MISSIONS 101 ________ By Dr. Jimmy Nelson President, Landmark Baptist Theological Seminary Pastor, Landmark Baptist Church in Haltom City, Texas MISSIONS 101 Copyright © 2013 by (Dr. Jimmy Nelson, Landmark Publishing) All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author. Printed in USA by 48HrBooks (www.48HrBooks.com) 3 Dedication: The missionary once said, “I would not take the job of Presidency of the United States if it was offered to me. Why would I take a demotion? As a Missionary I work directly for God, and there cannot be a more important job than that.” This Book was written for those who give God nothing less than their all when they say those beautiful words from Isaiah 6:8, “Here am I, Lord. Send me.” To all who turned their backs on all the promises of the World to Serve God, I wrote this Book for you. Please read and enjoy. 4 Introduction Our Lord said, "And upon this rock will I build my church,” (Matthew 16:18). In verse 16 the Lord asked his disciples the question, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" They answered by naming some of the prophets. Then He asked the disciples "But whom say ye that I am?" Peter responded, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” (v.16). Then the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven,” (v.17). Then in verse 18 the Lord said to Peter, "Thou art Peter, [Petros, a little rock] and upon this rock [Petra, a big rock] (Perhaps He touched himself on the chest with his fingers as He made this statement) I will build my church." Our Lord never said that He would build His church upon Peter. Christ said that He would build the church upon Himself, …" the Son of the living God," the eternal Rock of Ages. In First Corinthians 4:11, the Apostle Paul clearly states that Christ is the foundation upon which the church is built. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Christ is the foundation and believers are the building stones. Our Lord established His church for two purposes. First, the exhortation of the brethren, and secondly for the preaching of the Gospel to the lost. Scripture says that the lost are lead to a saving knowledge of Christ “by the foolishness of preaching” and the Lord adds to his church “such as should be saved.” Therefore, missions are vital and should be considered the heartbeat of the local church. Every Christian is to fulfill the great commission by witnessing for Christ. First, "...in Jerusalem, [their city] and [at the same time] in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Being a witness in Jerusalem is accomplished by our personal witness for Jesus Christ wherever we may find 5 ourselves. Whether that be the office, at play, at school, or the super market. Some preachers have referred to all believers as “walking epistles,” because we carry the great knowledge of the truth of Christ with us wherever we are. At the same time, we are to be a witness in our Judea (the neighboring cities), in our Samaria (the next state), and in every part of the world. This is accomplished by supporting (financially and spiritually) or participating in missions through our local church. The Church in turn uses our mission offerings to send out missionaries to accomplish the task of preaching the gospel in every known part of the world. From where do the missionaries who go unto the uttermost parts of the world (the regions beyond our local boundaries) originate? The Holy Spirit calls them from within the local church. Missionaries living and ministering on the foreign field labor under a special set of circumstances. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to help those called to the work of missions, to adjust to life on the mission field and effectively build local New Testament churches which will endure the test of time. The author does not claim originality to all materials. Some of the material was gleaned through lessons taught the author while a missiology student on the foreign field, other portions came from interviews with other veteran missionaries, countless hours of research, and the lesson learned in the school of hard knocks through thirty plus years of ministry. It is the author’s sincere desire that the material in this book will help you to know that you are truly called to serve as a missionary, to prepare you for the adjustments ahead, and to help you build a work for the glory of God. 6 Special Request If reading this book blesses you in any way please do the author and publisher a huge favor by going online to amazon.com and writing a review of the book. Also note that the book is available at Amazon.com in e-book format for only $3.99. If you do not have a kindle reader you can download a free reader at Amazon.com. Keep in mind that often the best reviews are only two or three sentences in length. Also consider inviting Brother Jimmy Nelson to your next Conference or workshop as a speaker. Thank you so much for reading this Book. 7 Chapter 1 The Mission Call Do you believe God has called you, or is calling you to serve Him as a missionary? If your answer is yes, the next logical question is, “what constitutes a call to the foreign mission field?” To answer this question we will examine the calling of the church’s first missionaries. A careful study of Acts 13:1-4 will reveal several important facts. Luke writes, “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, ‘Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” First, we observe that they were “in the church.” To be in a local church, a person must be a believer (saved), and a church member (baptized). Thus the first two qualifications of a missionary are to be a born-again believer and a member of a recognized local church. Secondly, they “ministered to the Lord.” The word “ministered” means “to serve” or to do a work or service. These men were serving the Lord in their local church. God's method includes men working in and through the local New Testament Church. Some have falsely said, “Missionaries are people who could not succeed at home, so they became missionaries.” The truth is, if the man could not succeed in the ministry at home, he will not succeed on the foreign mission field where problems and pressures are intensified. Paul and Barnabas are examples of men who were not failures. In fact they were “the cream of the crop.” They were men who were 8 serving God with all their hearts, souls, and bodies in the local church. Today’s missionaries are no different than those of the past and must meet the same requirements Paul and Barnabas met. Thirdly, we see an important statement, “and fasted.” We are not told the reason these men were fasting. Some commentators say their fasting could have been a carryover from Judaism where Monday’s and Thursday’s were days of fasting. Others, including the author, believe that the fasting was a time set aside to seek the will of God concerning a specific matter. We are not told what the specific matter was, however Gills says, “He does not specify the work, but refers to a former call of which they themselves knew the meaning, whether others did or not. As for Saul, he was particularly told that he must bear Christ’s name to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15), that he must be sent to the Gentiles (Acts 2:21); the matter was settled between them at Jerusalem before this, that as Peter, James, and John laid out themselves among those of the circumcision, so Paul and Barnabas should go to the heathen (Galatians 2:7-9.) Barnabas, it is likely, knew he had been designed for this service as well as Paul. Yet they would not thrust themselves into this harvest, though it appeared plenteous, till they received their orders from the Lord of the harvest.”1 Next we find that Paul and Barnabas had given themselves to the will of God. In the last part of verse 2, we find the actual call of the Holy Spirit. It is noteworthy that this was a sovereign, singular, and specific call. First, the call was a sovereign call. The call came from the sovereign third person of the Trinity. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to call those chosen to do the work of the ministry. Secondly the call was a singular call. The call to the work of missions was not extended to every 1 Gills Electronic Commentary, Online Bible 9 member of the church, only to Saul (Paul) and Barnabas.