--in India. The area that we went to India is not typically a place that-- if somebody says they went to India for missions, this is not the typical place that they go to. Usually, they'll go to Delhi or Mumbai or maybe even Bangalore, but this is about five hours into the countryside.

So the nearest airport of any kind, local or international, is about five hours' drive away. So I shared this with you last year when we were going in there. I didn't know a single Westerner or any foreigner that's been in that area. And so when I told this to my Southern Baptist friends, they were actually a little bit concerned.

They'd been praying for us last year, and they prayed for us this year throughout the whole trip. So I was texting with my wife and a local pastor here because they were having prayer meetings for us throughout their meetings, and he wanted an update on what's going on. So going in this year, I thought I'd be a little bit less anxious because we have experience from last year.

But to my surprise, I think all the things that I've been reading in the last year, the persecution going on, is concentrated up in North where we were not, but also in the Southern area. And in the Southern area, in that little strip where the heaviest concentration of unreached people groups are in that local area.

And those pastors are actively pursuing to share the gospel. And so the reason why we made contact is because I met this pastor in one of the earlier trips that I went with other pastors to do pastoral training. And as I got to spend time with him, his English was good enough where he was sharing with me about his father's testimony.

And again, the more I heard his father's testimony, it intrigued me. It's like, wow, there's people actually doing this. And I share this again. I'm not going to go too much into detail, but his father became a Christian, used to be a Hindu priest, and converted. And basically, he was shunned by his family, took his young children.

At the time, he had two kids, a three-year-old and a one-year-old. Then eventually, he had two more kids. And basically, for the last 40 years, he's been traveling from village to village sharing the gospel. Last year, when I talked to him, he told me that there was a period when he was so depressed because he couldn't take care of his kids.

And there were times when they would walk into villages, and people were hostile. They don't have time to walk back out. So a lot of times, they would just be sleeping out in the fields. And again, I heard this from the kids. They said they remember this when they were little kids, just walking into villages.

And a lot of times, he didn't have enough food to feed their children. And he said there was a period when he was so depressed about it that he was thinking about taking his life. And he thought that maybe if he wasn't around, that his family would have an easier life.

But because God so burdened him for the gospel, that he saw his family suffering. And so for the last 40 years, in the midst of all of this, he's been walking from village to village. And every testimony that we heard, eventually, it was linked to this pastor, this one pastor.

He's in his mid-60s. And he said, oh, they came in and shared the gospel. And initially, I thought, what's this crazy guy doing? And then he was persistent. And so each one of them came to Christ. And now they have a network of 32 pastors. And they oversee about three churches.

And they told me they have about 80 to 85 churches that they've planted. And I asked them, what is the size and how many members they have? And they have over about 2,000 people and growing. That if you put them all together-- so each one of these churches have anywhere from 30 to Pastor Matthew's church.

That was the original one. It held over a couple hundred people in that one. And again, they're doing ministry. And they're in the midst of much persecution. When we first decided to go in, it was simply an opportunity. I was curious. And I knew the area that we were going into was maybe not safe, because they don't have a lot of foreigners in that area.

But I felt like God opened the door, kind of like how we first got into China. God opened the door. And I thought, well, if God opened the door, let's go in and see what God's going to do. And that's kind of how we started out in India, wanting to go and check out the ministry.

And that was last year. So last year, we kind of broke ground. I was a little bit nervous, because we didn't know where we were going. And I think every single one of us who went last year, that initial road to get to this place kind of, I think, surprised all of us.

We knew we were going to the boonies, but this was literally the remotest part of the world. And we got there. We broke ground, spent some time with the pastor. We were all very encouraged. This year, for me, was a little bit different, because already, again, the ground was broken.

Nothing that we did this year was new or surprising to me. And I know a few of the other people that went last year could say the same thing. The biggest difference for me this year versus last year was I felt like I made a lasting connection with these pastors.

A lot of the same familiar faces, and being able to hear the testimonies, and spending time with them, that they're not just projects. They're not just people out in China. But they've really become friends. And so now the ministry in China is not simply that doors open, so we're going in.

But it's become a lot more personal. So when I think about persecution in India, I'm not thinking about some random faces. I'm thinking specifically about these pastors. Pastor Saki, the guy that I had initial contact with, last year he kept us away from his little village, because-- well, it's not little.

There's a lot of people there. Because last year, while we were there, the militant Hindus actually were getting organized to weed out Christians in his area. So when I asked him about his place, and he said, he deliberately tried to keep us away from there, because it wasn't safe at that time.

So this year, when we got there, I asked him what's the first village we're going to. And he said he was going to take us to his hometown. And the first thing I thought was, I thought you didn't want us to go there last year. And he said, last year, specifically because they were having that meeting.

And it's still not safe, but they just weren't having that meeting this year. And so we were able to go to his village. We were able to go and visit his home. And he told us that in that particular area where he lives, the hostility toward Christians is concentrated.

And he told us that that area, they can't walk around with Bibles in their hands, because once they're identified as Christians, they get targeted. So they have to kind of stay low. And then what really was heartbreaking was he told us about what it's like for their children. And he said that he has one daughter.

And he said that when he goes to school, sometimes to win over their friends because of the hostility, he said he gave candy or chocolate to pass out to their friends. And some of the friends told him that their parents said, don't even receive chocolate from these Christians. We don't want anything to do with them.

And so they have Hindu friends, but they would try to go over to their friend's house. And the parents won't allow them to come into the house. So he has to stay outside while their Hindu friends go in and out of their homes. And saying that is very, very difficult.

And he told me that his wife understands because she's an adult. But he said the hardest part of it is his daughter. He's away from home a lot because he's going to village to village. And those of you who've been there before, you know that going to village is not like here, where you just hop in a car, go, and then come back.

Making a commitment to go there is either all day or sometimes several day commitment to go and come back. And so oftentimes, he's not there. And financially, there's no support. So his wife has to work at night to get some support. And they're barely surviving with that. But in the midst of all of this, they're spreading the gospel.

People are coming to Christ. They're having a hard time feeding their kids. But they're committed to the gospel cause. Pastor Matthew has full-blown diabetes, but he doesn't have enough money for medication. So obviously, we gave him some so that he can buy medication. But despite all of that, he's still going from village to village, even now, sharing the gospel.

Oftentimes, people talk about how you had a heart for India, or you had a heart for China. And all of that is great. And it's great that God gives us heart for certain things. But the Great Commission is not a theology to be studied. It is a commandment to be obeyed.

We don't wait for God to stir our hearts to obey. Obedience is something we do, whether we feel like it or not. A lot of times, our heart doesn't follow because we're not obeying. God will give you the heart when you obey, not before you obey. And there are times when God will stir you up to give you the energy to go before you go.

But oftentimes, the heart and compassion-- people say that all the time. How do we pray for people that we don't know? How do we have compassion for people we don't know? Well, get to know them. Get to know them. And God will give you a heart. The Great Commission is vital in our personal relationship with God.

It's not like God saved you. Now you have a personal relationship. And here is all these other things that I should be doing. And if I don't, it doesn't really matter that much. We don't realize in the West how intimately the Great Commission is directly linked to your personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Great Commission is linked to following Jesus. Typically, when we say-- we all say we're followers of Jesus Christ, followers of Jesus Christ. If I asked you to follow me, just follow me, what's the first thing that you're going to ask me? Where are you going? That's what you're going to ask, right?

Unless you're like, OK, where do I go? The first thing you're going to ask is, where are you going? When Jesus called his disciples to follow him, he specifically said, I will make you fishers of men. The scripture says in Luke 19.10, "For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost." That's where he's going.

He's going to the lost to save them. 1 Timothy 1.15, it says, "It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost." That this is who Jesus is. This is what he came to do. And this is why he called the disciples.

This is not new in the New Testament. We see it all over the Old Testament. Ezekiel 34.16, "The Lord says to the nation of Israel, I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strayed. I will bind up the injured. And I will strengthen the weak." See, for a Christian, the Great Commission is not an option.

If we follow Jesus, meaning if we are genuinely following Jesus, we have to be going where he is going. We have to be doing what he is doing. We cannot say with any kind of consistency that we are followers of Jesus if we're not following where he is going.

That's why Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9.16, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel." Woe to me. Because preaching the gospel is directly linked to his relationship with Jesus Christ. You know the Great Commission, the last commandment, the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples.

He says, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go make disciples." And he concludes the Great Commission by saying, "Lo, I am with you to the end of the age." His promise to be with us is linked to the Great Commission. He didn't simply say, "I'm gonna be with you because raising children is difficult.

I'm gonna be with you because it's lonely living in this fallen world." He said, "I'm gonna be with you," one, in the context of sharing the gospel, taking the gospel to the remotest part of the world, to the light into darkness. He said, "Do not fear when persecution come because I will be with you." He was not in the context of comforting the natural difficulties of living in a sinful and fallen world.

Not that our God doesn't care about that. Not that God doesn't give us comfort for those things. But his primary promise of his presence in our lives, to be courageous because I will be with you. For a Christian who is disengaged with the Great Commission cannot understand the comfort of his presence in our lives.

In, Paul says, in Romans 1, 14 to 15, "I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, and both to the wise and to the foolish." We have a tendency, again, in our generation, you know, whenever something becomes difficult, we have a tendency to change our theology.

That when the challenge of living a Christian life becomes too difficult, the easiest thing to do is to change our theology to accommodate whatever life that we choose. Following Christ is too difficult. The cross is too hard. The commandments are too burdensome. So we shift our theology and make it easier.

But see, Apostle Paul talked about preaching the gospel as an obligation. And we have a tendency to think that any talk of obligation is legalism. And we have to take that obligation. No, we have to be compelled. Paul here says, "I am obligated by the gospel of Jesus Christ to preach to Greeks and barbarians." But immediately, when we think of obligation, we think of drudgery.

We think of doing something we don't want to do. But Paul says in verse 15, "So because of this obligation, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome." Some of the greatest joys in our life comes along with it, the greatest obligation. Every parent in this room, the greatest burden in your life are your children.

Because they take the most time. They require the most money. They take whatever leisure time you have and they suck the life out of you, right? The greatest obligation in your life is your children. There's nothing more important, not your work, not even your own health, than your own kids.

You are obligated to your children. But ask any parent in the room, what is the greatest joy? It's also their children. The greatest satisfaction, the greatest joy comes also from their kids. See, obligation and joy are not two exclusive things. The scripture says in Psalm 34, seven, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." That when Christ becomes our delight, our satisfaction, our joy also comes with him.

The greatest desire and the greatest joy comes with the greatest obligation. There is no obligation greater than preaching the gospel to the lost. There's no greater obligation. And that is not something that you have to even read the scripture to say. I don't have to exposit a text, and I don't have to go through the meta-narrative of scripture.

All we have to do is have common sense. If you have the only cure for a lost world in their dark sin, if you know that if they die, that there's judgment waiting for them, and you know the only answer is Jesus Christ, you don't need exposition of scripture to tell you that that is our obligation.

It is our obligation to have the gospel. It is the obligation of every Christian that knows and confesses this truth. And yet the scripture clearly says that this is the greatest and the most wonderful commandment. Ask anybody who's ever experienced and truly given their life for this cause where the source of greatest joy is.

It's in seeing people come to Christ that we were able to spend even just a week purposefully. Because let's be honest, how many weeks can you think of in 2015 that you were absolutely spent doing God's work? I mean, maybe bits and pieces here. So every single one of us on this trip, and again, I know many of you have experienced the same thing in different trips, that's a whole week's worth of our time, energy, and money was spent in a strange place, people we've never met, maybe possibly risking some persecution, but at the end of the day, fully satisfied, fully joyful, because God was able to use us in a small way to preach the gospel.

See, our greatest joy also comes from our greatest obligation and if you continue to neglect your obligation, you also continue to push away the greatest source of joy that God has placed in your life. Our personal relationship with the Holy Spirit is directly linked to the Great Commission. Every once in a while, somebody will come in and say, "Oh, you know, this church is all about the Bible, "but it's not about the Holy Spirit." And when they say that, what they're saying is they want more emotion, they wanna see some people dancing on the aisle, they want people raising hands and crying during worship, and I have nothing against that.

If you wanna dance, dance quietly in the back, you know, like, I have nothing against that, right? Don't distract us, right? You wanna raise your hand, you wanna weep, you know, while you're praising God, awesome! We should be emotional in our worship toward God. But the primary role of the Holy Spirit is linked to the Great Commission.

In Acts chapter one, six through eight, and you know that passage in verse eight when he says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit "comes upon you, you will be my witnesses." You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the remotest part of the world.

But prior to him making that commandment, the disciples were stuck on, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel? That was the question, because that's what they were focused on before he went to the cross, remember? He said, "When the kingdom comes, can you let us sit "on the left or to the right?

"Who's gonna be the greatest when the kingdom comes?" And that's what they were focused on, because all of the prophets, even in the midst of all the judgment, always ends and always reminds us that even though judgment is coming, God will restore one day the kingdom. So this is what they were fixated on.

And then even after Jesus was resurrected, that's what they were fixated, is it now? We thought it was gonna happen before the cross, and we didn't understand where the cross fit into this, but now we see that even in death, they cannot contain you. So now, is it now are you gonna restore the kingdom?

And Jesus says to them, "It is not for you to know "times or the seasons that the Father has fixed "by his own authority." Whenever we look at this text, we always kinda get caught up in, it's like, oh, the end times, we're not gonna know about the end times.

Let's not calculate the end times. There's a much more practical application to what Jesus is saying here, than you're not gonna know the specific time or the hour. The practical thing that Jesus is saying is, you're focused on making this kingdom your home. You're focused, because that's what we're all focused on.

Your focus is, is it now you're gonna restore the kingdom? We've been waiting for this for hundreds and hundreds of years, is it now are you going to bring this kingdom that we've been waiting for? And Jesus basically is saying, it's not for you to think about that now.

Now is the time for the great commission. That time will come one day, when Christ comes and he restores his kingdom, and he glorifies us, and redeems his church finally in glorification, but now is not the time for you to be thinking about that. Now is the time for the great commission.

And you will be my witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes. See, the whole purpose of the Holy Spirit is not simply comfort us because life is difficult. Although he does do that. The whole point of the Holy Spirit is not so that we can become emotional when we sing.

Although that is a big benefit of the movement of the Holy Spirit. The primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower us for the great commission. John 15, 26, but when the helper, the Holy Spirit comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

Because the disciples were afraid. Their situation was much worse than even the pastors who were preaching the gospel in the villages. Persecution was real. Taking the gospel to the areas where hostility, where people are gonna be stoned, and literally going to die, he says, don't worry, the Holy Spirit is going to be with you, and he will bear witness about me.

I am not sending you on your own. Again, in John 16, eight, he says, when he comes, the Holy Spirit, he will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. So when we talk about engaging the Holy Spirit, we're not simply talking about emotionalism, we're not simply talking about some mystical inner working of emotions and power, we're talking about the power to preach the gospel with effectiveness is directly linked to the Holy Spirit.

So if we're not engaged in the work of the gospel ministry, in proclaiming the gospel, the Great Commission, you cannot be engaged in the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter how emotional you get in the service. It doesn't matter how passionate you feel inwardly, because the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to move you forward with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Not only is it linked to, directly linked to our relationship with Jesus, directly linked to the work of the Holy Spirit, proclaiming of the gospel, the Great Commission, is directly linked to our fellowship. Every time Christians get together, it isn't fellowship, especially in our generation, right? Fellowship, again, has become just a place where Christians by name have come together and we talk about whatever we talk about, do whatever we do, as long as we're Christians, we have fellowship.

That's not what the word means. The typical word that's translated, kononia, literal translation means to partner together. So again, if I say let's partner together, right, what are you gonna ask me? For what? If fellowship means partnering, what are we partnering together for? It's pretty obvious. Paul uses that term in the book of Philippians as partnering financially.

He calls his fellow workers of the gospel partners in the name of Jesus Christ. Partnering and fellowship go hand in hand. So much frustration in the church happens because people are staggering from church to church, looking for like-minded, right? When we say like-minded, we're talking about similar personalities, similar interest in movies, similar interest in travel, your background, language, age, culture, but it's so superficial in the church.

I know yesterday they had football. You know, the men had football, and I think the women's football tournament is coming up pretty soon, and you know, there's some, I don't know how the oldest member of the football team is, but from what I hear, probably late 30s, right? I don't think anybody 40 and over in the right mind would have done that.

But late 30s, and I know as young as 18, right? As young as 18 to 38-year-old. Got together and played football for this competition. I didn't hear one time the older guy say, "I couldn't connect with these guys." You know? "I couldn't connect with them "because there's nobody my age here.

"I want to be in the defensive line with guys my age." I didn't hear any 18-year-old saying, "I can't play with these old guys. "What do I have in common with these guys? "They don't understand me." You know, they're too advanced in their stage in life. Nobody says that because the goal of this game is to win.

And so whoever you are partnering with for this game are your brothers and are your sisters. Because what brings them together is not age, it's not language, it's not culture. It's this goal. You're partnering together. See, true fellowship in the church has nothing to do with your background as a human being.

In fact, the beauty of the church is people who would never spend time together outside if it wasn't for Christ. Why would somebody in their 60s hang out with somebody in their teens? Why would somebody from this culture hang out with this person in that culture? Why would somebody from that economic status spend all their time with people in this economic status?

Early church was filled with slave owners, with former slaves, Pharisees, and tax collectors. The young and the old. Sometimes they didn't even speak the same language, they were in the same church. But that was the beauty of the early church. What brought them together was the gospel of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of this same gospel.

Fellowship happens in the context of partnering together for the Great Commission, it happens. You know that short time that we were there out in India, you know, just the ride alone, like to me the hardest part of any mission trip is the plane ride there and plane ride back.

You know, the five hours in the bus isn't as bad because it's five hours. Well this is 16 hours of one flight and then resting and another three and a half hours going. And every year I get older it gets harder and harder. You know, and even the younger members of our team, I mean going out, we didn't go to a comfortable place.

Our hotel was nice, right, comparably to everything else out there. The food was decent, right. For some people, I'm not really into Indian food, right. I've had enough Indian food for the rest of the year. I'll save that for next year, right. But fellowship happens in that context. Even while we're goofing around, even while we're having fun, at the end of the day, because all our mind and attention, our energy is spent toward the same thing.

And at the end of the day, we don't have to force, like hey, let's talk about Jesus today. Because we were laboring for the same thing. We're all tired at the end of the day doing the same thing. And if there's any frustration, it's frustration in the same thing.

And so when we get together, fellowship happens. But when you have a group of people who are not laboring toward the same thing and trying very hard to connect, you have to be, I want somebody my age, from my background, with that many kids, and you know, with this kind of struggle, with this kind of, oh, I can relate to that person because we're in the exact same place in life, right?

And until we find that person or that group, we don't experience fellowship. That's not fellowship. You're looking for friends. And that's no different than the rest of the world, staggering from place to place, looking for a friendship that I can connect with, somebody exactly like me, looks like me, smells like me.

Right? Maybe not smells like me, but you know. Somebody exactly like me. And then we get frustrated when it doesn't happen. Fellowship that is promised in scripture has nothing to do with how old you are, your language, your culture, your background, stage in life has nothing to do with that.

Fellowship in the church is when people who are committed to the cause of Christ simply are laboring together. I find encouragement, you know, most of the team are a lot younger than I am, but just being with them, you know, 'cause they're sacrificing. And I was encouraged by every single one of them, you know.

I was the, what do you call it? Slaggard, sluggard in this group? I usually am because they all have particular work to do and I don't have a specific assignment. All my work happens before I go. And then when I go there, my work is to make sure that they're doing their work, you know.

But I'm encouraged by every single one of them. Our VBS team, you know, they were out in the sun for three hours, four hours at a time, didn't take a break at all. Then there's certain things happens that we can't share with you. Certain videos that we, what's it?

So some people, no, okay. I can't go any further than that because what happens in India stays in India. (audience laughing) But fellowship happens in the context of partnering together for the gospel. You take that great commission out and you try to artificially create this, like, connection with one another.

That's no different than anything in the world, right? Any little comment, any little difference, any little insensitive thing that's said, all of it, that's enough to break off, break that off. Right? It's so, any friendship outside of Christ is so fragile. But it's in the context of partnering together and that's why the gospel and the church fellowship, it's directly linked.

And let me tell you right now, if you feel disconnected because, for whatever the reason, and you're not partnering in the gospel, it could be other reasons, but maybe the primary reason is because you're not partnering together in the gospel ministry. The great commission affects our prayer life. The call to pray is directly linked to the great commission.

Colossians 4, two to four, it says, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, "being watchful in it with thanksgiving. "At the same time, pray also for us "that God may open the door for the word, "to declare the mystery of Christ "on account of which I am in prison, "that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak." Think about the content of our prayer.

And if it is any different than a Buddhist prayer, or if it is any different than somebody who worships idols, because if you listen carefully to their prayers, they pray for safety, just like we do. They pray that their God would help their crops to grow, so that they can have a nice life.

When they get sick, they take offerings to whatever idol that they worship, and they drop some stuff in there, hoping that that will cure the problem. See, what makes a Christian prayer different than a prayer of the Buddhists and the Hindus is the content of our prayer. Our prayer is not to bring this kingdom.

He said, "It is not for you to worry about that now, "because time will come. "When the fullness of time has come, "God is going to reveal His glory, "and you will be glorified with Him when He comes in glory. "But until then, it is not time for you "to worry about that now.

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." So therefore, even in our prayers, what causes us to be urgent in our prayers is the Great Commission. Is when we are laboring and praying for the gospel to be spread. That's something that you and I cannot do.

I can pay bills without praying. I can get a job in promotion without praying. Work harder, stop being lazy. Don't make trouble at work. Read and get educated. I could, we know all the information, but the primary reason why we have to pray, why prayer becomes urgent, is when we're in the context of battle.

And I love what John Piper says about this in prayer. He says, "Prayer primarily is not an intercom "to share our thoughts with one another, "but it is like a walkie-talkie in a time of war. "There's somebody in the front line "is communicating with their commanding officer "back and forth, what should we do?" And so if we're not engaged in the Great Commission, it just becomes an intercom.

It just becomes texting, and how you doing, what's going on? And eventually it gets old, and there's no urgency. See, our prayer life is directly linked to the Great Commission. 2 Thessalonians 3.10, "Finally, brothers, "pray for us that the word of the Lord "may speed ahead and be honored as happened among you." The very purpose of our prayer is directly linked to the Great Commission.

Purpose of the church. In Matthew 16.18, Jesus says, "In the inauguration of the church, "I tell you, Peter, and on this rock, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell "shall not prevail against it." If you notice the way he says that, he's not saying that he's going to build a fortress that hell cannot penetrate.

What he says is, the gates of hell cannot withstand the church. So who's on the defense? Not the church. He didn't say, "I'm gonna build a church, "and I'm gonna create this fortress, "and I'm gonna protect everyone inside the church." He didn't say that. He said, "I'm gonna build this church, "and the gates of Hades, hell, "we're not gonna be able to withstand "the coming of the light." One of my favorite quotes from Torrey Tamboon.

And I've quoted this so many times, but one of my favorite quotes, "There's no darkness that Satan can create "that the love of God cannot penetrate." That's exactly what Jesus was saying. There is no darkness in the world that the gospel cannot penetrate. And when we go to India, that's a living testimony of that.

Out in a place where Hinduism has been around for thousands of years, where people are literally being killed in sharing the gospel, and people are coming to Christ. I was just thinking, while the last day we were running VBS, a bunch of kids coming around, and because they're so poor, anything free, they get in line.

And so they were passing out little bracelets with different colors to share the gospel. And not only the children, but all the parents were coming, and they said, "We want one, we want one." So I was thinking, "What are they gonna do with these beads?" They're not Christian, but it's free.

They want it, so I'm sure they'll figure out some use for it. But there was this one little kid, and he was probably no more than about 10 years old. All the kids are fighting each other to get these beads, but he was standing in line, and he wouldn't get it.

So he said, "Hey, you can get it. "They'll give you one." He said, "I don't want it." And so we asked him, "How come you don't want it?" And he said, "I'm not a Christian." That's for Christians, "I'm not a Christian." And I was thinking to myself, that kid didn't come up with that by himself.

His parents probably told him that. His parents probably told him, just like Pastor Saki said about his daughter's friends. Don't take anything from them, 'cause they're Christian. The thought came to me that all of these kids want these beads, and they're, because of our presence, they're open to the gospel, they're hearing the gospel, they're getting eye care, and they're talking to, you know, maybe people who would have never had any kind of interaction with these pastors because of our presence, they were there.

But typically, because of that one kid, because of the parents' hostility to that one parent, we say, "Oh, we can't go there." Right? The hostility is not with everybody. Majority of the people there are pretty open. But because of the hostility of the few, whether that's in India, whether that's in the Middle East, all the other people don't get to hear the gospel, because one family member in that village says, "Don't go," 'cause they're hostile to the gospel.

And I just kind of thought about that and said, you know, we have probably, for every person that's hostile to the gospel, you probably have thousands of people who are eager to hear it. Is that gonna prevent us from going? Is that gonna prevent us from taking the gospel there?

And I'll be honest with you, every time I go, you know, I'm a little bit anxious. The first time we went out to China, there's a few of you who was with us when we first went to China. I was a little anxious then, because this is when the Communist Party was very present, and prior to that, all I saw was military presence.

And so we thought, well, the door is open, let's see what happens. And we went, and then that kind of opened the door, and now Pastor Alex and his family's out there trying to establish a community there. But India is another level. We're going to an area where we don't have any contact, and if anything happens, we're a five-hour drive away.

So it's not that I'm reckless and I don't think about these things, but we went because the door opened. And there's people who are in dire need. And again, we're there to support these pastors, and whatever they need, we're gonna do our best to support them. But now India is no longer a project, it's very personal.

Because they become friends. So when I think of persecution now, I'm not thinking about Indian people, I'm thinking about Pastor Matthew, David, Sake, James, some of the people, some of the pastors that we met. And I just can't get that out of my mind, thinking that possibly, you know, one of these days I'm gonna get an email saying that something happened, and now my heart is engaged.

My heart was not engaged in the beginning, it was just out of obedience. But now my heart is engaged. It's very personal now that these are friends of ours that are risking safety and their children to get the gospel out. And I pray that we could support them. But I wanna wrap up with this.

Paul evaluated everything in his life, in his ministry, with the Great Commission. Even while he was sitting in prison. In Philippians 1, 12 to 14, he says, "I want you to know, brothers, "that what has happened to me "has really served to advance the gospel." He's not talking about him sitting in prison and what he has planned, he just says, "As long as the gospel is preached, "whether people do it out of pretense or good purpose, "as long as the gospel is preached." He says, "Because of my imprisonment, "even though it was one person going around village to village "and one person's sacrifice, "and all these other people became more bold.

"And because of that, I thank God." Paul evaluated everything based upon the effectiveness of the gospel. A success of a church, again, is not the growth of the church, right? Just numerical value. The success of the church in and of itself is not simply, "Oh, we're so well organized.

"We have so many people that love one another." I don't know about you, but I've been to Buddhist organizations where they love each other. I don't know about you, but I've been to places, I've been to, you know, like Muslim centers where they're super organized, right? The success of the church is directly linked to the Great Commission.

And that's what Paul says. And I want to leave you with this, because this is what this trip, like it caused me to think. And it's still remaining with me. You know, Pastor Sake is the guy that I had contact with. And so I've been emailing back and forth with him for the last five years, and then, actually, last two years, we were able to go.

Now we have a personal relationship. But Pastor Sake is kind of like the middle child of three children, and I think maybe that's why it's easier for me to connect with him, right? And it was so funny, 'cause I asked him, like, "Did your older brother beat you when you were young?" And he just, matter of fact, "Yes." And I said, "Did you torture your younger brother?" Which is Pastor David, and he just says, "Of course." That's what he said.

And I was like, "Yes, this guy understands." Why not, right? It's like, anyway, so he was sharing this, and the reason why I like talking to Pastor David, Pastor Sake is the mouthpiece of this family. He's the one presenting. Whenever there's a presentation, he's the one translating. But Pastor David is the one, the younger brother, who was abused all his life, and so when he, he's the introvert, you know, he only, usually talks when you ask him a question.

He doesn't really initiate. And then when you do ask him a question, he just says things matter of fact, right? He just says it, just says it. He doesn't think about, like, how is this gonna come across? He just says it, right? And so I think one of the guys asked him, like, what was the hardest thing, you know, the craziest thing that you experienced?

And he said, "Oh, you know, we run into cobras." And he says, "Yeah, you know, one time, "we had to run from a tiger, you know." (audience laughing) But it's just the way he talks. Like, "Yeah, run from a tiger, "and then we went and ate lunch." And, you know, and usually he's just very matter of fact.

Right? So he doesn't talk about the hardship and persecution, like, "Oh, it's so hard." He just, he just says, "Yeah, it's hard. "You know, we can't pay bills." That's it, the end. You know, usually that's how the conversation goes. But one thing that, in the context of talking to him, that he said to me, again, he said it just in passing, that really stuck with me.

I asked him about the hardship of persecution. He says, "Yeah, persecution is growing." And he mentioned a specific incident that happened not that long ago. It's not near his home, but it's maybe about the distance between here and NorCal, but it's in that same state. And he said, "A Christian got beaten and killed.

"Last year in that same area, I got an email "from one of our contacts in Bangalore "asking us to pray for them, because two of their pastors "going into the village basically got jumped, "and they had their teeth knocked out, "and both their legs broke in. "And so they were in the hospital "asking us to pray for them.

"This is right before we went. "I got this email. "I didn't share it with our team, "'cause I didn't wanna freak them out." But basically, this same thing happened in that similar area. Again, it's about five hours drive from where they are. And he said, "Yeah, it wasn't reported in the media, "but all the Christians know about it.

"So they got jumped and they got killed." And he said, "We see persecution coming." And where Pastor Sake lives is the next hotbed of this persecution. And when he says persecution coming, he's not talking about people throwing rocks and beating them, because they're already experiencing that in the village.

When he says persecution, he's talking about death. He says, "We see it coming." And again, like I said, he says it very matter of fact. He just kinda says it like, "This is it." "We see persecution coming, but we're not afraid. "We're gonna keep doing God's work." And he just says that.

And then we just go back to eating. (audience laughs) And when he said that, as I was eating, I was just thinking, "Wow, this is real to them." To us, it's a theory. It's things that we read about. We go there for a week and we come back and we're affected by it.

And they're living in the context of this every day, and they could easily fix the problem. Stop preaching the gospel. Stop going to these villages. Practice your faith in your home with the Christians who are already Christians, and just encourage each other to stay faithful. All they have to do is stop going to these villages.

Stop preaching the gospel. But just as a matter of fact, we see persecution coming, but we're not afraid. And their fellowship is embedded in my head because I saw the 32 pastors. Last year, we didn't know who they were until the last day, but I knew right away. And I was able to see the interaction.

Their interaction was no different than the way we interact. I was with Pastor Alex and we're joking around, having fun. And it's typically like that when all the coworkers would be gathered together. And our team, we just hang around. We're having a lot of fun. And we saw their interactions as a bunch of friends.

These pastors risking everything to go to the villages, share the gospel. And as I was looking at that, I said, wow, these guys are no different than us, but they're risking everything to get the gospel out. So I come back this trip and I ask you to pray that God would make it clear to us how to proceed.

And to me, it seems clear that these are people we need to get behind. And to partner, again, not just financially. Finance is the easiest part, right? How, knowing these people personally, how is it gonna affect my life? How is it gonna affect your life? And I pray that as a church, that we would not simply onlookers and just clap hands and saying, God, thank you for these people.

But that you and I would also heed the commandment that's given to us. And that God would give us a heart as we obey. So can you take some time to pray with me this morning as I welcome the priest in back. Just take a minute, I know a lot of time has already gone.

Take a minute to examine our lives. And I wanna ask you, some of the frustration that you feel as a Christian, how much of that is related to what I said this morning? That you feel a disconnect in your walk with God. You come to church, you serve, you're in the midst of fellowship around the church, you're serving the church even, but there's a disconnect.