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 ^{Romans 10:11-13:} As Scripture says, Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

As you may know, those that were of the Jewish faith believed in heritage. Everyone else was called a Gentile. Boy, what a revelation when the book of Acts happened. Wait a minute! You can’t get saved, you’re not Jewish! The Lord said, yes they can, because I came for the whole world.

Sometimes we kind of act the same way. Maybe we don’t say the same thing, but we act the same way. Wait a minute, you were my enemy. You can’t be saved. You’re the guy that doesn’t like me, therefore, I don’t like you. You can’t be saved. Or, you’re from China, you’re from India, you’re from Central America, you’re from Canada, you’re from wherever. You’re from Michigan, not Michigan State. How can God love you?

I hope you got the humor in the Michigan comment. Sidenote, I don’t know why Michigan State fans still can not stand Michigan fans. Who knows. I digress.

God loves us so much, that he will send you half way around the world, and send someone half way around the world to you, if he has to. There is no distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles, you are the same. We all need to be saved.

Sometimes we don’t think about it this way. Billy Graham had to say this prayer, one time in his lifetime, at least; “Jesus, I am a sinner. Come into my heart, come into my life, save me and set me free.” Billy Graham, you say? Oh yeah. Him and everybody else.

Romans 10:13-18: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?Isaiah 52:7: How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, Your God reigns!

We have, what’s called, good news…the Bible. Do you think our world needs some good news? South Bend needs some good news and I bet your city does too. Boy, do we need good news. What does everywhere else around the world need? Good news. 

Somehow, we have made this so hard, so complicated, so many hoops to jump through. We then say, “I’m not qualified to speak. I’m not qualified to lead anybody to the Lord. I can never be a missionary. I can never be a sent one. I could never tell anyone good news.” Why?! Because you don’t know Greek? You know what? The Bible says the same thing in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, French, and every other language, as it says in English. Good news.

If you’re lost, what’s the good news? You can be found. If you’re sick, what’s the good news? You can be healed.

So what is the good news? It’s whatever the devil has put on you. Jesus, by the cross, and by the power of His resurrection, He has taken that off of you. That is good news.

There’s a man, by the name of John Gilman, that worked for CBN, years ago. He had something way down on the inside of him, a calling to the people of India. He went to India, but couldn’t speak in all their dialects, so he had a movie made. It was a Jesus movie. Years ago, he came by our church and we raised some money to help him produce that, but he reproduced that in the language of the people in India.

He would go out into the villages, throw up a white bed sheet, then they’d run a generator, for a PA system and projector. Thousands came to know the Lord. They didn’t know who Jesus was. They didn’t know that there was a Bible. They knew absolutely nothing. The people of that village would sit on the ground and watch the movie. They’d weep. God would touch their hearts. Then they would say, “Why are they killing that innocent man.”

That says it all.

They killed the innocent man, because we are guilty in our sins. But, the good news is, that He rose again the third day. He’s sitting at the right hand of the Father making intersession for us. He wants the whole world to be free. Say out loud, right now, FREE.

You don’t have to live in bondage. You can be free. You know what? There are hundreds, of millions, of people that need that word. You don’t need to tell it to them in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, just their own language so that they can understand. They can understand that they can be free.

From the banker, the lawyer, to the guy that picks up the trash, or anyone else. You can be free.

~Pastor Steve

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14

Our greatest weapon is prayer. The concern is our nation and the responsibility is ours. We should always trust in God, not in man.

How much do we need prayer and where does responsibility begin? It begins with God’s people and their ability to pray.

Let’s pray together.

Join us this Sunday at Christ Chapel as we celebrate the birth of our nation and pray for its well being.

-Pastor Steve

I’ve been thinking…what is it to be a missionary?  What does it mean to be missionary minded?

A lot of people say “Well I am not called to do that.” However, that’s not quite right. The Bible says if you are born again you are called to reconcile people to God. I’m not a betting man, but if I were, i’d assume a good majority of you reading this, right now, are born again. So, according to scripture, you don’t need a calling. It’s just a part of what we do, it’s in our DNA of being a believer. We’re reconciling this world to God, bringing it closer to God through the Lord, Jesus Christ.

I looked up missionary, and wondered where in the world it came from. Obviously, the word mission, it comes from the Latin word, “missio.” It means, “a sent one, the act of sending.”  Those that are in the mission work are to get individuals born again, and after that, plant churches so the new believers have somewhere to go-a Body of Christ they can attach themselves to. Many times, people have gone to big events and have received the Lord Jesus, then not plugged in to a local church. Listen to me when I say, you need the local church.

If there’s anything wrong with some major television ministries, it is they want to be everything to you need. They can not be, because they are not the local church. They’re a television ministry, which envolves, evangelism and missionaries, but they’re not the local church.

The Bible says in Matthew 16:18, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church.

The Bible didn’t say non-governmental organization, it says the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church. So, when somebody goes into the mission field, it’s for saving the lost. It could be translating the Bible into local dialects and languages, or Bible teachers. It could be medical missions, bringing medical help to many nations over seas. It could be a feeding programs, or a ministry bringing the good news.

My friend, Brother Tim Johnson, down in the Dominican, goes with his family on vacations to China and Thailand. On these vacations, they don’t know the local language-they’re only fluent in English and Spanish. Believe me, those are not Chinese…or Thai. So what do they do? They go there and pass out thousands, and no exaggeration, thousands of tracts. One. At. A. Time.

Years ago, when the Olympics were in Mexico, my father, Dr. Sumrall, wanted to make sure that there was a spiritual significance to those who came to Mexico City, in the late 60’s. He made up a track called, “You Hold the Reigns,” and had it translated into five different languages on one pamphlet. He knew he couldn’t hand out over a million tracks by himself, nobody can. So, he paid Brother Glen a salary to go down to Mexico City and help pass out the tracts and organize local churches for that one purpose of passing those out to over a million people that were going to be there. Also, the local churches plugged in, to bring those people into the house of God.

I went out one day with Brother Glen, with bags and bags of tracks in the car. When they ran out of a bag, they’d run to the car a grab another. He was passing them out like they were hot cakes! Street corners, the Olympic Village, everywhere! I said to him, “Who do you talk to when you’re giving the tracks out like that?” He replied, “Anybody who stops and asks a question.” I thought, that’s a little too simple, Brother Glen. I asked, “How do you know you’re supposed to talk to somebody about what you just gave them?” He replied, “Anybody who takes time to actually look at it, and asks me a question, that’s who the Lord wants me to talk to. Other than that, they’re going to get this and read it later.”

That is another example of missionary work.

There are a lot of people who raise funds to be missionaires, that I wouldn’t consider missionaries at all. There were people that were janitors, an organist, printing press printers, and secretaries, all put under the category of “helps.” So if you’re very strict about it, it is the one who goes and publishes. In an apostolic mentality of going, getting them lost, planting a pastor, and seeing a work raised up. Then, believers are in there duplicating themselves. The broader sense of mission work, is that everybody goes and brings the good news to the captives. Amen?

There’s one man who wrote the book about angels. He said the Lord told him to buy a plane ticket to Asia.

He said, “I don’t know anybody in Asia!”

Lord said, “Go buy a ticket to go to Asia.”

Man: “I don’t have much money, so i’m going to buy a cheap seat.”

Lord: “No, I want you to buy at least a business class ticket.”

Man: “Lord, that costs a lot of money and I don’t have anyone to meet over there.”

Finally, he agreed that’s what he should do. He did it. He flew, business class, to Asia, and there was a man right beside him as lost as could be. He had been in the church as a child, slid backwards, and turned his back on God. Every single spiritual thing he fed him, the man was eating it up. Eating up the word of God. His life was a mess. He was crying, absolutely sobbing, in the business class plane seat. The Lord said, “Alright, that is why I sent you on this airplane. You can now go home.”

The Lord can send you half way around the world, for one person. You know why? Because God loves us all. He loves us so much, He sent His son, from heaven. Why is it so outlandish to believe that He can send someone to you, or you to someone.

There are many people that need to be set free. We as believers are called to bring them the Good News that will set them FREE, Body, Soul, Spirit.

Pastor Steve