You Were Made for This: The Enjoyment of God’s Grace and the Spread of God’s Glory

2:29 have breath how many of you would be alive right now if your every breath was dependent on it being lifted in praise to God I submit to you that the God who we've gathered together to worship in these places is worthy of nothing less than every single breath. You were made for this.

2:56 You were made to praise the Lord and find life in doing so. And I want to show you this today in a way that I am convinced most Christians are completely missing. And I know that's a strong statement, but I believe this, that most Christians are completely missing, meaning get part of what we're about to see in God's word, but not the complete picture. and the results are devastating in our lives and in the world around us. Let me show you Psalm chapter 67.

3:52 If you have a Bible, and I hope you or somebody around you does, you could look on with, I invite you to just open up in the middle of the Bible, find Psalm 67. So Pastor Bruce, who, Pastor Bruce, who just let me say how thankful I am for your pastor. I'm so thankful over many years for specifically his encouragement to me and example to me in ways he doesn't even realize. But he asked me to preach as part of this series, which I would say I am honored to be a friend of this church family. And he asked me to preach on my favorite text of scripture, which is impossible to choose. But this text, maybe more than any other, has shaped my life. It's the passage of scripture that I've prayed over my kids for years when I've put them to bed when they're younger. And part of me wants to apologize for choosing a psalm because I know you all just finished a series through the Psalms, but you didn't cover this one, and I'm glad you didn't. Although, I really think you should have. But anyway, I can talk with Pastor Bruce about that. But the first two verses of this Psalm summarize the whole reason you and I exist.

5:19 The reason you and I have breath. But again, in a way, I believe most Christians are missing completely. Get part of it, but not the complete picture. I remember like it was yesterday, the first time someone walked through this text and this truth with me in the Bible. And I sat there. I'd been a Christian for many years, but I sat there with my jaw on the ground because I knew if this is true, it changes everything about my life. And it did. I'd been a Christian for years, But I heard this. Once I did, the trajectory of my life totally shifted. So let's read these two verses, Psalm 67, verses 1 and 2. If you're taking notes, I want to show you the twofold reason you exist. So the twofold reason you and I have breath right now. So let's start with the text, Psalm 67, verse 1.

6:16 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let's read it one more time. And can we read it together? I think it's up on the screen. Let's read it all out loud together. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.

6:57 All right, let's hear what is God saying to us right now through this text. well one you exist to enjoy God's grace in a relationship with him this is the first part of the reason you exist not talking to the person beside you in front of you behind you like you right where you're sitting you exist to enjoy God's grace in a relationship with him this is verse 1. May God be gracious to us, bless us, make his face to shine upon us. If you'll notice in your Bible, there's a word after that, salah, this musical term that signifies a pause as if to say, okay, don't move on too quickly here. Just let this soak in. May God, we're talking about the holy creator of the universe, the one who spoke.

7:56 He said a word and all the mountains in Western North Carolina came into being. one who's spoken all the stars in the sky came into being he calls the stars by name the omnipotent omniscient omnipresent Lord over all nature all nations he holds them in the palm of his hand the righteous judge before whom every single person in the world in history, including you and me, will one day stand. The one who formed you and billions of other people in the world in a womb. The one who's causing your heart to beat right now, your lungs to breathe.

8:48 May God, this holy, righteous, judge, creator over all, may he be gracious to us, which we need because we are sinners who've rebelled against this God. Every one of us has turned aside from God and his ways to ourselves and our own ways.

9:11 And as a result of his holy justice, we deserve eternal judgment for our sin. So may God not only not give us what we deserve, eternal judgment, but may he give us what we don't deserve, mercy, and bless us, not curse us, which is what we do in our sin. No, may he bless us with his kindness and his love. And then hear this, may God make his face to shine upon us. How do you like that? May the light of God's face shine. May the smile of the God of the universe be upon you. Oh, praise God that this is even possible for us. We deserve to be in hell right now. Here we are saying, may God be gracious to us, bless us, make His face to shine upon us.

10:06 This is the gospel. This is what brings us together, what we've just sung about. The greatest news in all the world that's different from every other religion in the world. Every other religion in the world is all about how you can make your way to God or the gods, appease God or the gods. This is totally different. And I remember sitting outside a temple in Southeast Asia with two other guys from two different religions. And they were talking with me about how our religions were just, we use different terms and have different customs and routines. But fundamentally, we're the same, just kind of superficially different. And I was just listening on and on and on. And finally, I said, it's almost like you guys picture God or whatever you want to call God or the top of a mountain. and we're all at the bottom of the mountain and I'll make this way up and you may make that way up, but in the end, we'll find ourselves in the same place.

11:01 And they smiled. They said, exactly, you understand. I said, well, let me ask you a question. I said, what would you think if I told you that the God at the top of the mountain didn't wait for us to find our way up to him, but actually came down the mountain to where we are and brought us to himself? And they said, well, that would be great. I said, that is the difference. This is the greatest news in all the world. God has not left us alone in our sin. And God has come to us in the person of Jesus, God in the flesh. He's lived a life we could not live, a life of no sin. Even though he had no sin for which to die, he chose to die on a cross to pay the price for our sin. He died in our place for our sin, experienced our judgment. And then the good news keeps getting better because he didn't stay dead for long. Three days later, he rose from the grave in victory over sin and death so that anyone, anywhere in all of history who turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus will be forgiven of all their sin and restored to relationship with God forever and ever.

11:56 This is the gospel, the grace of God. And we're made to enjoy it. You were made. If you have never put your faith in Jesus, hear this invitation from God himself today. He wants you to know and enjoy him. He wants his blessing, his grace, his favor to shine upon you. And for all those who have trusted in Jesus, Remember today that this is not just grace that God showed you in the past. It's grace that God wakes you up with every single morning.

12:29 I just think about this morning. I, before I came here, I was meeting with God. I was talking to God, the creator of the world. I was talking to him. I was pouring out my heart to him, sharing my burdens with him, and God was listening to me.

12:56 And not just listening to me, he was speaking to me. He was comforting me. He was helping me. And I didn't just leave that time alone. I've been walking with him since then, and not just me. this is for anyone if you didn't have that time this morning you you missed out on meeting with god you're made for this to enjoy god to be in his word to love his word not just to read it to check off a box no you're made to enjoy god and his word i think about my wife was sitting over here when we were dating this was many years ago before cell phones and stuff like we used to And she would write me letters on this thing called paper. And she would use a thing called a pen. And she'd write me a letter. She's the only girl I ever dated, which may sound noble. I was just very socially awkward.

13:48 And she was somehow attracted to my social awkwardness. And so I'd never gotten a letter from a girl. She writes me a letter. And I'm like, wow. I open it up. Dear David. dear. Wow. She said dear to me. And then I'd read a sentence. I would just, what does she mean by this? Like she put a smiley face and be like, why a smiley face right there? Then she'd say like, I'm praying for you. And I'd be like, I wonder, what does that mean? Like praying for me? Like she pray for anybody or like when she prays for a future husband, is she praying for me? Like, and so I'm just devouring. And you might say, well, you were obsessed. And well, I was, I was in love. And that's kind of the point. When you're in a love relationship with someone, you love their words. You soak it in. What does this mean? Why this here, there? It's not just religious routines.

14:40 It's not just gather together, come to church, the kind of thing we do. No, we're here to enjoy God's grace and relationship with him. Even this morning, I had to come in here, and I had nothing to do with songs that were planned this morning. A little background. My family's sitting over here, my wife and I. After we got married and we desired to have children, but we walked through many years of infertility and parent commissioning days were really hard. Because you long for kids and you're wondering why God's not providing. I'm sure in a room this size and think about other locations, there's others who have walked or are walking through that journey right now the Lord used that to lead us down a road of adoption and I would have said kind of at that point well this is kind of second best since we can't have children this way we'll adopt we learned real quickly that adoption was just as best and we adopted our first son from Kazakhstan and then we got back and two weeks later Heather was pregnant But so apparently what happens in Kazakhstan doesn't stay in Kazakhstan.

15:55 Anyway, sorry. Sorry. We're not that close a family yet. I apologize. Anyway, nine months later, our second son came along. And we knew at that point, okay, we're able to have children biologically. We also knew we wanted to adopt again. So we started another adoption process. We adopted our first daughter from China about three years later. And then we got back home with her. And three months later, Heather was pregnant again. And her doctor was like, well, if you adopt four, you'll have eight. We're like, I don't think so. So until we were joyfully content with our four children until just a few years ago, we were on a date night, and we hadn't even planned on talking about adoption. And the subject of adoption came up. The only way I can describe it is God just met us there at the table and spoke to us. And we walked out, and the next morning we started an adoption process from China. and we fast forward to January 2020.

16:52 We were three days away from going to pick up our son, who was three years old, that we'd been matched with. Three days away from going to pick him up and we got a call that there was a strange virus and we would be delayed for a couple of weeks. Well, I said no idea the world was about to turn upside down and that couple of weeks turned into months, turned into years of waiting. And I remember January 2020, I was speaking at a conference right before we got this news, and Phil Wickham, who wrote that song, Battle Belongs, he said, I have written this new song. It's about to come out. I just want to leave. And it's the first time I ever heard that song, and that stuck with me. Over those years, like in the waiting, battle belongs to the Lord. And all I see are the ashes. You see, there's beauty here. I'm trusting in you. And then, so in the middle of the waiting, the Lord puts it on Heather and I's heart to start a parallel adoption process domestically.

17:49 About six months after that, we get a call about a birth mom who's about to give birth to a baby girl in about a month. And they said, one of the unique things here is she's already got a name picked out for her daughter, which Heather and I were like, oh, it's kind of a bummer. We had always said if we ever had another little girl, we'd love to name her Mercy. It's not the most common name. We were like, of course, that's not a deal breaker. So we said, yes, we would love to find out about this birth mom. So they sent us information and we read all the way down to the end and this birth mom has written out, I really want my little girl's name to be Mercy.

18:26 And so a month later, Mercy's born, comes into our home. I won't go into the details, but the next six months were an emotional rollercoaster with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of uncertainty. And the song that was constantly on our playlist that we sang and cried through was firm foundation. He will not fail.

18:51 So fast forward to three months ago, we finally got the call from China. And they said, you can now come pick up your son after three and a half years of praying and waiting. The battle belongs to the Lord. And so two months ago, we picked up our son. He's sitting over here with about two months worth of English under his belt. He's not sure all that I'm saying, but it's catching some of it. So to come in here this morning, now what I won't share is some of the things going on in our family now that have led to just this week being a really hard, heavy, tearful week in our house. But it's been really good to come in to worship with God's people and to be reminded the battle belongs to me. You can stand on me. I will not fail you. Trust in me. We are made to enjoy God's grace on a daily basis. And I just want to speak that word over anybody who's walking through some challenges right now.

19:49 It's not just grace at the cross 2,000 years ago. It's new mercy today for you. You're made to enjoy. but that's not all so yes i mean at that point it's like yeah i think we've caught that like this christianity no there's more look at verse one to shine upon us comma it's not a period there it's not where the story of christianity stops not the story of your life stops you're made to enjoy god's grace relationship with him so that that's purpose clause verse two that there's a purpose that's deeper than just you enjoying God's grace and relationship with him so that you're waning on earth you're saving power among all nations then you got a period so that's that's the end of the story so here's the twofold reason you exist one you exist to enjoy God's grace in relationship with him and to spread God's glory to all the nations of the earth you're made for this to spread God's glory his saving power his ways on all the earth among all the nations and you keep going in the chapter that's what this is all about let the peoples praise you oh God let all the peoples praise you and it just goes on apparently God's grace is not designed to stop with you. Apparently God's grace is designed to spread through you. And not just generally through you to the people around you, but through you to all the nations. That's what the text says. And this text is not isolated. This is the whole story of the entire Bible.

21:30 We don't have time to turn to all these places, but just take a quick tour with me. How what we're seeing here in the middle of the Bible is a summary of beginning to the end of the Bible. Like beginning, Genesis chapter 1, 26 through 28, God creates man and woman in his image to know him, be in relationship with him. And then he says, go and multiply my glory all over the earth. Enjoy my grace, spread my glory. Genesis 1. Genesis 12, God calls Abraham, the father of the people of Israel, says, I'm going to bless you, Abraham. I'm going to bless those who bless you. Whoever curses you, I will curse. You're going to enjoy my grace in relationship with you and with me and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. You're going to spread my glory to all the nations. That's the language. All the families of the earth. Then God says the same thing to Abraham's son Isaac in Genesis 26.4, Isaac's son Jacob in Genesis 28.14. You're going to be, your descendants are going to be the dust of the earth. They're going to spread out to the west and the east, the north and the south.

22:24 All peoples on earth, all the nations will be blessed through you. Enjoy my grace. Spread my glory to all the nations. and that becomes the foundation for why god does what he does in stories throughout the old testament think about god's deliverance of his people from egypt brings them to the edge of the red sea splits that sea in half brings them through in the middle of dry ground that water comes crashing down the egyptians why did he do that exodus 14 verse 4 says i'm going to gain glory for myself among the egyptians i'm going to show my glory to the egyptians in this way joshua 5 and 6 they're about to enter into the promised land joshua's on the outskirts looking over the city of Jericho, first major city in the promised land, these huge walls. He's got five military options available to him. They can go over the walls, under the walls, through the walls. They can send a decoy in, kind of like a Trojan horse type thing, or they can starve the people inside the walls, make them come out. Five options.

23:15 That's what Joshua's mulling through. God says, here's the battle plans. Joshua's thinking over, under, through, decoy, starving mountain. God says, get your trumpet players and pull out some sheet music and play some tunes for a few days and then shout. and then you'll take the whole city. Like if you're Joshua, you're wanting a second opinion at that point. You're about to go back to this army that's trained a generation for battling. You'll be like, hey, guys, we're going to turn this over to the musicians today. And nothing against the musicians. I just don't think that was the plan. So why? Why did God do this? God is doing what he does all throughout the history of his people. He's orchestrating the events of his people so that in the end he gets glory. Alone. He alone gets glory for what happens. Let me tell you what you don't see when you get into Joshua chapter 6 and you see them take this city, just like God said. You don't see them going up to the trumpet players telling them what an incredible job they did that day. Harry, I've never heard you play that well.

24:10 Ralph, you hit the high C. It was awesome. We went running in. No, you see the people on their faces saying, the Lord is God. God is showing his glory, not just to his people, but among the nations as they go into this land. That's story after story. It's Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel chapter 3. as God brings them out of a fiery furnace, get to the point, Daniel 3, 28 and 29, a pagan king declares the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is worthy of glory among all the nations. Daniel 6, 25 and 26, God brings Daniel out of a lion's den and a king, another pagan king declares the God of Daniel is worthy of worship among all the nations. God's showing extravagant grace to his people for the spread of his extravagant glory among all the peoples. This is the whole point of the book of Psalms. Like this hymn book. Can you imagine? Heather and I, we're coming up on our anniversary. It's next month.

25:01 Let me tell you what I'm not going to get her for our anniversary. I'm not going to get, I'm not going to say, hey, babe, here is a book of 150 poems that I've written about how great I am. And I want to give them to you as a gift. And I want to invite you just to read them to me. and maybe even put them to music. Sing them to me. It'll bring such joy to your heart.

25:36 There are a million reasons I'm not doing that for my wife. But this is what God has given us because it actually does bring joy to our heart to bring glory to His name. And not just us, but all the nations. That's Psalm 67. Then you keep going, it's the prophets. Ezekiel 36, 22. God says to his people, it's not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I'm about to do these things among you. It's for the sake of my, and he's talking about showing his grace, it's for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, the name you have profaned among them, and the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. God literally tells his people, when I work among you, it's not ultimately for your sake. It's for the sake of my name among the nations. Which is why, when you turn the pages of the New Testament, Jesus dies on the cross, rises from the grave, and then what does he say? Go make disciples.

26:28 Where? Of all the nations. Of the people around you? No. Of all the nations. Preach the good news to all creation. Mark 16. Luke 24, 47 through 49. Repentance and forgiveness of sins must be proclaimed among all the nations. Acts chapter 1. I'm going to give you my Holy Spirit. My Holy Spirit is going to live inside of you so that you'll be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Romans 15. We've got to keep pressing on where Christ has not been named among all the nations. then you get to the very end, Revelation chapter 7, verse 9 and 10. A great multitude that no one could number from every what? Nation, every tribe, every people, every language gathered around the throne of God, giving him glory for his salvation. That's where God has designed all of history to land, with him getting glory among all the nations. Do you see it? We're made to spread the glory of God to all the nations of the earth. This is why God has given us grace. Now, some of you might be thinking, wait a minute, are you saying that God has an ulterior motive in blessing me?

27:33 That God shows grace to me as an ulterior motive and an ultimate motive beyond just me in that? And I want to be clear, that's not what I'm saying. That's what God is saying. you are not at the center of God's universe he is at the center of his universe some of you are thinking wait a minute God does all these things for his own glory isn't that self-centered of God you're saying God is self-centered and I want to be clear that's not what I'm saying it's what God is saying of course he centers around himself If it rubs you wrong that God lives to exalt himself, I would just ask the follow-up question, who else would you rather him exalt? You? This? That? At any point God were to exalt someone or something else, he'd no longer be the God who's worthy of all exaltation.

28:28 It's what it means to be God. He's worthy. He alone is worthy of all exaltation. And the beauty is, put it together with the first part of why we exist. How has God chosen to glorify himself? by sending His Son as a sacrifice for sinners so that you and I could know and enjoy Him. Think about it. If God is perfectly loving, all loving, all that is love is summed up in God, if He loves us, what's the greatest gift He could give us?

28:57 Himself. Enjoyment of Himself. How does God glorify Himself? By showing grace to you and me. And not just you and me, but people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. All the nations. That's the word all, and it's what we see all throughout the Bible. Every nation, every tribe, every tongue. And here's where we're missing it. Put a map up here on the screen. I don't know if you're familiar with it. If you're not familiar with it, I would encourage you to get familiar with it. Take a picture of it. Etch it in your mind. There's three colors on this map. The green areas of this map represent regions of the world where the gospel has spread, where Christians and churches exist in such a way that if you live in a green area, for the most part, you have access to Christians who can share the gospel with you. Obviously, it doesn't mean that everybody's a follower of Jesus in those places, but it does mean there are Christians and churches in those places who can share the gospel there.

29:59 Yellow areas of this map represent areas that are less reached by the gospel. So it's usually in one of two directions. Either the church used to be more prevalent, there used to be more Christians there, but now there are a lot less. And so you may not interact with Christians. You think about different parts of Europe. Or it's going the other direction. Christians, the gospel has begun to spread there. There are more Christians in churches there, but it's still a fledgling church presence. And then you have the red. The red areas of this map represent areas that are unreached by the gospel. Practically what that means is, if you're born, if you live in a red area, you'll be born, you'll live, and you'll die. And the likelihood is you'll never meet a Christian who can share the gospel with you.

30:43 You'll never even hear the good news of God's love for you and Jesus. And in those red areas, there are about 3.2 billion people today. Over three billion men and women, kids and students, just like us, are being born and living and dying without ever even hearing the gospel. Now with that reality in the world, we just gently, humbly ask a question. You don't need to respond, but just rhetorically. How many of you are praying regularly for those unreached people?

31:36 Your prayer like this last week, how much of it was devoted to interceding for billions of people among the nations who've never even heard. Or maybe Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. How much of your treasure are you putting toward getting the gospel to three billion people who've never heard it?

32:02 Likely it is. We spend most of our money on ourselves. We give a small percentage of our money to churches, ministries. Usually that money, we then spend on making church as comfortable as possible for ourselves. And then we give a small portion of that money to what we call missions, like work around the world. And this is speaking, got the data, generally in the church. I've not looked at Biltmore's budget. This is not commentary on this church. But as the church of Jesus Christ, the small percentage we spend on missions, approximately 98 to 99% of that small percentage actually goes to green parts of that map.

32:49 Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia where the gospel has already gone. And I'm not saying it's bad to come alongside our brothers and sisters in those places. But at some point we need to open our eyes and realize we're throwing relative pennies to 3 billion people who have no access to the gospel right now. and you know what we said? We've said, oh, okay, this is a mission sermon. Some of you are like, oh, now I'm getting it. This is a mission sermon. This is all about sending missionaries. I'm not saying there's not a place, yes, for missionaries to go, but that's the problem. There's three billion people in the world because we keep thinking that's for other people to care about.

33:39 We've taken the reason we exist, the reason we have breath for the spread of God's glory among all the nations. We've taken the purpose of our lives. We've turned it into a program in the church for a couple of people who really care about that. This is not a missions problem. This is a discipleship problem. There's three billion people in the world, not because we don't have enough missionaries, because we're not following Jesus.

34:05 Because we don't realize why we're here. because we've bought into a brand of Christianity that is content to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear, throw a check with a few pennies every once in a while to those people while we continue living on with a nice, comfortable Christian spin on the American dream until we get to heaven. And I want to urge you today to leave behind that unbiblical brand of Christianity and realize this is the reason for which you were made. To enjoy God. Not just you, though. There's 3 billion people who can't. It's not that they've heard the gospel and rejected him. They've never even heard.

34:45 And you and I. So get this. That's more people alive today who've never heard the gospel than ever before in history. Because the number of unreached people in those red areas is population is increasing. We're not anywhere close to keeping up with that. That means on our watch today, there's more people dying and going to an eternal hell who've never even heard the good news of God's grace. in Jesus. That's happening today on our watch. And at the same time, so follow this, there are also more opportunities to reach them with the gospel than ever before in history that we have on our watch. If you think about it, Paul, when he's writing letters in the New Testament, traveling from city to city, how long it took him to travel from this place to that place, to sail from this place to that place, and it didn't always work out very well. He never could have fathomed a machine that can pick you up in the air, take you anywhere in the world in a day, land you there, and you can now do whatever you want to do. He's dying. This is amazing.

35:48 Fight. Or how long did it take him? Yeah, to write that letter, have it sent for weeks, delivered, and then weeks to get a message back. You and I can communicate with people around the world in real time in multiple languages through a device we carry in our pocket. This is amazing.

36:08 Then you think about globalization of the marketplace, the opportunities to be a part of the spread of the gospel among the nations, the ways even God's bringing the nations to us. You realize there are people from red areas of the world that God is bringing to our neighborhoods and our doorsteps. And what I'm about to say, I do not intend to be a pastor in Metro DC. I do not intend this to be a politically charged statement. But it's interesting, isn't it, that the stats are there. Evangelical Christians are the most resistant to people moving from red areas to here.

36:44 What do we want more? The preservation of our nation or the proclamation of the glory of our God among all the nations. this is not a commentary on on political immigration this is a commentary on the purpose for which we're made God's bringing them here and we have opportunities to go there I think about a family in our church who we're about to send out who just took a job in the Middle East the opportunities to go short term on a flight midterm for a month or two or a year or two or long term to go I think about a student who just graduated with a nursing degree. Instead of looking for jobs in the green, she looks for jobs in the red. She finds a job in the heart of the Middle East. She's now working in the Middle East, significant hospital in the Middle East. She's now head of nursing in that hospital.

37:38 She has a Bible study every week in her office with Muslims. Nobody stops her. You know why? Because she's really good at nursing. And she's opened her eyes to the opportunity. She has to spread the gospel. people have never heard it. Like, do you realize nations in the red will pay you to spread the gospel in the red? They don't realize that. That's kind of the point. Do we realize it? Do we realize what if God has designed the globalization of today's marketplace for the spread of his saving power among all the nations? It's exactly what he's done. If his church will open our eyes and see it from retirees down to students retirees that you realize malaysia for example has a whole financial incentive program to get retirees from the west to come retire there they'll they'll spice it up retirement for like retirees go live it up in malaysia they're some of the most unreached people in the world what do you want to do in your last days before you see your Savior's face, improve your golf score, or spread the gospel. People have never heard it.

38:48 What are we living for? All the way down to students. I think about, I saw a video on social media. A 17-year-old girl. She's shaking as she holds a piece of paper. She's Mormon. And the Leaders of Mormonism have sent her a letter about where she's about to go for the next two years after she graduates on mission. And she's so excited. She gets to the part where she reads where she's been assigned to go. And as she says it, the camera is just an iPhone video, kind of pans out. And all her friends and her family are gathered together there. And they all start jumping up and down. You're going to go here for the next two years. They're celebrating. She is about to leave to go and spread a false gospel that condemns. And there's a whole culture that's fueling that. I look at those of us who have the true gospel that saves, and we spend our time raising up kids to live nice, comfortable Christian spends on the American dream.

39:53 Where are the families that are raising up kids whose dreams are the spread of God's glory among all the nations? who've bought into a brand of Christianity, biblically, that is saying, this is what I'm made for. When I go to college campuses and I talk to college students, most often they will say to me, I want to go, my challenges, my Christian parents are not encouraging me to go.

40:18 We've missed the whole point. At every age and stage, and I don't presume to know what this will mean in your life, but I just want to encourage you to realize this means something for your life. This is not just for somebody else. This changes the way you pray. You can be a part of what God's doing in Somalia tomorrow from your knees before you even get out of bed in the morning. This changes the way you spend your money. This changes the way you spend your time, your perspective on your life and your plans and your marriage and your family. I want to enjoy your grace and relationship with you, and I want to spread your glory to all the nations. How do you want me to do that? I was thinking this morning as I was praying over this text about a video I did this last week for three guys who 15 years ago, we walked through this text together and it rocked them. They'd all grown up in church, all businessmen.

41:11 They'd all grown up in church and known Jesus for a long time. Had not made this connection. This is what I'm made for. And together, they started to use their network to start an initiative that would get red areas in the world, clean water, where there was no access to clean water, and the gospel alongside that. And 15 years later, that's the video I was doing for him, 22,000 families have been mobilized to reach over 1.3 million people with clean water and access to the gospel who didn't have it before, because three guys got Psalm 67, 1, and 2. And I just pray, as I look across this room, even in just moment, if I could be so bold, the ripple effects of what might happen with followers of Jesus who realize this is what I made for it. And I want to step fully into this.

42:03 I'll close with this picture. Go into one of those red areas, high up in the Himalayas. A place that's totally unreached by the gospel. Wait a second before we get to the picture. Totally unreached by the gospel, which, by the way, people say, I don't know why we talk about unreached people around the world. I mean, there's unreached people in my office. There's unreached people in my neighborhood. Those people are not unreached. And you say, how do you know? Because they're in your office.

42:32 They're in your neighborhood. They have access to Christians who can share the gospel with them. We're talking about people who don't. I walk along those trails in the Himalayas, and through a translator say, what do you know about Jesus to someone I meet? And they say, who's that? They've never even heard his name. and they're living in extreme physical poverty. They did some research in those villages. They found that half the kids weren't making it to their eighth birthday. I can't imagine that with my six kids.

43:06 So, walking through those villages, sharing the gospel, we come to this one particular place. One of the effects of poverty in those villages is trafficking. it doesn't take much for a trafficker to come through and say to a family who's starving hey if we take your daughter down to the city we'll get her a good education a good job she'll be able to send money back up to help her family and so they send them down and those girls never get any education and it's not a good job it's a living hell and they've never hurt the gospel.

43:48 Until we got to this one place where brothers and sisters are working to rescue those girls with the gospel. And some of these girls had been rescued out of that and come to know the hope and the healing that are found in Jesus alone. And I walked into a room and they were painting something. So now I'll show that picture. This doesn't show their faces, but it does show this painting they were doing together. and I learned more about their stories,

44:19 God's grace through somebody who realized this grace is not intended to stop with me, it's intended to spread through me. And then they showed me a couple of days later the finished product of what they were painting. And it's this picture here. And if you'll notice the verse, it's Psalm 67, verse 3. Maybe the peoples praise you, oh God. God, may all the people praise you.

44:48 And I just want to put before you today with this picture in God's word, this picture from the world, you were made. for this. You were made for more than a nice, casual, comfortable Christian spent on the American dream. You were made to enjoy God and all of His grace in relationship with Him, and you were made to spread the glory of God among all the nations. Don't settle for anything less than this.

45:25 Will you bow your heads with me? All across this room, on other campuses, online. just your heads bowed, eyes closed, just you before God. I just ask every person within the sound of my voice, are you enjoying God's grace in relationship with him? Have you put your faith in Jesus in such a way that you are in relationship with God?

45:58 If the answer to that question is not a resounding yes in your heart, I invite you right now just to pray. Say, God, I want to experience your grace and relationship with you today. If you've never prayed this, to say, today I trust in your love for me, that you have been gracious to me, that you've sent Jesus down to the cross for my sins, that he's risen from the grave. Today I trust in Jesus as my Savior, as Lord of my life. I want to be in relationship with you. and I want to be an instrument in your hand for the spread of your grace among all the nations of the world and for all who do know Jesus for all who are in relationship with God like this is this what you're living for? Are you living to spread the glory of God among all the nations?

46:59 I'm not assuming I know what that means in each one of your lives but I do want to call you today based on the authority of God's word to say whatever that means Lord, the answer is yes I want to pray for the spread of your glory among all the nations I want to give toward that end, I want to go toward that end right here and wherever you might lead me however you might lead me so I'm going to pray in a moment then I just want to open up the front of this room as a place for people all across this room to come and for anyone who would say, I've not been living for this purpose or I want to step fully into this purpose just to come and kneel before God and say, Lord, here's my life.

47:51 No strings attached. Use me to spread your glory in my holy nations, whatever that means. Maybe even just to come and kneel and start praying right now for nations, for people groups who've never heard the gospel. God, we pray that you'd help us to experience the purpose for which we have breath, the reason why we're here. And pray right now you'd give courage all across this room, spirit of surrender to say yes, no matter what this means. Yes, oh God, change the trajectory of my life. spend me for your glory among all the nations. And I promise, when you say that, you will find yourself drawn into deeper enjoyment of his grace in relationship with him. Because this is what you're made for.

48:43 Oh God, please lead this time now by your spirit. Help us to respond to your spirit in Jesus' name. Amen.