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/

• middletownbaptistchurch.org
• facebook.com
• youtube.com
• joshmissaroiddletownbaptastchurch.com

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along.

Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

We have many different speakers come into our church through the year, and every one of them we're thankful for.

But I can tell you honestly that I have a vested interest in this family.

One being that Brother Colton and I are from the same place.

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.

I actually had the privilege and the opportunity to be at Colton's ordination this past summer.

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.

It turned to a worship service in the middle of the ordination, and so it was great.

I was greatly encouraged by it.

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.

Okay.

I had an opportunity to hang out with their family today, and I'm like, I cannot believe that they have children.

And this is making me feel really old.

But Colton is a fella that even though he's younger than me, I look up to his wisdom.

He is really, really blessed and gifted in studying the word and preaching the word.

And so I want to say, first and foremost, I'm proud of you, Colton.

And that's in the biblical way.

I'm thankful for what God is doing in his life.

His parents were my Sunday school teachers.

So through the years, there was a lot of things that we had in common.

And I always been telling people tonight, everything that he is, is despite my teaching, okay?

It isn't because of my teaching in school, okay?

He made it through and survived on the other side, and so we're thankful for him.

And Colton and Ali are going to be going to Spain.

They're on deputation.

And so as they're coming in, they're looking to gain support in different churches, and that's what they're doing.

They're traveling around the country.

They're starting that process.

And so I'm thankful for them.

I'm thankful for what they're doing for the Lord.

And I'm looking forward to what God is going to do in their life.

Colton has been serving at Grace Baptist down in west Columbia, South Carolina.

Some of you might know the pastor there, my former pastor, Pastor David Goforth.

And so we just have a lot of commonality in that way.

And so I really know that your hearts are going to be blessed through his presentation here this evening.

I encourage you to stop by the table.

I encourage you to get more information about what they're looking to do for the Lord.

And I'm also going to say that here this evening at the end of the service, just prepare your hearts.

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.

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.

So what we're going to do now is we're going to show you a video.

Is that good?

We're going to show you a video of their ministry, a little bit about what they're doing.

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.

And I know that our hearts are going to be blessed through that.

Hi, I'm Colton and this is my wife, Allie.

These are our daughters, Audrey and Annette.

We are the Gideon's family and we are missionaries to Spain with biblical ministries worldwide.

However, it wasn't until recently that the Lord really made us aware of just how unreached places in Europe still are.

However, today, less than 2% of its population actually professes faith in Christ.

And most of the people who do profess some sort of religion follow Roman Catholicism.

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.

I grew up in a ministry home.

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.

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.

And so when I accepted Christ as my savior, missions was always on my heart and on my mind.

And as I went to college, that desire to go into missions began to grow.

And Colton and I met, and we both had that desire.

The Lord really used missions to bring us together and to make it clear that it was his will for us to be.

We have two little girls now, Audrey and Annette.

We decided to stay in the United States for a few years to get some ministry experience while we were growing our family.

But the Lord began to make it clear that it was time for us to go into missions.

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.

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.

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.

So when Cuom came to me and said, what do you think about going to the country of Spain?

I was very excited about the possibility.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Well, good evening, Middletown Baptist Church.

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.

Our family's mission.

Our mission statement is to make disciples and plant healthy churches in Spain that the people may know and worship Jesus.

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.

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.

So we believe that Jesus is worthy of worship from every nation on the earth.

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.

Like we mentioned, like Pastor Josh mentioned, my name is Colton.

My wife's name is Allie.

We are the Gideon's family.

We have two little girls that are in the nursery in the kids program.

Audrey is three years old, Annette is one, and so they're here with us this evening.

We come from west Columbia, South Carolina, where I've been serving on staff as an assistant pastor there for the past four years.

About four years.

And our pastor there was my pastor growing up, Pastor Josh's pastor there in Florida for several years.

That's how the Lord ended up leading us there.

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.

I've got lots of family there who have evacuated, so hopefully they will all stay safe there.

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.

My wife actually grew up all over the place.

She mentioned in the video that her parents were missionaries in the Caribbean.

They spent time in Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic.

Her parents are Chris and Don Phillips.

Chris Phillips, my father in law.

I believe many of you would know.

He was just here recently for a marriage conference, I believe it was.

So that is Allie's dad.

So she grew up on the mission field with them, and so she speaks Spanish already.

I'm trying to learn it.

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.

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.

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.

And so it was during one of the missions conference sermons that the speaker simply read these words from Romans, chapter ten, verse 14.

It says, how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Now, at that point, I was in Bible college studying to go into ministry.

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.

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.

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.

Now, when you hear the term unreached people or unreached places, what kind of places come to mind?

And you can answer.

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.

What comes to mind when you hear the word unreached, whether people or places?

Africa.

Yeah, of course.

Any others?

South America.

Aborigines.

What else?

Asia.

Yeah.

Now, I forgot to use the clicker here to.

Is it gonna work?

Hi, I'm Colton.

It is.

I don't know where it is.

I don't know if you want to find where that presentation is.

And then I'll get going.

There it is.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Okay.

Yes.

Yeah.

And I'll show you a picture of that real quick.

Sorry, it's kind of gotten a little out of order here.

There it is.

How many of you ever heard that term before?

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.

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.

The Middle East, South Asia, North Africa.

I never once had Spain or anywhere in Europe on my radar.

In my mind, most people in Europe are probably christians, right?

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.

Well, I used to think that, but then a few years ago, I became aware that that is not the case.

I'll jump back a couple slides here.

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.

First of all, the number of believers in Spain actually remains significantly low.

Less than 2% of the population of the entire country professes faith in Christ.

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.

Now, Roman Catholicism, as I'm sure you're aware, is still pretty strong in Spain, but even that is dwindling pretty quickly.

Each generation is actually becoming even more and more nonreligious.

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.

You see that even higher.

Now, there are many people, again, who still claim to be Roman Catholic.

But something interesting you'd find there.

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.

Catholicism is so ingrained in their culture, they still claim to be part of it.

But again, most of them will say, I don't actually believe in God.

And to them, their perception of Christianity is what they were raised on with Catholicism.

And in their minds, it is all about rules.

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.

They would just talk about their upbringing and how strict it was, and how harsh it was.

Because in their mind, their perception of the gospel of Christianity is simply about a list of rules to follow and to be punished.

If you didn't follow their rules, there's no room, no understanding of the love and the grace of Christ.

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.

And that's not just a baptist church.

I'm not just saying they have a healthy church of some kind that probably will be wrong on other things.

I'm saying they don't have a church that at the very least preaches salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.

Not one.

Most of them, in fact, all of them really will have a large cathedral in the middle of their town.

Even if it's a really tiny town of just a couple hundred people.

They'll have a large catholic cathedral, but not a single gospel preaching church.

So there's just a visual there of every single town in the country that does not have church.

They have people from South Asia, East Asia, the Middle east, and especially from North Africa.

A lot of people moving in, especially to the major cities and the major population centers of Spain.

Now our plan first of all, is we desire to go to find a church that already exists and to seek mentorship.

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.

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.

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.

Now, this region is known for being the homeland of the basque people.

And something really neat about the basque people is they have lived there in Spain, in that region of Spain for thousands of years.

They actually lived there since long before the people who eventually became the Spaniards ever settled the peninsula.

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.

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.

And so we, through that, came to believe that that is where God would have us to go.

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.

If you look there on the map, you probably can't see it.

It's pretty tiny.

But the city that we'll be in is called San Sebastian.

It's the second largest city of the region.

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.

So in significant need of more churches to be planted.

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.

So we are partnering with our home church, Grace Baptist Church from West Columbia, South Carolina.

They've agreed to be our sending church.

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.

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.

Now, if you have your bibles for just the last few minutes here, we're going to look at Matthew, chapter 28.

Matthew, chapter 28, verse 16.

If you are familiar at all with missions, then I am sure you already know this passage.

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.

So go ahead and turn there to Matthew, chapter 28, and we'll read in just a few minutes there in verse 16.

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.

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.

So we figured it probably better just to rent a vehicle.

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.

Now, fortunately, most of the signs, they're pretty self explanatory.

I figured it out pretty quickly, but there were some things that really threw me off.

For instance, go ahead and take a look.

Oh, I'm going to have to go.

Oh, there it is.

Perfect.

Thank you.

This sign here, looking at these two signs, I want you to tell me, which one do you think means no cars allowed?

The one on the right.

That's the one that we would see here in the US, no cars allowed.

But it's kind of a trick question there.

Actually, both of them mean no cars allowed.

The one on the right, that's what we would see here.

But in Spain, their sign looks like the one on the left.

Whenever you see a circle sign that has a red ring around it, that usually means it's prohibiting something.

But I didn't know that.

All right, I see that, and I think it means cars are allowed to go down this road.

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.

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?

And I thought, yeah, of course, you know, Google Maps is telling us to go this way.

So I turned down the road, and so now I'm driving down an even narrower road, and people are walking all around.

And I hit somebody.

I'm just kidding.

I didn't actually hit anybody.

The story is much less dramatic than that, I promise.

We just came up to an end where there were some, you know, poles or something blocking the way.

Made it obvious this is actually just for pedestrians.

And then I had to do like a bajillion point turn just to get around and get out of that narrow alleyway.

So fortunately, I didn't actually hit anybody.

But I could have, right, driving down a street that apparently wasn't for cars.

And I was doing that because I misunderstood what this sign was for.

I had a flawed view of what the sign was for.

I could have hurt someone at the very least.

I wasted our time getting to wherever it was that we were going.

But all of that happened because I had a flawed view of what the street sign was for.

I am convinced that many of us have a flawed view of what Jesus has commissioned us to do.

We have a deficiency and an incompleteness in our view of what missions is really for.

And, you know, many of the problems that we face in our churches, I believe, actually stem from this deficiency.

Many times we hesitate to share the gospel because we have a deficient view of the great commission.

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.

And we do that and we see that happen, I believe, because we have a deficient view of the great commission.

We even have disagreements and arguments and disputes among church members where we refuse to forgive and to reconcile.

And I believe that happens because we have a deficient view of the great commission.

And when I say we, I don't mean you.

I don't mean some kind of nebulous we other people out there.

I mean, first of all, me.

I operate.

I live and act many times with a deficient view of the great commission.

I hesitate to share the gospel.

I have led multiple people to make professions of faith just to see them quickly turn away.

It didn't mean nothing.

I have struggled to forgive people in my own church because of my flawed view of the great commission.

I've done all of those things because I often forget what missions is really for.

You know, for some reason ingrained into my thinking is that the great commission is primarily about getting people into heaven.

And that's true, right?

We want people to live forever with God in heaven.

That's part of it.

But missions is not merely for getting people into heaven.

It's first of all for getting heaven into people.

Because when you get heaven into people, you will get people into heaven.

What do I mean by that?

Another way to put it, or what we're really going to look at tonight.

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.

It's not just about preparing people to die.

It's about preparing people to live with and for Christ.

So let's look here at Matthew 28, verse 16, and unpack this here from the text this evening.

In verse 16, it says, then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

And when they saw him, they worshiped him.

But some doubted, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

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.

And lo, I am with you alway even into the end of the world.

Amen.

Let's pray before we dive into this this evening.

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.

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.

We ask this in your son's name.

Amen.

So according to Matthew 28, what is missions for?

First missions is for worship.

Missions is for worship.

Did you notice before jesus got up to say a word, what were his disciples doing?

They worshiped him.

It says, some of them doubted.

Some of them were still, like, amazed and wondering, how can this be?

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.

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?

He said, all power is given unto me.

All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

And by saying that, what jesus was doing was, he was announcing that now he reigns over everything.

And because he reigns, he was making it clear that he is the one who deserves worship from all nations.

Everybody under heaven, everybody in earth, on the earth, was under his rule, under his reign, and deserved, he deserved their worship.

We see this especially in places in the Old Testament, in different songs, where they worship and praise God because he reigns.

Let the earth rejoice, and let men say, among the nations, the Lord reigneth.

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.

One of my favorite books on missions is a book called let the nations be glad by a pastor who is an author.

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.

And in the opening lines of the book, he makes a really interesting statement.

He says, missions exists because worship doesn't.

Missions exist because worship doesn't.

Why would he say that?

What does that mean?

Well, he's actually trying to point out two things, really.

First of all, that the goal of missions is to worship.

Missions serves the worship of God.

And the goal of missions is to lead people to worship him.

You know, one day, the great commission is going to be over, right?

Jesus will return.

Our task will be done.

We won't be able to share the gospel with anyone else.

Our task will end.

Missions will end, but worship will never end.

Like we looked at in revelation, five.

People will fall down at Jesus feet and worship him for all of eternity.

At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.

So God intends missions just to play a temporary part.

It's his plan to prepare a people from every nation to one day worship him and be in his presence forever.

So worship is the goal of missions.

But what that statement also is intending to teach is that worship is the fuel of missions.

Worship is what fires us up and makes us go and want to tell people about our savior.

It's our passion for Jesus, our love for him and his greatness.

That is what compels us to tell others about him.

You know, you can't lead others to worship someone that you yourself don't worship.

Right?

It's kind of like trying to sell someone a product that you don't believe is worth it, right?

They're gonna see right through it.

It's fake.

It's the people who really believe in the product.

They're the ones that convince people to want to buy it, to receive it.

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?

If we're not passionate about worshiping Jesus, why would our coworkers want to.

Our goal is to proclaim to them that Jesus is worthy their worship.

And if that's our goal, it first has to be what fuels us, what drives us and what moves us.

Our lives ought to burst with joy at the goodness of Jesus.

Now, just saying that you ought to enjoy something, does that make you enjoy it?

No.

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?

Maybe eventually you got them to eat it, but it's pretty tough, right?

You can't make them want to do something.

Now, the truth is, if you know God, you truly have multiple reasons to rejoice and to enjoy and to worship him, right?

Sometimes we just need to be reminded of those truths.

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.

Goddess.

One of my favorites, psalm 103, rehearses over and over again all of the benefits of knowing God.

It says there in psalm 103, bless the Lord, o my soul.

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.

One of my favorite parts, where he says later, for as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust.

The compassion of God moves us to worship.

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.

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.

Everything is new.

Everything is perfect forever.

Those truths, he's reminded of us over and over and over again.

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.

And that is what will fuel us to go and share the gospel.

So missions is first of all for worship.

But more than that, Jesus tells us there in Matthew 28 that missions is also for discipleship.

Missions is for discipleship.

You know, in this passage, Jesus actually only gives just one command.

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.

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.

Now, when you hear the word teach, what does that bring to mind?

Maybe classrooms, a chalkboard, textbooks, things like that, right?

Elementary school, high school.

It brings to mind schoolwork, right?

Homework.

Well, the word teach that Jesus actually uses here is not that word for, like, giving instruction.

He uses that word later where he says, teach them to observe all things I've commanded you.

But this word teach is actually a verb for the same word that means a disciple.

So when Jesus said, go teach all nations, what he was saying is, go make disciples among all nations.

But what is a disciple?

You know, sometimes bible words kind of lose their meaning on us over time, don't they?

We get used to them, we get familiar with them.

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.

It's kind of like the word church.

We all know that the church is not the building, it's the what the people.

But we still call our buildings churches.

Right.

It's just habit.

We're used to using scriptural terms in certain ways that we forget really what they mean.

Even if we know in our minds what they mean.

Our lives and our habits kind of betray that we, what we say that they mean.

I think the word disciple is very similar.

We're used to it.

We use it, but we sometimes forget what it actually means.

So when that happens, I find it helpful sometimes to think of another word or to use a different term.

That kind of keeps the meaning fresh in my mind.

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.

He says a disciple is simply an apprentice to Jesus.

It's an apprentice to Jesus.

But why is that?

Because an apprentice is somebody who learns from a master to become like his master.

For example, in an apprenticeship, what does the student actually do in that relationship?

Do they just sit in a classroom and receive instruction, write down notes and take a test, and that's it?

No.

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.

But an apprentice is different.

An apprentice requires a much more personable approach.

The aim is to become like the person who's training you.

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.

You begin to do things like them.

At first, it feels awkward because it's not normal for you to do things their way.

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.

And then you become fully trained in that craft, and you can do that craft as well as the master.

So at that point, you no longer have to consciously think and feel awkward trying to do things like your master.

It just becomes like second nature to you.

Well, Jesus actually tells us that that is what discipleship is.

Luke chapter six, verse 40.

Jesus said that the disciple is not above his master, but everyone that is perfect, or the word there means fully trained.

Everybody who's fully trained shall be as his master.

So to be an apprentice to Jesus means you are learning from him to be like him.

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.

So if jesus were a retired grandparent living in Middletown, Delaware, what would he be?

What would he do?

If jesus worked in your place of work, how would he interact with the coworkers?

How would he treat the boss that mistreats you?

How would he treat the neighbor who mistreats you?

As an apprentice to Jesus, you are learning to become like him.

And at first, like an apprentice with his master in the craft.

It feels awkward, doesn't feel normal.

But the more you follow him, become like him, it becomes like second nature.

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.

When jesus saves a person, he really, truly desires to save them completely, not just forgive them, not just allow them to live forever.

He wants to save them and remake them into his image until the day he returns and he completes.

Colossians three tells us, you have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

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.

And that is the central task of.

Of the great commission.

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.

You know, what would happen to us in our churches if we truly believed that that is what missions was for?

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?

What would that do to our churches?

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.

How many people would turn to Christ and worship him if they saw the light of Jesus in us?

They saw his compassion in us even when they mistreated us.

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.

Salt.

That hasn't lost its savor.

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.

We substitute apprenticeship to Jesus for other things.

We tell people Jesus can save them from hell, but then we don't tell them he actually wants to do more than that.

He wants to save them from their sin and remake them into his image.

We teach people how to present the gospel.

We provide evangelistic programs and times to do so.

But we don't emphasize the need for people to live like Jesus by actually doing what he said.

We tell people that their lives need to be distinct from the world to make a difference.

But many times we limit what that distinction is to just how they vote or how they look.

And we don't actually train them to live with radical compassion and goodness and kindness like Christ.

And please know when I'm saying that, I'm not saying this because I think that your church is doing that at all.

I don't know your church very well, but I know myself, and I know the churches I've been in.

I know how I have acted many times within my own church.

I've cared more about articulating the gospel correctly than I have actually treating fellow church members like Christ commanded me to.

I have done all of these things.

You know, we all fall short of being like Jesus in one way or another.

But apprenticeship to Jesus isn't an option, is it?

It's what he commanded us to do, to follow him and to make disciples so that others would follow and worship him.

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.

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.

And I'm glad.

I grew up in a church that was passionate about missions.

I grew up in a church that had missions, conferences where I got to meet missionaries and see what missions was about.

And already from a young age, God used that to stir in my heart a love and a desire for missions.

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.

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.

Missions exists to make disciples of Jesus who worship and enjoy him forever.

That's our mission.

That's our desire.

That's our goal.

To go to Spain to make disciples and plant healthy churches so that the people in Spain can know and worship Jesus.

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.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you that you have given us this task.

Lord, you have allowed us to be a part of your plan in redeeming people from around the world.

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.

But, Lord, you have done so much more in allowing us to participate with you and seeing others be able to do the same.

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.

We love you.

We ask this in Jesus name.

Amen.

Thank you, Colton.

There we go.

Thank you, Colton.

I appreciate that.

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.

There's a lot of things that we think are mandatory within church.

You know, the one thing that's mandatory within the church is what we just heard about this evening, the great commission.

But so many times we put the great commission way behind all the other things that we think have to happen within the church.

Not that those things are wrong, but so many times we get our priorities mixed up.

This is the priority.

This is the marching order from God to the church to follow the great commission.

I hope as a church that we see that as our first and foremost priority.

Many times we can see ourselves thinking, well, you know what?

This isn't the way that I like it.

This isn't the way that I want it to be.

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.

That's not helping us.

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.

And so I thank you for that, Colton.

We all needed to hear that message here this evening.

For sure.

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.

Being the church and being a missional church.

You know, we have missionaries, but why do we have missionaries?

Because all independent baptist churches have missionaries and we need to have missionaries.

No, there's a purpose to why we have 29 missionary families.

There's a purpose to.

Why we want to add more on.

There's a purpose to all of this.

And that is as acts chapter one, verse eight, says, to go to our Jerusalem here in Judea and Samaria.

And then what?

To the uttermost part of the earth.

And that's.

That's the whole goal for our church.

So.

So you might not be called to Spain, but guess what?

The Gideons are.

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.

All right, so that's.

That's the thought.

That's the goal.

Well, I thank you, Colton.

Thank you, Allie, for being here with us, and I appreciate their video.

Appreciate to hear the wife's perspective right.

Sometimes we see folks going off into a mission field and we think, what's the family thinking about this?

You know?

And I would encourage you to pray for them as they're going through this deputation process.

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.

We left Florida and came to Delaware and everyone freaked out.

I can't imagine going across the Atlantic Ocean.

But I know that they have a supportive family, both sides.

And I was going to mention, you guys know Allie's dad.

He was just here, brother Chris Phillips.

So I know they have a good support staff.

I know they're being sent out from a wonderful church at Greece.

And so I'm excited to see what God's going to do.

So as you guys head out this evening, please stop by the table, let Colton and Allie know you're praying for them.

Grab a prayer.

You have prayer cards, right?

All right.

Make sure you grab a prayer card.

Put that up somewhere that you're used to seeing a lot.

I know for me, it's either the fridge or at my office.

Okay.

Because those are the two places I'm at the most, I think so.

So those.

Those are places that you could do that.

You could put those.

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.

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.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

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.

You can also email me directly@joshmissaroiddletownbaptastchurch.com.

if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.

Thank you so much.

God bless.

Have a wonderful day.

Foresee maybe in the future, once they're settled in Spain, you know, we can.

We already have a lot of spanish speakers in the church.

We can just go on over there and make it.

Make it a trip.

Excited to see what God's going to do in their lives.