Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.bemkec.my/sermons/97514/the-mission-of-worship/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] God is active here, there, and everywhere. My wife and I have traveled to many places in our lives.

[0:14] ! We have partnered with rich neighborhoods! Centuries-old cathedrals and new church plants.

[0:27] ! And let me tell you, God is at work in more ways and in more places than you can imagine. So would you like to see how God's at work all over the world today?

[0:43] Seriously? I'm a guest speaker. I'm here and I'm asking a question. So there's only ten of you. Am I allowed to leave, Pastor Brian? That's it. Okay, would you like to see how people in every nation is engaging in the work of God?

[1:00] Yes! Okay, that's a little better. Good, good. So today, I want to bring you stories from all over the world. See, we worship a global God.

[1:13] A God of the nations. The same God that showed Moses his glory is the same God that is working in you and me today.

[1:25] That God is at work in Europe, in North America, Africa, all four corners of the world. And you are part of that work too.

[1:40] I mean, wouldn't it be great to see how God is working in these different places? And that's what I want to do today.

[1:50] Through a mixture of a theology of mission and real life case studies, that's exactly what I would do. Showing you the link, not just between worship and mission, but between what God is doing there and what God can be doing in your life.

[2:10] And I think that is the real fruit of what Mission Sunday could be for a church. Not just celebrating on the videos and say, wow, wow, look at all these amazing people out there doing that work.

[2:28] You clap. Your hearts are rejoicing and happy. And you go back home. And coaching remains the same. That's not what I want.

[2:41] I want revival. Here. Now. So, that's why today I'm not going to just show you what the work out there is.

[2:55] I want to tie it to your life every step of the way through this hybrid expository slash testimonial sermon. So, the question we're asking today is what is the purpose of our worship services?

[3:14] And put more broadly, what are we doing here? What's the mission of worship? Are they even related? I mean, we're in the worship service and we have 52 of these every year.

[3:27] Is there a broader goal? I want to ask you, how will you join in the worship of this global God? And what kind of worship will you bring?

[3:41] And how can it be mission of? Let's start with definitions. What is mission?

[3:54] In Christianity, you hear the word missions quite often. And let me just be clear, missions is not just going on all expenses paid trip to some far away land.

[4:09] Okay, just because you hop on a plane doesn't make it missions. It's not just traveling to a different country or fixing homes. And missions is not just any activity of the church that goes outside its walls.

[4:24] Missions, and this is from me as a missiologist, that's why I did my PhD in intercultural studies specifically. But missions are particular forms of participation in the mission of God.

[4:39] So missions usually refers to spreading the Christian faith beyond Christendom. You have what called the people of God and they're gathered here and there's a lot of them here in terms of percentages in that particular geographic location.

[4:56] And a lot of the times missions is leaving that geographic location to go somewhere where the percentage is far less, maybe even 0% or maybe 10%, 5%, and you go there for gospel work.

[5:08] So often, that's what we call missions. And that word is actually first used by the Jesuits in 1544. Mission, on the other hand, at least for boring missiologists like myself, we like to be very nitpicky with the tiny words.

[5:29] But you take out that S and what people are saying is mission, on the other hand, refers to the totality of God's intentions for the church in relation to the world.

[5:42] So notice something here. Missions is when you go somewhere where the gospel is not known percentage-wise and mission is all of God's intention for this church, Kuching, for that church, for every church.

[6:01] What is God's intention for the church? What is the church supposed to do in relation to the world? That's mission. And mission is from the Latin word mito, meaning sent.

[6:15] So, missions is when a church organization sends missionaries out to do some work and missions usually has participation by a select few because there's not that many missionaries.

[6:28] They're just a select few and people used to adore them as the highest form of Christian worship. These are the saints. And I used to aspire to that.

[6:39] And in some way, I used to be a missionary. And now, I no longer know who I am, what I am, or where I'm from. I don't know any of these things. But I do know I'm participating in the work of God.

[6:52] That I do know. See, mission is when God sends the church out to do God's work. David Bosch, famous missiologist, says, mission is not primarily an activity of the church but an attribute of God.

[7:14] And what he means is that mission is rooted in the character of God. We do mission because God is a mission of God. We do mission because God has sent Adam and Eve to rule over creation.

[7:28] God has sent Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, here on this earth to accomplish the task. God has sent all of us to do certain things.

[7:39] God is a missional God. He is missional hence, because he is missional, we as the children of God were supposed to inherit some of his attributes. So if God's missional, yes, we should be too.

[7:53] So mission is not just an activity. It's part of a character. It's an attribute of who we are if we are children of a missional God.

[8:05] Think about that, church, for a second. Are you a child of God? And does God really love the world?

[8:17] And is God actually active in these works? so if you're a child of God, shouldn't you be more like who he is in his missional endeavors?

[8:30] Or are we just satisfied sitting in these chairs? I hope not, because there's so much to gain from participating in his work. Now, Christopher Wright, oh, so here's Bosch, and Christopher Wright, another famous missiologist, Langham ambassador, he says this, it is not so much the case, and this is great, it's not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world.

[9:10] Mission was not made for the church, the church was made for mission. Are you guys understanding the difference? mission was not made for the church, and a lot of the times, that's how we think.

[9:29] We as a church, what should we be doing besides sending some person to preach and sing and do all these things? Okay, maybe we should engage in missions, so therefore, okay, we create this thing called mission that we engage in, and that's how people think.

[9:49] The church comes first, and mission is an activity of that. Mission is a result of the church coming to be born. So church first, and a mission is the result.

[10:02] That's how people think. But Christopher Wright thinks, and I agree with him, that's the other way around. Mission came first.

[10:12] when Jesus of Nazareth came, he went to the Roman centurion, he went to the woman at the well, he went to all these Gentiles, and the apostle Paul came, Peter and Cornelius, and God's breaking down the walls and saying, no more.

[10:33] It's not just the Jews, my love, my plan, my purpose is no longer just for the Jews. The floodgates have been opened, opened wide, the gates of heaven, and now the whole world can participate.

[10:46] All of you can become children of Abraham. That is the promise given. And that's what Jesus broke down. The field has been torn.

[10:58] So when that happened, mission was already born, Jesus was already doing it, Paul was already doing it. So how do we make that more effective?

[11:10] So God said, okay, you know what? I'm going to create something called the church. And I'm going to use this church to continue the work of mission that's already happening.

[11:21] So mission came first. The plan to save you and me, most of us are Gentiles. The mission came first and the church came after that. So no, mission was not made for the church.

[11:39] The church was made for mission. You and I exist because there is work to be done. If there's no more work, we might as well just pack our bags and go home. Let's go to heaven.

[11:50] Why stay here? There's only suffering here. I mean, and Tate Tarek. Tate Tarek is pretty good. But that leads to suffering in the form of high cholesterol.

[12:01] so. But see, I want you to rethink mission. I want you to see with the eyes of God what it could be.

[12:14] Not just out there, but God is active here, there, and everywhere. And another missiologist, Daryl Guder, he says this, Missio Dei, Missio Dei is not merely a theological concept or strategy.

[12:40] See, up on the screen? It's not a theological concept or strategy. It is the very essence of the church's existence. It reminds us that we are participants in God's redemptive mission and calls us to align our purposes and activities with his purposes in the world.

[13:05] So when the church is doing mission, it's reminding us, okay, God has a greater purpose than just what we're talking about here.

[13:19] God's doing much bigger things than the small concerns you and I are worried about. So mission's not a strategy. It's alignment with the God whom we serve and love.

[13:35] And I want that for Kuching Evangelical Church. I want that for all of you sitting here to be more aligned with God, who he is, what he's doing, his purposes in the world and his purposes in your life.

[13:51] mission is the totality of God's intentions for the church in relation to the world. And what does that mean for us?

[14:03] I'm giving you three other concepts. Missio Dei, so that we talked about that that's the mission of God. I know it's not a Latin class, but I have to lay some foundations, okay?

[14:15] Bear with me here. Missio Dei is the mission of God in our generation, and that's to use the church to redeem the entirety of creation, all aspects.

[14:29] Missio Ecclesia, Ecclesia referring to the church, the mission of the church is doing the mission of God, carrying out God's redemptive plan in the world. So the mission of the church, the mission of you and me in the church as a whole community, our mission is to be the arms and feet of God, the visible, the tangible expression of God's love to the world.

[14:58] And Missio Christianus, the mission of the Christian is to accomplish a specific God-given task at a specific time, a specific place, and in a specific way.

[15:14] So yes, God has a mission for the world, and that church is going to participate in that mission somehow, and you and I, specific individuals, are going to do one small part of the church's work in mission.

[15:33] So with all that said, we've talked about mission a lot, because you have to understand that word. What's the mission of worship?

[15:44] Because mission, in the secular sense, is just a purpose for existence. So what's the mission for you and me? And what's the mission for worship?

[15:56] Why are we here? And to answer that question, we will go to four different lands, Israel, U.S., Scotland, and Kenya.

[16:14] So let's go back first to ancient Israel. Three thousand years ago, to the time of King David.

[16:26] Now imagine with me here, okay? I want you to use your imagination. You are an Israelite. You are an Israelite. Okay. I don't know. So imagine, and you are in the land surrounded by Philistines, Ammonites, Jebusites, enemies who hate your gods and want to kill you.

[16:47] That's who you're surrounded by as an Israelite 3,000 years ago. And you have this symbol of the presence of God called the Ark of the Covenant. And this Ark was captured by enemies in territory for a long time with this Dagon, a false god.

[17:05] And after years of waiting, the Ark in the enemies who want to kill you, it's finally going to return. Finally, years of waiting, imagine the excitement, the joy.

[17:18] And that's the context of Psalm 96. Now we won't go through the whole Psalm today, even though it's amazing. We'll leave the expository preaching of Psalm 96 for another day, another time, another person.

[17:34] Instead, I'm going to use it to point out one thing. the Israelites were attracting people to the Lord through worship, to contextualize.

[17:48] They were bringing people to God just through their singing. They were actively going out. People were coming in. Now look at Psalm 96. We read it already, but it begins like this.

[18:04] Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, sing to the Lord, bless His name. So it's just worship, right? Sing, sing, sing. Tell of His salvation from day to day.

[18:16] Declare His glory among the, where is He supposed to declare the glory? Nations.

[18:27] That's right. Declare His glory among the nations. Remember, these are the who? Ammonites, Jebusites, people who want to kill them, people who have. Killed a bunch of Israelites.

[18:39] Yeah, remember those people who want to kill you and who killed your grandpa, who killed your great uncle, and killed all these people? Yeah, go declare my glory to these people.

[18:54] That's what God's telling them, okay? Whoa. His marvelous works among, just in case, okay, you know what, maybe, I don't know, nations, maybe we're talking about, I don't know, China or something.

[19:13] No, no, no, no, all the peoples. The first three makes it so clear. It's repetitive, just in case people are trying to find excuses. Nations, what does that really mean, you know?

[19:26] No, all the peoples. yeah, enemies, friends alike, we do it.

[19:38] This was mission during the Old Testament times. Now, some scholars call this a centripetal model, and again, unfortunately, I don't have time to do that today, to go through it.

[19:49] I have a workshop that's about one, two hours long going through the centripetal model and how that affects us, but what you need to know is that it's an attractional model.

[20:04] So, any one of you, if you like physics, you understand centripetal force, right? Yes, no, maybe. No one likes physics here? Okay.

[20:17] I like physics, okay, and I like calculus. I'm a nerd, but that's okay. So, basically, think of it as attractional force, force going inwards, okay?

[20:29] Centripetal force. And this centripetal force, that's what they're doing. They're attracting people. They're just singing. God's saying, Israel, here's what I want you to do. I want you to be my people.

[20:40] You're going to have all these laws, like not eating pork, and I can never be a Jew, but not eating pork and all these other things, and you're going to have crazy cleanliness, and you're going to worship me and sing all these songs with lyres and cymbals, and you're going to be my witness just through how you live.

[21:05] Now, you don't have to go out too much. I'll send people like Jonah for that, but you're going to be my witness right here, and people are going to come to you, and I'm going to build a temple for those people who come to you, and one day, the Messiah will come.

[21:22] That's going to show you the next step. So the Israel, they were just, okay, let's worship, and God's telling them, you sing, you worship, and let people come to you. And in many ways, our church right now, many places is using that model.

[21:37] We're going to sing, we're going to try to get more people in the door, attract people to come to us. It's an attractional model. It's not so much going out. Those amazing missionaries are going out.

[21:48] We're just staying here and attracting people. That's the model most churches are using. That was active 3,000 years ago. So, and what was the central message of their singing?

[22:06] The central message is actually found in verse 10. Now, verse 10 reads, everyone, let's read this together.

[22:16] Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.

[22:32] The Lord reigns. And I say first 10 is a central message because I noticed a chiastic structure in the first. So, there's, I don't have time to exposit, but the chiasm seems to indicate first 10 is a central thing.

[22:50] So, first 10, the Lord reigns. That's what they're supposed to declare. It's not just about the good works. God is good all the time. God does this for me.

[23:00] It's not just that. It's saying, you know what, out of all these things, God being good, the most important thing is he is a ruler. He rules over my heart. He rules over my actions.

[23:11] And most importantly, he rules over my wallet. Even my touch and go e-wallet. Okay? He rules over it all. The Lord reigns.

[23:22] That's the central message they're declaring. Even when things are not good, even when hardships happen in my life, the Lord reigns. That's what Israel was told to sing.

[23:36] This song about the sovereignty of God. This song of never giving up, I'm going to hold on to you. You are my king. I will never let go.

[23:47] Because you never let go of me. That's the central song. And that kind of witness is what the Israelites were doing.

[24:00] And what kind of witness is that? It's a witness born out of worship. Right? It's a witness born out of worship.

[24:14] John Piper, respected pastor in America, says this, missions is not the ultimate goal of the church.

[24:27] Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't. See, our goal, even of Mission Sunday, is not sending people out to the ends of the earth.

[24:48] It's actually creating true worshipers, people who are saying, God, you reign over every aspect of my being. worship is the ultimate goal.

[25:00] And when people go to lands that do not know God, they're going there because there is not yet worship of our Lord there. So that's why wherever there is no worship, it could be a tribe in Africa like we saw.

[25:16] Yes, let's have mission work there because they are not worshiping God in that tribe in Africa. down the street in Kuching.

[25:28] Maybe they are not worshiping God. Let's have mission work down the street right here in Kuching because they are not worshiping God there. Three meters away at my workplace, that person is not worshiping God because he is not a Christian.

[25:46] Let's have mission work three meters from where you work. Because there is no worship of God there. Missions exist because worship doesn't.

[26:00] In fact, I'm going to add one line. Missions should exist where worship doesn't. Wherever and whomever are not worshiping God, that's where we should be carrying out our mission work.

[26:16] So you don't have to go to Africa. I mean, Africa is great. That's a vacation, honestly. you can just go three meters, stand up and go three meters from where you are to someone who's not worshiping God.

[26:34] See, I wonder if we can do that. I wonder if that's something that God's tugging on your heart.

[26:44] because if all of us do that, imagine the impact. And Mission Sunday becomes not just about enabling those people, amazing people by the way.

[27:00] It becomes more about enabling them to do the work, but it becomes about mobilizing all of us to do the work.

[27:11] work. So this side of heaven, worship not leading to mission is self-focused, and mission not leading to worship is self-reliant.

[27:30] What do I mean by that? First of all, we're talking about this side of heaven, okay? The future Jerusalem, that's another story. But when we're worshiping, just like, God, hallelujah, how great is our God, and you're worshiping, and I'm so moved when people do that.

[27:50] Trust me, I'm not making fun. This is amazing that you're doing that, and amazing when other people do that. I really am happy. But we do that, and it's great. It means your heart's in the right place, but you sing, and you go back, and you just continue doing your own things, and your neighbor may be heading to hell because they don't know Jesus Christ, our friends, our colleagues, and we're not saying anything because we're just too shy.

[28:26] Okay, we're so shy, we let them walk into damnation. But yet, we sing worship to God. So, mission, worship, not leading to mission, is self-focus.

[28:38] You're focusing on yourself, how I love God, how my relationship with God is, how He loves me, and just basking in His glory, which is good.

[28:50] It's better than many people who are just doing nothing. But it's still just about you and God. How about others? It's self-focused by the definition of the word, self-focused.

[29:02] But, but, the reverse is true. Mission, not leading to worship, is self-reliant. When we do certain mission works, by missionaries or whomever, and we go there and we're not worshiping God.

[29:16] We're not saying, God, to you be the glory. You are the only one who can make it happen. I worship you because you are already active and you continue to be. And we're constantly worshiping God in our mission endeavors.

[29:27] And that's what we should be doing. And if we're not, if we're just going, oh, they are saved. They are saved. Look how good I am at doing evangelistic work. It's just self-reliant.

[29:38] You're using your own strength. And I know most of those missionaries, they wouldn't say that. They would say, no, we need God. So that's why you need both mission and worship together in synchronicity.

[29:52] God-exalting mission must be rooted in worship. And God-honoring worship must be born out of mission. God-exalting mission.

[30:06] So a mission that really honors God. You've got to have worship at its root. Worship by yourself. Worship all those future believers. But if you really want to honor God in your worship services, today, next week, and beyond, it should be born out of a heart that's beating for mission, day in and day out.

[30:33] And based on your mission partner list, I feel like you are already many steps ahead. So you're almost there, church.

[30:44] You are doing well. Don't get me wrong. I'm not scolding anyone. But there's those final few steps that you can take that's going to even increase your capacity of what you could accomplish.

[30:59] So, that's by far the longest look, you know, what was happening in ancient Israel. Now, let's go across the Pacific Ocean to the USA.

[31:11] today. And I'm going to use a few stories here to show you how people are living out this Missio day.

[31:23] How are they engaging in the mission of God? And hopefully, by these stories, you can glean some insight. You can gather some ideas to help you engage in some work of your own.

[31:39] So, in the U.S. was where we lived until 2021, five years ago. And here, my focus is on compassion.

[31:54] See, compassion, let me define real quick. And this, I believe, is based on the Cambridge Dictionary. Compassion is a strong feeling of sympathy and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of others.

[32:07] and a wish to help them. When is the last time you felt compassion for someone?

[32:21] And when's the last time you actually did something about it? See, before we moved to the suburbs, we were living near the city center of Chicago, Illinois.

[32:39] Okay? And here in Chicago, how many of you have been to Chicago? Anyone? Yes! There are some people, yes! So Chicago's a great city, a windy city, they call it, and that's actually not due to the wind.

[32:54] There's a weird story behind that. It's a nice city, good food, lots of art, one of the best symphony symphony orchestras in the world. There's a bad side to it, though.

[33:07] Gun violence. A few years ago, statistics show there were 797 homicides and 3,561 gun shooting incidents, gun violence.

[33:32] see, that's about 68 shootings every week. One week, one city. This is not a whole province, okay? This is one city.

[33:45] Like Kuching, one city, not Sarawak, one city. 68 per week. And that's where I lived. I know a few stories of street violence because I went out street witnessing.

[34:00] I went out to some of the bad neighborhoods. I wanted to. Eventually, my wife stopped me, but before I was married, I went out a lot more often. In Chicago, specifically, I led a team to do street witnessing, which is where we go on the streets and we engage people in gospel conversation.

[34:21] So we do that every Friday night with a small team. And here's some of the work. And we started bringing along guitars. So I would bring my guitar, my friend would, and we'd just go sing.

[34:33] And then people would be interested, what are you doing? And sometimes we would rap. If there's a rapper comes by, it's okay, okay, I'll give you a beat. Okay, anyway, but you know, with the guitar too.

[34:47] So you know, we engage some fun people. We engage some homeless people. We engage some violent people. And one time I bought a subway sandwich for this army veteran suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

[35:06] It's been on the streets because he can't hold down the job, he can't do much. I told him all these things, just trying to tell him good things, tell him hope.

[35:19] but just conversing with him. And this guy, this veteran, someone who fought in the military, he cried in front of me. And I talked to another person, Regina, a few times, and she's homeless, and she doesn't seem to be doing well.

[35:35] And one week, I felt the Spirit urging me to ask, okay, do you feel joy when you wake up in the morning? I don't know why that question asked the Holy Spirit, but okay, okay, I'll ask that question, God.

[35:47] So I asked Regina. And here's a paraphrase of how she responded. Do I feel joy? No. There's so much pain. I don't know where I'm going to live.

[35:58] I feel like things would be so much easier if I just die. That's what she told me. I cried and tried to encourage her, but she said, okay.

[36:11] I bought them fried chicken sometimes. We did Thanksgiving on the streets on top of a trash can. I bought this fried chicken. Everyone know American Thanksgiving?

[36:24] So yeah, okay, here's some fried chicken. Let's eat on the trash can. It's our table. Let's go around holding hands. Me, this homeless person, this other person on the streets, and these other few.

[36:36] Let's celebrate together. So these are some of the people, some of the reality that Hollywood doesn't tell you about, about the living situation in America. Lots of people struggling and suffering.

[36:48] Another person going to a mailbox at church every day to see if her government housing approval comes in so she could actually get a roof over her head so she doesn't have to get rained on, doesn't have to have snow covering her.

[37:04] There's so much more and more and more. Like drug addicts, drug dealers, so much, so many types of people. I don't have time to get into it all, but there's a ministry.

[37:16] Oh, there's a ministry called Pacific Garden Mission, and that's a homeless shelter in Chicago. I want to tell you a little bit about what they do.

[37:28] See, they have these chapel services, and that's me right there on stage. It's hard to see when I was much younger. Yes, younger than now.

[37:39] I was probably 12 back then. Okay, just kidding. I'm older than I look. But, you know, they have the homeless people come in, and they have to go through these mandatory sermons, and then they get free food.

[37:56] But more than a free food, they also get lodging, too. These bunk beds they set up so that they could be off the streets. but more than just a mandatory chapel and the free food, they have these mandatory resume building workshops where they have to create a resume or a CV, and they have to learn some type of soft skill that's transferable.

[38:21] You can't just get free food. You have to build your resume, and you have to listen to the word of God. Everything is together. And it's a ministry. And it's amazing, and the thing is, all this of what they do is driven by donations.

[38:43] The government gives hardly anything to them. I talked to the director, he said, yeah, it's not much. There's a grant, but not much. The donations of people like you and me helps this keep going.

[38:58] And my point is, they would not be able to operate if people didn't give money to help them. So, when was the last time you looked at someone and had compassion?

[39:16] Don't worry about this ministry. I know people ask me afterwards, but don't worry, you have your own mission partners to worry about. That's not my point. The point is, when was the last time you had compassion on someone?

[39:30] Like, really? Just, you felt bad. Oh, I wish I could help them. I want to help them. I want you to practice compassion. Don't worry about the money.

[39:44] If you have compassion, money will flow. If you really felt bad about the people, yeah, take out your wallet, write a check to the work at SIM.

[39:56] There's people at OMF, they're doing amazing work. But without compassion, it's not nearly as meaningful. So, yes, you need to give.

[40:08] The need is great. Give to the homeless. Give generously. And that was the first story because that is the most common example of how people participate in mission.

[40:18] And bear saying, so, yes, you do participate in mission. You don't have to be like me. You don't have to go on the streets. You don't have to go to homeless shelter. I get it. But you can give and give generously.

[40:32] I know every church, like here, KEC, I bet you have a mission offering, right? A mission fund. So, give and give generously to that mission fund.

[40:44] Exceed the target. I hope you do this year. because that is the first way that you can participate in the mission of God. You give through the, God has blessed you with a job.

[40:58] God has blessed you with a good career. So, out of that, you give to the work God is doing. Yes. Yes, that is a valid, legitimate way to participate.

[41:12] Now, the thing is, that's not the only way to participate. Okay. So, beyond Chicago, let's go to a different land. Scotland, in the UK.

[41:26] See, we just talked about holistic mission organization in America. Now, here, you find people just singing songs of prayer. They're praying, and there's this crazy story about prayer.

[41:41] And, before we continue, I want to distinguish the difference here. prayer. There's a difference between life-focused prayer and mission-focused prayer.

[41:56] So, a second way you can participate in the mission of God. First way is through giving. The second way is through prayer. And, we know this. But, often, why we do a lot more life-focused prayer than mission-focused prayer?

[42:12] prayer. See, life-focused prayer is when we're just praying for our life, our issues, our struggles, our children, our parents, our sickness, our church, our life.

[42:30] prayer. That's life-focused prayer. Mission-focused prayer. We pray for their situation, their salvation, their sickness, their living situation, their lack of money, their lack of funds, their poverty, their salvation, and situation.

[43:01] We're focusing on them. And, that's what I want for you guys. More mission-focused prayer. I'm not saying take away the life-focused.

[43:12] You know, you still pray for your family. It's important. But, how often? Ask yourself, how often do you pray about mission? I hope it's not once a year.

[43:23] I really hope not. And, let me tell you the importance of prayer. It's a real story. See, when my wife was pregnant with our first child, we had the privilege of visiting an evangelistic organization in Scotland called the Herald's Trust.

[43:40] It was beautiful. We went to Glasgow, Edinburgh, St. Andrews, which is here. You know, University of St. Andrews, where N.T. Wright is. So, we went back to, no, we went to Europe and we saw so much.

[43:58] And, it's a beautiful place, lots of historic cathedrals like this. But, it's also a very atheistic and spiritually dry place.

[44:12] And, my wife had the opportunity to perform at this cathedral you see, St. Giles Cathedral. I think it's 500, 700 years old.

[44:23] It's a historic church. Not as old as the ones in Spain, but still really old. And, this historic church now is a touristic site.

[44:34] There's no services. They put this big piano in the middle so my wife performed and there were people. But, that's what many churches are reduced to because people just don't go to church anymore.

[44:48] See, you see someone of the performance there. Now, we have this organization, the Herald's Trust. They do evangelism in this atheistic context where they're antagonistic to the gospel.

[45:02] And, one of the main leaders of the organization works with the local school as their chaplain. So, they invite, they, we partner with them so they allowed me, again, that's me with a bunch of students.

[45:16] No, I wasn't a student. I'm the one in black. So, you know, I went there and my wife was doing a piano and I was just speaking afterwards.

[45:29] And, because her particular piano piece was called The Serpent's Kiss. You know, it's a classical piece by William Boccombe. And, it's based on Genesis 1.

[45:41] So, I just, oh, Genesis 2, I should say, 2 and 3. Mostly 3. So, I read a small piece from Genesis 3. And then, later on, the guy, the leader of Herald's Trust, I just read, I'm literally, four verses, okay, four to five verses.

[45:58] Very short. Just to give background to the piano performance. And then, this guy said, wow, Tony, that was really courageous of you. He said, what was?

[46:10] Reading the Bible. He said, but you're a chaplain. A chaplain is a fancy word for pastor at the place, school or military. He said, you're really courageous for reading the Bible.

[46:23] I said, you don't read the Bible as a pastor? He said, no. No, I can't read the Bible at the school. In fact, I cannot even pray for the students.

[46:37] So, a chaplain who is able to go to, they cannot pray for the students. They cannot evangelize the students. And by now, you're thinking, so what does that pastor do? He goes, hangs out.

[46:49] But, but if the student of his or her own initiative goes and say, hey, pastor, can you pray for me about X, Y, and Z? Okay.

[47:01] He's allowed to do that. But he cannot initiate any spiritual conversation or prayer. Well, conversation may be because that's harder to judge.

[47:12] But that is the context of Scotland. So, Kuching, you have it pretty good, right? Does Pastor Brian pray for you?

[47:24] Yes? So, he's allowed to. But also, this is a church. It's not the school. So, it may be different. So, you may be thinking, how does he engage people with the gospel then?

[47:35] He can't share the gospel. He can't even pray for them. So, he prays by himself. God, give me a spiritual conversation today.

[47:46] God, help me to actually talk to someone, but you have to let them initiate. Just let me be ready.

[47:57] In Jesus' name, amen. But mission-focused prayer day in and day out so that he can do his work. His life is about mission.

[48:07] His prayer is about mission. It has to. There's no other way. Prayer drives this ministry. Oh, that's my wife playing. Prayer drives all that they're doing.

[48:19] Now, there are some Christians here, okay? So, we did go to a regular church where you're allowed to do all these other things. But the team's prayer is the only reason that they can do all these things.

[48:35] So, that's what I want you guys to do. Practice your mission-focused prayer. I'm not just saying, okay, you know what? Pray for our mission partners.

[48:46] You already do that. Great. But my challenge to you is very simple. Once a week, pray only mission-focused prayer.

[49:00] Pray for them, their issues, their situation. Pick a missionary. Pick a country. Doesn't matter. But pray for others. Not just in the church. Outside. Mission-focused prayer.

[49:12] Once a week. Maybe, I don't know, Sunday? Not during the corporate time, your private time. Once a week, you pray for others. But Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you pray for your family.

[49:23] Pray for your wife. Pray for your husband. Pray for your kids. Great. Pray for your work. Pray for your career. Whatever you want. Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Pray for your friends. Pray for your church.

[49:34] Do all that. But once a week, on Sunday, you pray for others only. Don't pray for yourself. Don't pray for your friends or your family. Just pray for the missionaries. Pray for the unreached people groups.

[49:46] Pray for those who are going to die without receiving Christ, or at least even hearing of Jesus. Pray for them. Just once a week. Is that clear?

[49:58] Once a week, mission focused prayer? Okay. Since it's clear, if you don't do it, then it's just outright disobedience, right? And I want to challenge you, really, because if you really do that, you're going to see God do a transforming work in your heart.

[50:14] God's going to start tugging you to say, yeah, Vincent, John, all these people, that you're going to feel like, wow, I feel like God's leading me to do even more than this, and more and more.

[50:33] And that's what mission focused prayer is to. It aligns you with the heart of God. He's going to increase your capacity. He's going to get you to do things you never dreamed possible.

[50:45] And your life will be a lot more fulfilling than you thought it could be. I kid you not. And my wife and I, we have traveled to all these continents, so many countries, hundreds of organizations, slums, prisons, shelters, you name it.

[51:06] We've done all these things, and God has shown us things. That's incredible. Allowed us to participate in things I didn't think I could participate in.

[51:19] He could do that for you. And it starts with mission, focused, prayer. Now, Finnish Scotland, I want to go to the last land, Kenya.

[51:37] And it's quite a big contrast, because we had the spiritual deadness in Scotland, and now, we see the opposite. We see people come alive. Now, Kenya's great, beyond the spiritual stuff, you have all these animals, I went to safaris, we're feeding giraffes, as you can see here, when I was younger, than now.

[51:59] So, see, the idea, here, is that they're, they're not just praying, they're already praying all the time, and God's getting them to move.

[52:13] In fact, they can't stop moving. Maybe it's the African in them, they can't stop moving, and the worship services, they're just, and it's great. Fascinating, skyscraped, that's Nairobi, I believe.

[52:27] I think I took that in Nairobi. But we went there, and they have a thriving, youth group. People were beautiful, inside and out.

[52:39] Actually, this is the young adults group, I should say, not youth. So, we, you know, we're meeting with them, talking with them, and however, oh, at the, oh, however, the poor side of Kenya is really poor.

[52:53] In the picture on the bottom right, you see this school, called the Kibera Slums. I visited the people, and the school there. And we went there, all these hundreds of children, living in the slums.

[53:10] And they were treating me like a Chinese developer. Oh, you know, I want you to build the world here. here, okay? Don't knock down my house. They said, no, no, no. They wouldn't, they said, you know, they wouldn't believe that I'm a pastor.

[53:24] They said, no, okay, I know you're going to build this road, and you built the highway there. Oh, I did? Okay. And then, and they're just like, they don't want too much.

[53:40] And it's devastating sometimes to hear the life of the children in the slums. So that's Kenya. Got the rich, you have the poor, you have the, you have the beautiful animals, you have the hungry children.

[53:55] Like you see here, this is some of the housing that you see. That guy, I think, that guy you see talking to me, he's the one who's asking me to not tear down his house when I build the road.

[54:06] See, so, so that we were there for a church planting conference. And you see another contrast, this is a more while off church, but they still met in this big tent-like structure.

[54:24] Okay, and there, the praising, it's hard to see because my camera wasn't that good at the time. You know, they're just dancing and waving their hands.

[54:35] And you know what this was? This was a three-day church planting conference hosted by a church. I think they have 3,000 to 4,000 people, I can't remember, but we were invited there.

[54:48] And I'm standing on stage thinking, I don't belong here. They should be teaching me about church planting. What do I have to say to these people who are already active in ministry?

[55:00] And at the end of this church planting conference, they did an altar call to see, okay, how many of you are going to dedicate your lives to be future church planters?

[55:16] So these are existing pastors and they are challenging them to leave your church and go plant a church somewhere where there is no church. And then they, there were 600 people in attendance, okay, and 30 to 50 people dedicated themselves to planting a church.

[55:38] And this is out of about 100 who raised their hands and then they narrowed it down, became 30 to 50 people. In the next two years, they're going to plant a church. Wow!

[55:49] And that's amazing! So, see, brothers and sisters, what I want you to get from this is that people like them, they are engaging so much work, planting churches, doing this, doing that, and I want you to know, are you going to be on the move just like them too?

[56:10] You can't stop moving, maybe not dancing, but it's like, God, where to next? Maybe He's calling you here. I hope so. I don't want to, you know, break down your church. But maybe to start a ministry here, there, or somewhere else inside the church, a ministry that doesn't exist before, to be a pioneer.

[56:31] Or maybe go somewhere, just for a season and then come back. What is God calling you to do in the worship of Him? So how will you join in the worship of this global God?

[56:47] Are you going to give money? We know that. We know that's part of it. Are you going to pray mission-focused prayer like they do in Scotland, at least by this one organization?

[57:02] Pray for others, not yourself. Or are you going to actually get out of your comfort zone and do a pioneering work that's not been done before? And my challenge to you, in this coming year, 2026, is before the year ends.

[57:23] Do each of those at least one time. So yes, you have to give. And give generously, okay? Give generously to the mission work.

[57:35] You have to pray at least a few weeks. Do what I said. Six days on yourself, but one day just about other people. It's still mostly yourself. It's just one out of seven.

[57:46] That's the second thing. And the third thing, engage in a pioneering evangelistic work that helps others get to know God. It could be talking to your co-worker. It could be starting some kind of discussion group at your workplace.

[58:00] Whatever it is, I want you to engage in each of those three things. So if you're already giving, great. You've got the other two things to catch up on.

[58:10] If you're praying, great. You've got two other things to catch up on too. Whatever you're doing, engage in those and see how God will use it to transform you.

[58:22] See? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Can you hear it? Can you hear their song? It's the sound of Christian men and women all over the world worshiping God and changing their communities.

[58:42] How will you join in this same worship and change of your community here in Kuching? Let's pray.

[58:54] Father God, I pray that you will move every one of us in this room to action. That you will mold them into instruments that's going to move people, change communities and shake whole cities for your glory.

[59:20] empower the people sitting here and watching online to do the work that you have prepared for them to do.

[59:31] To lead them on an endeavor that can rival those of the missionaries that we just prayed for. Raise them up, Lord, into people worthy to be called your children.

[59:48] Empower them. empower them to do the work that you have prepared before him for them to do. Bless them now as they do all these for the glory of your name.

[60:01]  In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.