Session 4

The speaker discusses various reasons why there are still people and tribes who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. One reason is the overemphasis on buildings and tangible gadgets in churches, while neglecting to invest in pioneer missionaries who are willing to go to unreached areas. Many graduates from Bible colleges seek jobs in established churches instead of going to remote and hard places. Mission leaders and organizations often prioritize luxurious buildings over missionary work. The speaker emphasizes the need to support pioneer missionaries and adopt unreached tribes or villages. Additionally, the speaker mentions the misunderstanding of the mission mandate, with many Christians thinking it only applies to clergy and not the entire church. The speaker encourages all believers to proclaim and demonstrate the gospel in their lives. Lastly, the speaker discusses the mistaken mission strategy of focusing on already evangelized areas and neglecting remote regions. The cor Dear brothers and sisters, we have come to the fourth session in the series of sermons I am preaching on why the world waits or why laborers are few in the mission field. We have already seen churches without a vision is one reason why the world is not reached yet. The saints and churches in the marketplace of materialism is another reason. Sensualism is the third reason. Sentimentalism is the fourth one. Today I want to speak to you the fifth reason why there are yet people and tons and tribes never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and this one I call it institutionalism. By institutionalism I mean the overemphasis and undue focus on buildings and tangible gadgets while forgetting to invest on pioneer missionaries who are ready to go to the unreached and unengaged tribes and tongues. Of course we need church buildings. Of course we need to buy colleges, hospitals, schools, projects of charity services. However, that should not be at the neglect of pioneer evangelism and church planting. I have often seen mission leaders and organizations investing large amounts of money on luxurious buildings for Bible colleges. However, the graduates rarely venture to go to remote and hard places to be missionaries. These graduates seek jobs in established churches after their graduation. That may be because of two reasons. First of all, these seminaries and Bible colleges are comfortable places with all facilities like good bed, good food, good electricity, running water, air condition and everything. After spending three to four years in this kind of comfort zone, the students, the trainees, they forget from where they come. They forget the places where people are living in bamboo houses, people who are living in remote places where it is very difficult to reach and hard to live. The second reason why in Bible colleges we do not see many graduates going to the pioneer field is because the teachers in these institutions fail to challenge and inspire the students to go to regions beyond with the gospel. These teachers, they do not have a passion, but they have only a book knowledge. They have only a second-hand information about mission fields, what they heard from others. They can only teach what they read and what they heard. Church buildings are very much needed for worship. However, in my journeys, I have seen church buildings that are like mansions and palaces of comfort, entertainment centers and physical exercise for the congregation. In one of my visits to the U.S., I was in Dawson, Alabama. I went to minister the Lord in a Baptist church. I was amazed to see the extravagant spending for the building, seating, gymnasium, swimming pool, basketball court, volleyball court and beauty parlor. However, the church had no vision or passion to reach the unreached people in the U.S. or in other countries. My heart was grieved. Those were the days when I was thinking and praying to God for provision to build bamboo buildings, shelters for worship places in Andhra Pradesh in South India. Those were the days I was asking God to provide enough money to support our village missionaries whose support would be a small amount of money. But when I shared this news and the need in these churches and even the mega churches, I could not find much response. While I was in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Minnesota, I got an opportunity to visit the ministry in an assembly of God Church. It was a real beautiful, spacious and attractive building. With best furnishing, very good carpet, everything fascinating. After my preaching and when I was about to leave, the pastor of the church called me and requested me to pray for a special need. I asked him to tell me the prayer point. He said, please pray that our church will be able to raise enough funds to change the carpet in the main worship hall. I looked around and saw the carpet. It was green and very good in shape. I asked the pastor, this carpet seems real good and new. Why should you change the carpet now? He said, some of the deacons of the church and many in the congregation want the carpet to be changed because it does not match with the walls of the church building. They suggest red carpet. That time I was thinking and praying for our village churches in India. I was thinking about the orphans who are in great distress for whom we need some funds to support them and feed them. I was thinking of our small bamboo buildings with mud floor and tin roof. I was working hard, requesting the people to help us to construct such buildings and to support our missionaries, Bible trainees and orphans with small amounts. But I have seen them focusing on raising and spending lavishly for renovating the buildings for the comfort and ego and to appeal to their eyes. Dearly beloved, buildings, gadgets, institutions and projects are needed. However, it is high time for us to give importance to support pioneer missionaries who are evangelizing those places that never heard the name of Jesus. They have a right to hear the gospel at least for one time. Please start supporting a pioneer missionary. Please consider adopting a tribe or a village for your missionary efforts. I also want to continue the sixth reason why the world is not reached yet. I call it misunderstood mission mandate. Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples of every nation. This command is given to every born again believer. However, many Christians misunderstand the meaning and conclude that mission mandate is given only to the clergies, to the full-time evangelists and preachers, not to the laity. No, dearly beloved, go and tell and go and show are the command of Christ to all born again children of God. He gave these two commands repeatedly to those who were healed and saved by him. The Samaritan woman and the leper who was healed obeyed the Lord immediately and went and shouted the good news to the people. Peter wrote in 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 9. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his peculiar people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Jesus said, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. Jesus expects you and me to declare the gospel with our lips and demonstrate the gospel with our life. First century Christians, every one of them knew their responsibility of spreading the gospel wherever they went. They did not leave the mission to the apostles, pastors and evangelists. In Acts chapter 8 verses 1 to 4 we read, at that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles and those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. The following verses state that many people who believed and churches were planted because these lay people were scattered because of persecution. Please note, dearly beloved, the apostles remained in Jerusalem, but the laity, ordinary people born again children of God were scattered to so many regions they were the witnesses who led souls to Christ and planned churches. The world waits for the gospel. Tribes and tongues are unreached. Nations are in darkness because we rich individual Christians have disobeyed the commission of Christ. Beloved, will you respond to God's call to win souls to Christ by going, giving, sending and praying? Let me come to the last point of the series of this message. Why the world is not reached yet? I call it mistaken mission strategy. What do I mean by this mistaken mission strategy? Most missionaries are serving the Lord in already evangelized places. Most funds are sent to the support of missionaries who are serving God in already evangelized places. It is said that 95% of missionaries are in evangelized places and 90% of the funds are sent from churches to already evangelized places. This is a wrong strategy. In the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 that is recorded in four gospels, Jesus did not want anyone to be overlooked. In Matthew chapter six verse 39 it is written, then he commanded them to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in ranks in hundreds and in fifties. Why did he do this? Apart from the 5000 men, there were women and children. Then suppose there were a total of 15,000 people. It was easy to overlook or miss some of them if they were not seated systematically line by line. The back pews and the front pews should be receiving bread equally. This is the correct strategy to feed all of them. If this is not done, people in the back will not be served while people closer to the front will be overeating to the point of indigestion. That is what is happening in our missionary efforts in India. People living in the rural areas, remote hills and villages are neglected while people of the urban areas, cities and towns where there is a lot of good facilities, they hear the gospel repeatedly. Missionaries are ready to volunteer only to the cities and the towns where food is good. Facilities are great. Climate is pleasant. Travel is easy. Remote places are neglected. When Hudson Taylor went to China to evangelize the tribes, he exposed the regions of China tribe by tribe, language by language, village by village so that no place will be skipped or neglected. He was able to reach those remote places and hundreds and hundreds of churches were established in villages, in remote areas and among many tribes and languages. Dearly beloved, let us follow the correct strategy of global evangelization. Let us lift up our eyes and see the remote regions that are waiting for the gospel. Let us plan to go to those difficult places. Let us give them a chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Finally, brethren, you and I know that God will complete the task of world evangelization even if you and I do not get involved in mission. In Revelation chapter 7 verse 9 to 10, we read in the words of Apostle John in the island of Patmos as he saw the vision. After these things, I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the land, clothed with white robes, with palm and branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the land. The Lord is going to complete this work. Even if you and I, we do not join the task, He will finish it. Therefore, I plead with you, dearly beloved, brothers and sisters, here is a challenge for you and for me. Will you not join the Lord and have the joy of bringing the last tribes of the faith of the earth to the kingdom of God before it is too late? Our God will complete the task. He is giving me and you a chance to join Him in this great global evangelism. It is our privilege. Let us not miss this opportunity. Let us go and win souls. Let us support and send missionaries. Let us earnestly pray in tears and passion for the unreached regions and pioneer missionaries. The world is waiting for you. Remote villages, tribes and languages in the hills of North India, they are waiting for you and the Lord is calling you. Let us obey the great commission of our Lord today and respond to Him. Here am I, Lord, send me. May the Lord continue to speak to our hearts through this message and may His name be glorified. May He allow us to be obedient missionaries for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for enabling us to speak these last four messages on reaching the unreached and training the untrained, sending missionaries, supporting missionaries and praying for them. Break our hearts with the things that break your heart. Open our eyes. Let the scales of materialism fall from our eyes. Let the passion for souls burn our hearts and enable us with all what we are, with all the resources that you give us, with our body, soul and mind, enable us to launch out into the deep and go and witness to the people who never heard the gospel of Jesus, that in every tongue and tribe where there is no church existed today, there will be new churches coming up. We thank you. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, we pray. Amen.