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Continue these closing chapters of Paul's letter.
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biographical sections that Paul will pepper in his epistles. And we'll be looking at verses 17- 21 as we gain some insight in his own
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philosophy towards his ministry that the Lord had given him to the Gentiles.
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Romans chapter 15 beginning in verse 17. Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except that what Christ has
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accomplished through me resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed in the power of signs and wonders in the power of the spirit. So that from
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Jerusalem and roundabout as far as elicum reccome, excuse me, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And thus I aspired to preach the gospel,
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not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man's foundation, but as it is written, "They who had no news of him shall see, and
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they who have not heard shall understand." Let us pray. Father, we ask that we might understand that we might understand
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motive of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles. That we might understand what he says here about what you had laid upon his heart and even about the way in which he went about it. That we might learn that we might imitate him even as
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he imitates you. We ask that the spirit who inspired these words would inspire them to our understanding and to our own action. For we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
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it has been relatively frequent that visitors to Fellowship Bible Church will ask what what is your missions policy? And generally over the years they have
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not been satisfied with the answer. missions today, evangelism today dates more from the 1830s than the
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And yet it has become so pervasive in American Christianity American Christianity that it is believed to be the only way to do it. If you suggest any different way of
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missions or evangelism, often you'll hear that infamous phrase, I prefer the way my church does evangelism to the way your church doesn't do it.
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And so there is an established methodology of evangelism, especially in American Christianity, American Christianity, which really kind of roots also in British Christianity of the 19th
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century. And I think we all know what it looks like and that is local churches will support uh numerous mission activities throughout the world. Often times you go
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into one of these churches and in the foyer uh on the uh wall you'll see uh pictures of the missionaries that are being supported by that church. Now we
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don't do that here but we used to. And this morning, although we don't talk often about evangelism and about what's known as myology, the science of
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missions, I think Paul's discussion here about himself in these latter verses of chapter 15 are gerine. I think they give the opportunity for us to discuss
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biblical missions and whether or not the American church is doing things biblically. As I mentioned, modern evangelism dates more to the 1830s. And
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by that, I'm making reference to what is known as the second great awakening. It had very little actually to do with the first great awakening. Um, but they did
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get lumped together in historical terminology. The underlying the theology of the second great awakening was Armenian at
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methodology of evangelism, the American church took a quantum shift during the early decades of the 1800s in this period known as the second great
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awakening. This gave rise to the camp meeting, to revival, to fire and brimstone preaching, to things like the anxious seat and the
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altar call. altar call. Testimonies became popular in in the use of Christian evangelism as well as a primacy, interestingly, of music.
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music that was intended to stir the hearts and the emotions of people. Keep in mind the underlying theology is
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Armenian which means the belief that the sinner has the ability within himself or herself to believe the gospel and be saved. Now that is the fundamental
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difference between Armenianism and Calvinism. Whereas Calvinism believes that salvation is an act of God's regeneration upon which man then believes. So where
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does the cart go? Where does the horse go is fundamentally the question between these two primary uh divisions within
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Christianity. And so the second great awakening with some minor exceptions and minor I I say because nobody um has heard of the preachers who preached differently than
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than the man I'm going to mention this morning. But they were rooted in the Armenian doctrine of free will. Now what that means is that embraces the importance of pulpit persuasion to
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convince sinners of their need of a savior. So the emphasis of evangelism now resides upon the preacher and the preacher then must employ
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whatever mechanism whether it's it's preaching or testimonies or music or repetitious music or altra calls to stir up the hearts and the emotion of sinners that
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they might receive Jesus Christ. And that is in fact a pretty good description of the vast majority of
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evangelism. That's what we do now and we call it evangelism. At the head of this was a man by the name of Charles Finny.
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And Finny developed a method of preaching that he called his new measures. new measures. Now, that phrase right there should have
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concerned people, new measures. And whenever you hear of new measures, then what you're hearing is a statement
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to the point that what we read in scripture is no longer applicable. It's no longer effective. And therefore, we need new measures. And in fact, when you
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hear the phrase new, new and improved or or any such variation of the of that theme, your mind should actually go to Jeremiah 6
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Jeremiah 6 where we are admonished to stand by the ways and seek and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it.
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The scripture actually encourages us not to seek new measures but rather to understand the the paths of old the ancient ways. It can also be
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interpreted. And so when we consider modern evangelism and you know some people like to call it the old time gospel. It's not that old. 200 years is not that old. I
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mean we're 250 this year. That's not that old when we consider that the the message of God's redemptive dates back thousands of years and that his word
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closed 2,000 years ago. When we seek the old paths, what is meant there is seek the scripture
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the scripture and look to the methods if if methods are necessary that were employed by those inspired by the Holy Spirit and developing the early church.
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Well, Phineism is the basis of modern evangelism and it's dominant for the past, as I said, 200 years. though 200 years is not long enough to be called an
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old path. old path. So the question is was phineism right then. Did did it work? You know in in the United States that's kind of the the
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acid test about anything. Does it work? Uh if if there's ever going to be an adjective that will define and I imagine there are several adjectives that define Americanism, but in general over the the
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thus long course of our history, pragmatism would be a pretty good adjective for us. We we tend to do things not only in the corporate world
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and the commercial world but sadly also in the church by measuring how well they work. And by work we mean how productively and efficiently they
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achieve their goal. Okay. Now in business that's that's a good thing. Not not a great thing but a good thing. There there are other reasons biblical reasons why we trade and buy and sell
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and employ workers. It's not just to make a profit. In fact, if that's all it is, then we're on the wrong side of the Lord in that matter. But in terms of
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running a factory, efficiency is a significant factor in that. But does it have any place in the church? Does it have any place in evangelism?
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And are we even able to measure the results? Do we know the hearts? Are we able to say by the decision cards and the hands raised and the people who come
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down to the to the anxious seat? Can we then record how many people have been saved? The answer is no. We cannot.
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We're not given to know the hearts of people. And we're given examples. Simon Magis jumps to mind or my mind. We're given examples of those who make profession of faith
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but then who fall away. The parable of the sewers is also excellent warning that not all of the seed that appears to take root will bear fruit. And so the
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the idea of counting heads and and making decisions that becomes integral to to Finn's evangelism as it is today.
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We have rallies. We have revival at the end of which we report to our congregation how many people made a decision for Christ. I'd like to know how many people for
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whom Christ made a decision because that's the one that matters. Even Paul said is it's it's it's not so much that you know God but rather that
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God you are known by God and and we can't know that until we begin to see the fruit of the seed that was planted. That takes time. It also takes the local
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church where I believe evangelism was always intended always intended to be primary or to be primarily. Now obviously Paul works outside the local
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church. In fact he establishes the local church. But if we look at the the evangelism of the second great awakening and we we ask the question was was it
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right in that day? Did it actually accomplish what it sought out to do? Well, we can say that the preachers, Finey included, preached with great
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earnestness. And we might even say if we're gracious and we don't know otherwise, that they preached with great sincerity. But earnestness and sincerity, even
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together, do not are not the power of God unto salvation. Earnestness and sincerity even together do not constitute the true
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gospel and it's only the true gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. So it does matter what is being preached. It matters very much what
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gospel is being presented. And if a false gospel is being presented, then one can only expect a false salvation to result from it
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because a bitter well does not produce fresh water. fresh water. And if we look at the history of the second great awakening, we find that out of the regions where this event kind of
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covered those districts mostly in upper New York and New England were later called the burnt over
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districts. These territories became essentially inoculated against true Christian preaching. And out of them came several very famous
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religions that we now recognize as heresies. For example, Christian Science, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
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Saints, and Jehovah's Witnesses. They all trace their origins to the mid to the early 1800s and to the very territory where these new measures
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plowed up the ground and swed allegedly the seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But wisdom is judged by her children and a tree is judged by its fruit. And
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frankly, if we judge the the second great awakening by its successors, we would have to pronounce that it was not only an utter failure, it might have been a heresy from the pit of hell.
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Finny can be, I think, rightfully charged with the origin of great and pervasive heresies and the effective death of evangelical Christianity in New York, New England, New York and New
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England. I think I lay that at the foot or at the feet of the new measures. And I think that's a a very good relatively recent historical exhortation to do. As
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Jeremiah says, "Stand by the ways." Yes. And ask and seek for the old paths. The old paths lead us back to Romans 15.
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Because what Finny did and what all modern Armenian evangelism does does is it builds it lays a false foundation. And Paul mentions foundation here and
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elsewhere in terms of evangelism. Armenian evangelism is a false foundation because it deprivives the gospel of its power by giving to the
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sinner the power to believe. The gospel is the power of God into salvation. But you know what folks? You actually have the ultimate power
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in the gospel message because you within your fallen and corrupt heart, your heart that has fallen short of the glory of God, your heart that does not seek
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God. No, not one of you. Oh yes, but you have the ability within you to believe the gospel and be saved. No, you don't.
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That is the power of God through the gospel. And so what Armenian evangelism does is it emasculates. It renders impotent the gospel itself.
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It it is false foundation because it gives the ultimate glory of a sinner's salvation to the sinner himself rather than to God.
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It violates the essential biblical maxim that I think must undergard all biblical evangelism. And that is that simple phrase, salvation
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phrase, salvation is of the Lord. And in every true salvation, there will only be glory to God in the highest. He will increase and we will decrease. And
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not one will stand before his holy hill and say, "Well, you know, you did a really good job through Jesus. That was a great plan and I'm so proud of myself for believing it. That is not going to
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happen. Now, don't get me wrong. I have no doubt that there were some by God's grace and his mercy who truly received regenerative grace through the Holy
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Spirit through the preaching that went forth in the second great awakening. But I also believe that there are believers in the Catholic Church. I believe there are believers in the
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Presbyterian church. And even the Baptist church has some. God is graceful, gracious, and he he can use broken instruments for his own glory.
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But fundamentally, it was a false gospel that was being preached. It was a false foundation that was being laid. And for the most part, even today,
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even today, the Billy Graham organization estimates that less than 10% of all the people who have ever responded and come forward at a Billy Graham rally are still attending a
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church on a regular basis. Now, even that's no true measure of salvation. But frankly, without it, we have no reason to think. That's a lot of effort and a
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lot of money and a lot of rallies for not much result because it's a false gospel. God is not glorified in it. The finished
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work of Jesus Christ is not exalted because it's not yet finished. Only the sinner can finish it through their own free will acceptance of the gospel. That
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is a false foundation. That's not just a different opinion. All that God has done will redound alone to his glory. Not to anyone else's and
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not to the preacher and not to his persuasive abilities and not to the notorious celebrity who's become a Christian and is now being used as an evangelistic tool. No, that's not the
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way the old paths run. It's not the way Paul ran. And so when we when someone asks me the question, well, how what what is your mission's policy? Well,
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first of all, how much time do you have? And secondly, it's even worth it. I should return the question, what are you looking for? Well, I'm looking for those
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photos on the wall. Where are they? You How many missionaries do you support? You see, that's that's the thing. How many missionaries do you support? Now, that actually leads not only to a very ineffective missions policy. very very
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diffuse and impotent but also to a sense of pride of pride and I have been church in churches that it just the pride almost oozes. Okay. I remember visiting a church when we were
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on a vacation visiting my parents and the entire sermon was taken up by a a district representative who who came into town in order to praise that
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particular congregation for having the highest number of decision cards. And that was the whole thing was numbers and statistics. And afterwards he gave an altra call.
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There was absolutely no mention of Jesus Christ or the gospel presented. He still gave an altra call because you can't have a service unless you have an altra call. That that's that's not the way it
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was done. It's not the old paths and it's not the way we do it and it's not the way Lord willing we will ever do it because it's a false foundation and it's a false gospel and it can only lead to
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false salvation and even to heresies. So Paul gives us his own insight into biblical missions in several places here in Romans 15, uh, 1 Corinthians chapter
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3 and some other places where he actually talks briefly about his own ministry and how he has been going about doing it. We obviously we see in the
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book of Acts, but that's Luke third kind of third party looking on at what Paul's doing. very important, but it I think it's even more significant when we hear
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from from Paul himself as we do here in Romans 15. And and I know it's it's kind of like eldership. There there really is no and I've been pointed to this many
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times there there's no biblical mandate that the local church should be led by elders. That's true. But we have no other
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example in scripture but congregations being led by elders. So my question is can we do better? Can we come up with better measures, new measures? Can we
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come up with better polity? Okay. Can can we have our preacher be a member of the session and not a member of the church because that protects him from the congregation? the congregation? That's a good idea.
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So we don't do we really need to be told explicitly this is how to do it or are we mature enough in the Holy Spirit to look at how it was done and to read what
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is said by those who did it and say well that's good enough for me. Let's let's do it that way and not come up with these mission boards and institutions
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and all the various very expensive rigomearroll that goes along with modern missions and call this good and effective and glory to God in the
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highest. That's not in here. We don't see that in scripture. Now, the only reason that we would adopt new measures again is if we think somehow we are in control of the
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church's missions. church's missions. And I think we'll find that Paul never had such a thought. Oh, no. Well, we have such advantages. We have we have internet. We, you know, we have satellites. We have GPS. We can we can
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beam the gospel all over the world now. So, we need to do it that way. No. Jesus called the kingdom of God levan that is worked into the lump and
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works its way through. I think he knew what was coming. I think he knew that we would have the internet. He he knew that we would have GPS and and satellites and all of that. And I don't think that that
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the techn technological developments of mankind justify departing from the old paths. In fact, they may actually be stronger reason to stay on those old
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paths. The old paths are very local. They're very congregational. Now, there was Paul, but I want to I want to issue a caveat here before I I'd like to present some principles, five principles, and I
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want to try to do it quickly, but five principles of evangelism that I derive from Paul's ministry. But first of all, the caveat. Paul was an apostle.
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Now we read in Ephesians 4 that God gave gifts to men and the first one listed is apostle. In 1 Corinthians 12 we read of the gifts and the first one is apostle.
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And it's very easy to look at that and say okay there were apostles then there were evangelists there were prophets and there were pastor teachers as if the apostle was a
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different among the list. Actually the apostle was the sum total of the list. The apostle was an evangelist. The apostle was a prophet. The apostle was a
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pastor. The apostle was a teacher. And Peter calls himself a fellow elder. He calls himself a fellow shepherd. So he recognized within the the role that
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unique role of apostle was the the fullness of the gift of men that then individually would also be given for the growth of the church. So when we talk
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about an apostle, we we don't need to think that they were somehow uh more spiritually charged and therefore we can't really follow their
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example even though Paul says do imitate me as I imitate Christ. But we don't we can't really do that. That's like saying we can't follow in the steps of Jesus because he's the eternal son of God.
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But we're told to follow him. We're told to imitate him. So we we need to be careful not to elevate the apostle as some spirit charged person that we don't
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have anymore. Or of course we can do as some churches do and simply call their leaders apostles but we don't do that. So he was an apostle but don't discount
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his example because of that. Okay. It it is true that we we are not called to be apostles. We don't have them anymore in the church. And I think even what we
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call an evangelist is probably not quite similar to what we read about in the New Testament. And in terms of prophecy, um, we've now in the reformed tradition said
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that's been taking the place of preaching. Uh, I don't think that's accurate. So, we had these gifts that were given. Let's look at how Paul saw his ministry and that was to preach the
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gospel but not where Christ was already named. So the first principle I want to present was that he was a frontline
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missionary. Now, I I think that there should be made a distinction in modern missions and modern evangelism between frontline and support role.
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support role. And I think you'll find as as we found early when we first came to Fellowship Bible Church Bible Church that most of the missionary support that
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is given to missionaries is not frontline. In fact, at the time the early 90s none
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of the missionaries that were supported by Fellowship Bible Church were frontline. Now front line means one of two things. Either the person is preaching Christ in
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virgin territory virgin territory of which there still exists in the world. Territory as Isaiah points out, Paul quotes Isaiah Isaiah where where he had
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never been heard of and yet they would see. He had never been talked about yet they would understand. That's virgin territory and that's very
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dangerous. Or it could be burnt over districts, areas where Christianity once was was believed and once was vibrant but has
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since died away. We do support a missionary who is frontline in a burnt over district. He ministers in the territory that was once dominated by the
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seven churches to whom the Lord wrote letters in the book of Revelation. We call it Turkey. I don't know what they call I don't even how to pronounce what they call it now. Turkey or something like that, but still call it
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Turkey. And Octave ministers the gospel not as a support role but rather as a preacher of the gospel in a territory
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that has long since been burned over. That's front line. Now, our church has limited resources. We're we're we're a small church. And I think that as those
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resources are considered by the diiacinate in terms of evangelistic service, it seems to me wise that it should be frontline.
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I don't think the money is well spent in support ministries. I don't I'm sadly not terribly concerned with the health care policies for missionaries.
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They are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in the Lord's hands, they have committed their spirits and their bodies. And knowing Octave as I have for so many years, I know that to be true of
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him. I don't want to praise Octave, but rather to say that I fully support the measures that he employs because they are the only that I've seen in over 40
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years that seem to overlay what Paul did. The idea of frontline gospel ministry is the power of God unto
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salvation. So, um the the fact that it's frontline, I think, is is incredibly important. what they're doing on the front line is preaching the gospel and by the power of
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the Holy Spirit. Paul mentions that he actually mentions signs and wonders and the spirit. I'm not so sure they don't still accompany the virgin preaching of the gospel in areas that have never
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heard of God. I've heard stories of things that have happened from people that I considered eminently reliable and not excitable. not excitable. And I know that the power of God is
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still as real today as it was in the days of Paul. That preaching goes out into virgin territory. The darkness reacts violently, reacts violently, but the light prevails.
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And in that, as we see in the book of Acts and we see in Paul's letter, churches are then born by the Holy Spirit's regenerative power in the life
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and the lives of sinners. And what the what the evangelist then does is establish a fledgling church. We read that Paul and Barnabas as they
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return from the first missionary journey said that they they appointed elders in every place where they had preached. So
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frontline ministries. Okay. The second principle that I want to put forth is that there's a base of operations. And I think that's fundamental to understanding Paul's letter to the
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Romans. The idea that a single congregation supports 50 or 100 missionaries each of whom are actually oriented to a particular parurch missionary
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organization means that there is no central base of operation which means there is no central point of accountability for any given missionary.
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Now that appears to be very effective. We're spreading, you know, the book of Ecclesiastes says spread spread your spread your money out under the waters, which seemed kind of foolish to me, but
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you know, you're supposed to invest in seven, maybe eight. And that that idea has kind of worked its way into American evangelism is is, you know, we put a little bit everywhere. Like if you go to Vegas, you know, don't put it all on the
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slot machines. Put some on the roulette table, you know, just spread it around. Something might come in. No, that that's not the old path. That's a new measure. It's a stupid measure,
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but it's a new measure. And there's no accountability. And the actual influence of that congregation is so diffused as to be practically impotent. You your
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support for every anyone ministry is so small that if you choose not to support them, that will have no impact. Also, if they choose to preach a gospel that is false, you have no impact cuz you're
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only one of many. And then half the time the missionary has to come back to the states to go to these 50 or 75 churches from which they get $25 a month when
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they could be on the field preaching the gospel because they were supported by a one small church who saw them as preachers, frontline preachers of the
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gospel and said, "We're going to we're going to help you out." And then if something goes wrong, there is full accountability. Now we see that again in
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the book of Acts. We read in uh in Acts, and while they were ministering to the Lord in Antioch and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas
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and Saul for the work which I have called them." called them." That's our mission's policy. Our mission's policy is is not to respond to
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those who who constantly mail us, email us, and call us asking, "Can we come to your church and present our mission effort?" The answer is no. You can join our church and maybe in 10 or 15 years
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when we got to know you, you know, we'll stand behind you and send you on the mission field. The policy of the elders has been for the last 30 years is that God will raise up those whom he's
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sending. I I don't think personally that what we see in the sending of of Saul or Paul and Barnabas was unique. I think it's the way it's supposed to be done.
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And it's recognized by the congregation as well as the leadership of the congregation that this person does indeed have that call. And so that congregation says we will send you.
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There is a communal understanding and agreement that this person is to be sent forth from this congregation, supported by this congregation to the front lines,
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wherever that may be, whether it's in Turkey or New England, burnt over districts, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The base of
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operations method is what Paul used out of Antioch. And in Acts, we read his missionary journeys. He went out, he went through, and he went back. And he always went back to Antioch, but he
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tells us here that his work is done. Now, that's important. I won't be able to get into the details. Maybe someday we'll do a plumline class on myology. His work was done because it was not his
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work to stay and pastor a church for 35 years. He was spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in purely virgin territory. But
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the way he did it was was very significant. He had that central hub Antioch but then when he went out he would go to a subhub Ephesus and from there either he or the
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men with him would go out. So hub spoke. Okay. and and by doing that he had a a base of operations and accountability of
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Antioch but then he had central churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Thotyra, Corinth, Philippi,
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Thessalonica and from there the regions would be impacted by the gospel. He left them as healthy congregations who were themselves preaching through their
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people, the regions around them. That was really effective because it was the power of the Holy Spirit. But he was done. And so now he wants to go to Western Europe, the Western Empire. He
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wants to go to Spain. I know some folks who want to go to Spain. He want to go to Spain. I'd like to go to Spain and for different reasons, but he wanted to go to Spain. But Spain's a long way from Antioch. Just ask um Jonah.
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real trance of shipwreck, you know, going. So, he wants a new base of operation and and back in Romans 1 when we talked about why why this epistle, we're we're reading an epistle to a church that Paul did not plant, but it's
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a church that Paul, I believe, is intending to transfer his base of operation to. operation to. Rome's a whole lot closer to Spain than Antioch. Rome looks west. Rome would
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open up Gaul. It would open up Spain. It would open up Britannia in this day. So Paul says, "I'm I'm going to move my base of operation." And if he had done
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it, and we don't know whether he did or he didn't, he did make it to Rome. Whether he made it out, we don't know. I'm sure he would have followed the same pattern. He and the men who traveled with him would have gone to Marseilles.
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They would have gone to Nice. they would have gone to to um Tarses or whatever cities may have been in existence then in Spain and from there they would have sent out missionaries into the regions
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and we do know that that region was impacted for the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the old path. These are the old paths and they were very effective. So a base of operation I think is incredibly
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sinners, not socioeconomic target groups. Much of modern evangelism now has target groups. We actually supported a ministry 40 years ago that was called executive
39:19
ministries. It targeted CEOs. I couldn't believe such a thing existed. But I guess the logic is is great. you get one millionaire to believe and tithe
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and boom, there's your budget for the year. It struck me as sacriiggious. When we read Paul saying, "Not many of
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you were noble. Not many of you were wealthy. Not many of you were powerful." And God chooses the foolish things of the world the world rather than the noble and the wise. We were we target we target the pretty
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people. I don't know if any of you have read Rick Warren's garbage, but he actually has a picture of his target group
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target group and and it is mighty white, mighty professional, mighty money because that's that's what we want to do. We want to be successful. We had a ministry on Seth Street many
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years ago. It was an after-school program for in inner city children. In trying to get help from other congregations around town, we visited
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them and presented our ministry to them. one very very popular evangelical church here in Greenville who I will not name
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although the pastoral staff is still the same as it was then responded to us that's not our target group
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what does that mean Christ came to save those that were lost and he made no distinction and Paul makes it clear that there's no distinction ction between slave or free,
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between slave or master, between Jew or Gentile, and yet we make distinctions. Now, that should show that modern evangelism has some serious flaws.
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So, all Paul wanted to do was to preach Jesus Christ where Christ had not yet been preached.
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been preached. as he says here, "And thus I aspired to preach the gospel not where Christ was already named already named that I might not build on another man's
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foundation." And that leads to the fourth and final what I want to talk about is that's foundation. He mentions foundation here. He says, "I'm laying a foundation. I'm not going to build on someone else's foundation."
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Fundamentally, that is the role of an evangelist is to lay a foundation. And anybody who knows anything about building knows that that's the most important thing you put in because
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everything else is going to bear down upon it. And the success of the foundation is the success of the building itself. The success of the foundation is the success of the church
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that's built upon it. And Paul says, I don't want to build on another man's foundation, but the foundation that I laid, he says in 1 Corinthians 3, is the only
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foundation that can be laid. and that is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And so the the the last principle I want to put forth in terms of of evangelism
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is that doctrine does matter. There's the idea in the modern church that an evangelist doesn't really need to be deep in systematic theology. He basically calls the Christianity 101
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and the answer on the final is Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so. That's it. No, that's not it. That person is not
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qualified to lay the foundation of the church that he desires to see built upon it. It it is a very important ministry in the church. Evangelism is
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crucial to the growth of the church. But we evangelize even in our own family. What foundation are you laying at home? Because that foundation
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is what then will be built upon. And if you lay a poor foundation, whether in the congregation, whether in virgin or burnt over territory, or whether your own family,
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then you are preparing that person either for a life of blessing in Christ, not necessarily a life of success and prosperity in the world, but a true and
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vibrant life in Christ or shipwreck. We just watched again the the BBC series of Little Dorit and at the very end the
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house I don't know how many of you seen it or read it but at the very end the house of Clenum literally falls to the ground the crashing scene of that building that
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structure falling to the ground that teetering creaking old structure and that's a good description of many churches now they don't necessarily fall to the ground physically but what
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happens is The spirit removes his lampstand from their midst. And while they may maintain the buildings, they no longer constitute a church.
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Now that can happen even with a good foundation, but it is inevitable with a bad one. So doctrine matters. doctrine matters. This is why we don't entertain the
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people who email us and mail us and call us and say, "Will you will you consider supporting our ministry?" I have no idea your skill
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your skill as a block layer. I have no idea if you even know what a foundation is, much lay much less how to lay one. I don't know what you know about Jesus Christ and what your view is on the gospel. Chances
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are it's not solid. And so, no, we're not going to help you lay foundations that are not going to support the weight of true Christianity
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built upon them. Finally, just in summary, modern evangelism teaches us as we grow in Christ, as we go to Sunday school, as
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we go to missions conferences, it teaches us that we're all evangelists. That's unbiblical. That's unbiblical. I mean, it's the most explicitly unbiblical lie that is perpetrated by the modern church because Paul says not
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all are evangelists. So, if anybody says you're all evangelists, you say no, we're not because Paul says we're not all
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evangelists. And if the if there's an argument between somebody today at a missions conference and Paul, let's go with Paul. It's a matter of giftedness. We are not all evangelists and it is not
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our duty. It is not our responsibility to be evangelists. So when Paul talks in first Corinthians about himself as one who planted as Paul as Apollos who one
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who watered he points out it's not Paul it's not Apollos it's God who gives the increase. But one of the lessons there, very important lesson in 1 Corinthians 3
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is while we are not all evangelists, we are all builders in this construction project. We all have a part to play in the
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building. Is the foundation solid? Well, you need to check that out. But if the foundation solid, then what is your role in building the edification? The building up. That's what the word means. The
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making of an edifice. And every one of us in Christ has a role. So it's not just the evangelist to whom Paul says some build with gold and
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silver and precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble. No, it's to everyone. He says that says that because he says what you build with will
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be tested by fire. Now if any man build upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will
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become evident for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. Let us pray.
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Father, we do ask that we might be enabled by the Holy Spirit to understand true biblical missions, to read the book of Acts and the history of the early church, but also the the self testimony
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of Paul to understand his measures, the old paths that we might walk in them. We do pray that if it be your will to to
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raise up any from our midst to go off into virgin territory or to to preach the gospel in burnt over districts that we might have the wisdom and the courage
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to support that effort. We do pray that you might you might once again pour out your spirit that when the gospel is preached, even as
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Paul says, with false motives, we pray that it might be profitable and give glory to you through Jesus Christ. Give us understanding, give us wisdom, we ask for your glory and for our good and for
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the building up of the church of Jesus Christ. We ask in his name. Amen. Please turn uh stand as we um hear a
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doxology I think is appropriate when we consider the entire realm of missionary work from 1 Timothy chapter
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1. Excuse me. Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and
