with you alway even into the end of the world.
Colton
Amen.
Colton
Let's pray before we dive into this this evening.
Colton
Lord, I pray that you would help us to understand why it is that you have given us this great commission, what it is that you truly desire us to do.
Colton
God, I pray that your spirit would speak to each and every one of us this evening so that we would understand personally how this applies to us, so that we can go and glorify you by making disciples who worship and love you.
Colton
We ask this in your son's name.
Colton
Amen.
Colton
So according to Matthew 28, what is missions for?
Colton
First missions is for worship.
Colton
Missions is for worship.
Colton
Did you notice before jesus got up to say a word, what were his disciples doing?
Colton
They worshiped him.
Colton
It says, some of them doubted.
Colton
Some of them were still, like, amazed and wondering, how can this be?
Colton
But most of the disciples there, before they ever went off to tell other people of how great and how good their messiah was, they took time to fall down before him and take in his greatness for themselves.
Colton
And then when jesus spoke still before he actually gave them the commission, before he said to go, what did he say to his disciples then?
Colton
He said, all power is given unto me.
Colton
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Colton
And by saying that, what jesus was doing was, he was announcing that now he reigns over everything.
Colton
And because he reigns, he was making it clear that he is the one who deserves worship from all nations.
Colton
Everybody under heaven, everybody in earth, on the earth, was under his rule, under his reign, and deserved, he deserved their worship.
Colton
We see this especially in places in the Old Testament, in different songs, where they worship and praise God because he reigns.
Colton
First chronicles 1631 says, let the heavens be glad.
Colton
Let the earth rejoice, and let men say, among the nations, the Lord reigneth.
Colton
Psalm 67 four says, o, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth.
Colton
One of my favorite books on missions is a book called let the nations be glad by a pastor who is an author.
Colton
His name is John Piper, but he wrote this book, and it's been one of the most really impactful books about missions in my life.
Colton
And in the opening lines of the book, he makes a really interesting statement.
Colton
He says, missions exists because worship doesn't.
Colton
Missions exist because worship doesn't.
Colton
Why would he say that?
Colton
What does that mean?
Colton
Well, he's actually trying to point out two things, really.
Colton
First of all, that the goal of missions is to worship.
Colton
Missions serves the worship of God.
Colton
And the goal of missions is to lead people to worship him.
Colton
You know, one day, the great commission is going to be over, right?
Colton
Jesus will return.
Colton
Our task will be done.
Colton
We won't be able to share the gospel with anyone else.
Colton
Our task will end.
Colton
Missions will end, but worship will never end.
Colton
Like we looked at in revelation, five.
Colton
People will fall down at Jesus feet and worship him for all of eternity.
Colton
Psalm 1611 tells us, in thy presence, God is fullness of joy.
Colton
At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Colton
So God intends missions just to play a temporary part.
Colton
It's his plan to prepare a people from every nation to one day worship him and be in his presence forever.
Colton
So worship is the goal of missions.
Colton
But what that statement also is intending to teach is that worship is the fuel of missions.
Colton
Worship is what fires us up and makes us go and want to tell people about our savior.
Colton
It's our passion for Jesus, our love for him and his greatness.
Colton
That is what compels us to tell others about him.
Colton
You know, you can't lead others to worship someone that you yourself don't worship.
Colton
Right?
Colton
It's kind of like trying to sell someone a product that you don't believe is worth it, right?
Colton
They're gonna see right through it.
Colton
It's fake.
Colton
It's the people who really believe in the product.
Colton
They're the ones that convince people to want to buy it, to receive it.
Colton
So why would people want to worship Jesus, want to know him and spend eternity with him, if we aren't worshiping him, if we don't actually enjoy him, if we're not passionate about Jesus, why would our neighbors want to be?
Colton
If we're not passionate about worshiping Jesus, why would our coworkers want to.
Colton
Our goal is to proclaim to them that Jesus is worthy their worship.
Colton
And if that's our goal, it first has to be what fuels us, what drives us and what moves us.
Colton
Our lives ought to burst with joy at the goodness of Jesus.
Colton
Now, just saying that you ought to enjoy something, does that make you enjoy it?
Colton
No.
Colton
Have you ever tried to tell your kids, if you have kids, to eat a meal that they weren't enjoying, did it work out very well?
Colton
Maybe eventually you got them to eat it, but it's pretty tough, right?
Colton
You can't make them want to do something.
Colton
Now, the truth is, if you know God, you truly have multiple reasons to rejoice and to enjoy and to worship him, right?
Colton
Sometimes we just need to be reminded of those truths.
Colton
So to do that, you can turn to scripture and look at the many places that remind us of all the reasons that we have this privilege of worshiping.
Colton
Goddess.
Colton
One of my favorites, psalm 103, rehearses over and over again all of the benefits of knowing God.
Colton
It says there in psalm 103, bless the Lord, o my soul.
Colton
Forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.
Colton
One of my favorite parts, where he says later, for as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
Colton
For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust.
Colton
The compassion of God moves us to worship.
Colton
Or you can go all the way to the end, back to the book of revelation, and look at the very end, the last chapter, where you hear and you read Jesus words, where he says, behold, I make all things, things new.
Colton
All of the sorrows, all of the suffering, all of the trouble that you face, all of the hard things of this life are done.
Colton
Everything is new.
Colton
Everything is perfect forever.
Colton
Those truths, he's reminded of us over and over and over again.
Colton
If we just rehearse those, remember those, meditate on his word, that reminds these of these truths that we will be led into worship, to enjoying, to praising him.
Colton
And that is what will fuel us to go and share the gospel.
Colton
So missions is first of all for worship.
Colton
But more than that, Jesus tells us there in Matthew 28 that missions is also for discipleship.
Colton
Missions is for discipleship.
Colton
You know, in this passage, Jesus actually only gives just one command.
Colton
Only one phrase in this passage is an imperative, where he's telling his disciples to do something and all the other statements he makes in the great commission are just telling them how to do it, how to carry out his one command.
Colton
And the only command that Jesus gives that lies at the center of the great commission is the phrase there in verse 19, teach all nations.
Colton
Now, when you hear the word teach, what does that bring to mind?
Colton
Maybe classrooms, a chalkboard, textbooks, things like that, right?
Colton
Elementary school, high school.
Colton
It brings to mind schoolwork, right?
Colton
Homework.
Colton
Well, the word teach that Jesus actually uses here is not that word for, like, giving instruction.
Colton
He uses that word later where he says, teach them to observe all things I've commanded you.
Colton
But this word teach is actually a verb for the same word that means a disciple.
Colton
So when Jesus said, go teach all nations, what he was saying is, go make disciples among all nations.
Colton
But what is a disciple?
Colton
You know, sometimes bible words kind of lose their meaning on us over time, don't they?
Colton
We get used to them, we get familiar with them.
Colton
We use them, but we kind of forget what they actually mean, what they actually meant to Jesus and his followers at the time when he used it.
Colton
It's kind of like the word church.
Colton
We all know that the church is not the building, it's the what the people.
Colton
But we still call our buildings churches.
Colton
Right.
Colton
It's just habit.
Colton
We're used to using scriptural terms in certain ways that we forget really what they mean.
Colton
Even if we know in our minds what they mean.
Colton
Our lives and our habits kind of betray that we, what we say that they mean.
Colton
I think the word disciple is very similar.
Colton
We're used to it.
Colton
We use it, but we sometimes forget what it actually means.
Colton
So when that happens, I find it helpful sometimes to think of another word or to use a different term.
Colton
That kind of keeps the meaning fresh in my mind.
Colton
And one person who's really helped me to better understand what discipleship to jesus is, is an author named Dallas Willard, and he defines discipleship this way.
Colton
He says a disciple is simply an apprentice to Jesus.
Colton
It's an apprentice to Jesus.
Colton
But why is that?
Colton
Because an apprentice is somebody who learns from a master to become like his master.
Colton
For example, in an apprenticeship, what does the student actually do in that relationship?
Colton
Do they just sit in a classroom and receive instruction, write down notes and take a test, and that's it?
Colton
No.
Colton
You know, we use that, the word student, to describe that the word student can mean anybody that is just having information thrown at them, whether they receive it and actually use it or not.
Colton
But an apprentice is different.
Colton
An apprentice requires a much more personable approach.
Colton
The aim is to become like the person who's training you.
Colton
You spend time watching their movements, learning from them, usually how to do a certain craft or a certain job, and you watch them, and then you begin to copy them.
Colton
You begin to do things like them.
Colton
At first, it feels awkward because it's not normal for you to do things their way.
Colton
But then the more you do it, you find yourself taking on their character, taking on their habits, where eventually what they do becomes like second nature to you.
Colton
And then you become fully trained in that craft, and you can do that craft as well as the master.
Colton
So at that point, you no longer have to consciously think and feel awkward trying to do things like your master.
Colton
It just becomes like second nature to you.
Colton
Well, Jesus actually tells us that that is what discipleship is.
Colton
Luke chapter six, verse 40.
Colton
Jesus said that the disciple is not above his master, but everyone that is perfect, or the word there means fully trained.
Colton
Everybody who's fully trained shall be as his master.
Colton
So to be an apprentice to Jesus means you are learning from him to be like him.
Colton
Whereas the author I mentioned, who's helping me, the one way he put it, he said, apprenticeship to jesus means learning from jesus to be whom he would be if he were me.
Colton
So if jesus were a retired grandparent living in Middletown, Delaware, what would he be?
Colton
What would he do?
Colton
If jesus worked in your place of work, how would he interact with the coworkers?
Colton
How would he treat the boss that mistreats you?
Colton
How would he treat the neighbor who mistreats you?
Colton
As an apprentice to Jesus, you are learning to become like him.
Colton
And at first, like an apprentice with his master in the craft.
Colton
It feels awkward, doesn't feel normal.
Colton
But the more you follow him, become like him, it becomes like second nature.
Colton
You take on his character, the character of Christ, and truly become what God has predestined us to be, what he says in romans eight, to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Colton
When jesus saves a person, he really, truly desires to save them completely, not just forgive them, not just allow them to live forever.
Colton
He wants to save them and remake them into his image until the day he returns and he completes.
Colton
Colossians three tells us, you have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
Colton
One John three two says, beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, so we will become like Christ.
Colton
And that is the central task of.
Colton
Of the great commission.
Colton
That is what Jesus commanded us to do, to be apprentices to him and then to go and to make more apprentices, more disciples who love him, worship him, follow him, and become like him.
Colton
You know, what would happen to us in our churches if we truly believed that that is what missions was for?
Colton
Not just for getting people into heaven, but for seeing them come to know Christ so that they can follow him and become like him?
Colton
What would that do to our churches?
Colton
You know, how many church squabbles and disputes and arguments would be quickly diffused if we believed, and we taught people from the start to become like Jesus, that Jesus saved them, to become like him.
Colton
How many people would turn to Christ and worship him if they saw the light of Jesus in us?
Colton
They saw his compassion in us even when they mistreated us.
Colton
How much better off would our neighbors be if our churches were permeated with people who lived so like Jesus that the distinction in their life made a huge difference where they truly were like what Jesus said.
Colton
Salt.
Colton
That hasn't lost its savor.
Colton
You know, many times the reason we don't see these things happening in many churches is because we operate with an incomplete view of the great commission.
Colton
We substitute apprenticeship to Jesus for other things.
Colton
We tell people Jesus can save them from hell, but then we don't tell them he actually wants to do more than that.
Colton
He wants to save them from their sin and remake them into his image.
Colton
We teach people how to present the gospel.
Colton
We provide evangelistic programs and times to do so.
Colton
But we don't emphasize the need for people to live like Jesus by actually doing what he said.
Colton
We tell people that their lives need to be distinct from the world to make a difference.
Colton
But many times we limit what that distinction is to just how they vote or how they look.
Colton
And we don't actually train them to live with radical compassion and goodness and kindness like Christ.
Colton
And please know when I'm saying that, I'm not saying this because I think that your church is doing that at all.
Colton
I don't know your church very well, but I know myself, and I know the churches I've been in.
Colton
I know how I have acted many times within my own church.
Colton
I've cared more about articulating the gospel correctly than I have actually treating fellow church members like Christ commanded me to.
Colton
I have done all of these things.
Colton
You know, we all fall short of being like Jesus in one way or another.
Colton
But apprenticeship to Jesus isn't an option, is it?
Colton
It's what he commanded us to do, to follow him and to make disciples so that others would follow and worship him.
Colton
He's commissioned us to not only be like him ourselves, but to go into all the world to reach others and to train them to become like him.
Colton
You know, I'm beyond grateful for how our churches and others like ours have had a passion for missions, a passion for spreading the gospel around the world.
Colton
And I'm glad.
Colton
I grew up in a church that was passionate about missions.
Colton
I grew up in a church that had missions, conferences where I got to meet missionaries and see what missions was about.
Colton
And already from a young age, God used that to stir in my heart a love and a desire for missions.
Colton
And I hope that your church and my church and other churches like ours will continue for generations to be used by God to spread the gospel around the world.
Colton
But to do that for us to truly be a part of what Jesus is doing in our world and what he wants people to do for us to continue to do that for generations to come, I believe we have to remember what missions is really for.
Colton
Missions exists to make disciples of Jesus who worship and enjoy him forever.
Colton
That's our mission.
Colton
That's our desire.
Colton
That's our goal.
Colton
To go to Spain to make disciples and plant healthy churches so that the people in Spain can know and worship Jesus.
Colton
And my hope is that God will use your church, Middletown Baptist, to do that here and do that as you support and send people around the world to obey the great commission to make disciples so people will love, know and worship our savior who's worthy of worship.
Colton
Let's pray.
Colton
Lord, I thank you that you have given us this task.
Colton
Lord, you have allowed us to be a part of your plan in redeeming people from around the world.
Colton
Lord, not only have you given us the privilege of knowing you ourselves and having confidence that we will spend eternity in heaven with you before your face, worshiping you forever.
Colton
But, Lord, you have done so much more in allowing us to participate with you and seeing others be able to do the same.
Colton
I pray that we as a church, and we as followers of Christ would love you, cherish you, adore you, and strive to become like you by the power of your spirit so that we can be the kind of people that you use to make disciples.
Colton
We love you.
Colton
We ask this in Jesus name.
Colton
Amen.
Pastor Josh
Thank you, Colton.
Pastor Josh
There we go.
Pastor Josh
Thank you, Colton.
Pastor Josh
I appreciate that.
Pastor Josh
You know, I think a lot of times we think that there are things that we have to do in church, like we have to do this and we have to meet at this time.
Pastor Josh
There's a lot of things that we think are mandatory within church.
Pastor Josh
You know, the one thing that's mandatory within the church is what we just heard about this evening, the great commission.
Pastor Josh
But so many times we put the great commission way behind all the other things that we think have to happen within the church.
Pastor Josh
Not that those things are wrong, but so many times we get our priorities mixed up.
Pastor Josh
This is the priority.
Pastor Josh
This is the marching order from God to the church to follow the great commission.
Pastor Josh
I hope as a church that we see that as our first and foremost priority.
Pastor Josh
Many times we can see ourselves thinking, well, you know what?
Pastor Josh
This isn't the way that I like it.
Pastor Josh
This isn't the way that I want it to be.
Pastor Josh
And I loved what Colton said about a lot of the squabbles that we have within churches could just go away if we just realized that that's not.
Pastor Josh
That's not helping us.
Pastor Josh
When we fight amongst ourselves or when we have issues amongst ourselves, we're not going to do the effective work of the gospel ministry.
Pastor Josh
And so I thank you for that, Colton.
Pastor Josh
We all needed to hear that message here this evening.
Pastor Josh
For sure.
Pastor Josh
It's a little bit of a precursor to what our theme is going to be for 2025.
Pastor Josh
I can tell you that our theme for 2025 is going to be wrapped up in that passage of scripture right there.
Pastor Josh
I don't want to give away too much, but we're looking forward to some awesome things that are going to happen next year when it comes to being.
Pastor Josh
Being the church and being a missional church.
Pastor Josh
You know, we have missionaries, but why do we have missionaries?
Pastor Josh
Because all independent baptist churches have missionaries and we need to have missionaries.
Pastor Josh
No, there's a purpose to why we have 29 missionary families.
Pastor Josh
There's a purpose to.
Pastor Josh
Why we want to add more on.
Pastor Josh
There's a purpose to all of this.
Pastor Josh
And that is as acts chapter one, verse eight, says, to go to our Jerusalem here in Judea and Samaria.
Pastor Josh
And then what?
Pastor Josh
To the uttermost part of the earth.
Pastor Josh
And that's.
Pastor Josh
That's the whole goal for our church.
Colton
So.
Pastor Josh
So you might not be called to Spain, but guess what?
Pastor Josh
The Gideons are.
Pastor Josh
And so you can pray and you can invest into the Gideon's life so that we can then effectively reach all people, all nations.
Pastor Josh
All right, so that's.
Pastor Josh
That's the thought.
Pastor Josh
That's the goal.
Pastor Josh
Well, I thank you, Colton.
Pastor Josh
Thank you, Allie, for being here with us, and I appreciate their video.
Pastor Josh
Appreciate to hear the wife's perspective right.
Pastor Josh
Sometimes we see folks going off into a mission field and we think, what's the family thinking about this?
Pastor Josh
You know?
Pastor Josh
And I would encourage you to pray for them as they're going through this deputation process.
Pastor Josh
Two young girls that are going to be going off into the mission field and, you know, I can't even imagine taking my children to another country, no less.
Pastor Josh
We left Florida and came to Delaware and everyone freaked out.
Pastor Josh
I can't imagine going across the Atlantic Ocean.
Pastor Josh
But I know that they have a supportive family, both sides.
Pastor Josh
And I was going to mention, you guys know Allie's dad.
Pastor Josh
He was just here, brother Chris Phillips.
Pastor Josh
So I know they have a good support staff.
Pastor Josh
I know they're being sent out from a wonderful church at Greece.
Pastor Josh
And so I'm excited to see what God's going to do.
Pastor Josh
So as you guys head out this evening, please stop by the table, let Colton and Allie know you're praying for them.
Pastor Josh
Grab a prayer.
Pastor Josh
You have prayer cards, right?
Pastor Josh
All right.
Pastor Josh
Make sure you grab a prayer card.
Pastor Josh
Put that up somewhere that you're used to seeing a lot.
Pastor Josh
I know for me, it's either the fridge or at my office.
Pastor Josh
Okay.
Pastor Josh
Because those are the two places I'm at the most, I think so.
Pastor Josh
So those.
Pastor Josh
Those are places that you could do that.
Pastor Josh
You could put those.
Pastor Josh
And then, like I said before, if you feel like God's leading you to give a love offering to them, make sure you do that.
Pastor Josh
Put that in the box there in the lobby, and I know that they would appreciate that and just be praying about how we can partner with them.
Pastor Josh
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Pastor Josh
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
Pastor Josh
If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us@middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
Pastor Josh
You can also email me directly@joshmissaroiddletownbaptastchurch.com.
Pastor Josh
if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.
Pastor Josh
Thank you so much.
Pastor Josh
God bless.
Pastor Josh
Have a wonderful day.
Pastor Josh
Foresee maybe in the future, once they're settled in Spain, you know, we can.
Pastor Josh
We already have a lot of spanish speakers in the church.
Pastor Josh
We can just go on over there and make it.
Pastor Josh
Make it a trip.
Pastor Josh
Excited to see what God's going to do in their lives.
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