Sunday, March 2, 2025 AM

Christian Expedition, Arrivals, and Departures in Acts 20

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day that you have made, a day that you have ordained and arranged and filled for your glory and our good. We thank you that we live before your face, that you have given us your Spirit, and that your Son is King of all the rulers of the earth.

We have such hope today on this first day of the week, on the Lord's day, to live in the light of the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father, you have given us so much reason to hope, so much cause for courage, and I pray that this morning as we read your Word together, that you would show us your goodness, that you would increase our faith, and that you would guide us into all the good that you have arranged for us through your Son Jesus Christ.

We pray all these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well-pleased. Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, we'll be reading verses 1 through 16 this morning, and the title of this morning's sermon is Arrivals and Departures.

The Apostolic Travel Narrative in Acts 20

And as we read the passage, I think you'll see why. But as we read through the book of Acts, I think all of us are struck by all of the travel that is recorded by Luke, the details he does give. Perhaps if we were telling the story, we would not go into so much detail, but the recorded travels of the apostles and the disciples of Jesus should catch our attention.

We read in the book of Acts of the travels of Philip and Peter, but these are nothing compared to the recorded travels of the apostle Paul, which easily calculate to an excess of 10 ,000 miles in just what is recorded in the Scriptures.

We don't know about the unrecorded travels of the apostle Paul. We read of the particular cities, and we can imagine the modes of transportation, and we can look on a map and perceive the broad swathes of territory that Paul saw, that Paul experienced in his missionary journeys.

As we read through in the Scriptures, it might become blended together in a fuzzy sense of the distant and the ancient, but these details provide for us the gracious outworking of the Great Commission.

They tell us of the blessed fulfillment of God's promises that the world will be filled with the knowledge of His glory. With that in mind, I invite you to stand with me as we read God's Word. If you're able, please stand, and we're going to read verses 1 through 16 from Acts 20.

This is the Word of the Lord. After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia. Now, when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece and stayed there three months.

And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia, also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas. But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days. Now, on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together, and in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep, and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him, said, Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him. Now, when he had come up and had broken bread and eaten and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed.

And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted. Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Asos, there intending to take Paul on board, for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot.

And when he met us at Asos, we took him on board and came to Mycelene. We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos, and stayed at Trigillium. The next day we came to Miletus.

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

You may be seated. Travel just ain't what it used to be, is it, in a lot of different ways. I grew up hearing and reading about missionaries like Adoniram Judson and William Carey. Those names are fairly familiar amongst the saints.

Adoniram Judson was regarded as the first American missionary, and embarked his journey to Burma in 1812. Thousands of miles across treacherous seas, many hardships, imprisonment, illness, loss of loved ones, and yet he was able to translate the Bible into Burmese and start many churches there.

William Carey was known as the father of modern missions. He set sail for India in 1793. 8 ,000-mile journey in 1793. Carey's journey was filled with obstacles, including financial issues, language barriers, and even opposition from colonial authorities.

Carey persisted, and he established the Sriyampur Mission. He and others worked together to translate the Bible into various Indian dialects, and they did everything they could for the abolition of infanticide and widow burning.

By the way, did you know that not all cultures are equal? Not all cultures are good. Judson and Carey exemplified their willingness to risk themselves and courage, and they exhibited resilience, and they remind us of the grace of God through the lives of otherwise weak men.

And as we think about their coming and going, the people they left behind, the people that they met, and all of the coming and going of the saints, it was all for the fellowship to grow and expand. And their arrivals certainly meant their departures from others, and their journeys are predated and find their example in the Apostle Paul.

Christian Expedition as a Pattern of the Gospel

When we look at Acts 20 verses 1 through 16, I think we are struck by the flurry of arrivals and departures. They had to leave one place to go to another, then they had to leave that place to go to another, and then they had to leave that place to go to another, and they just kept on arriving but departing and arriving but departing over and over again.

This passage is a reminder of many of the themes we've already seen in the book of Acts, but it also prepares us for the balance of chapter 20 and 21. And so I want us to think this morning especially about the need for Christian expedition.

I don't think we're going to make it past that this morning, because I also want to have enough time to think about the value of Christian embrace and Christian encouragement. All of these themes are in this passage, and they are echoed in the context around it.

Is it worth it? Is it worth it to travel, to leave the comforts of home, to go someplace else simply to be with the saints? Is it worth it to expend ourselves and organize ourselves and make a great deal of effort, and at some level truly risk ourselves simply to get the gospel to new people, and then go back and visit those brothers and sisters in Christ?

Is it worth it? So many things stand against this pattern, stand against this need. Need. People cite social anxiety, which is a therapeutic term for a batch of sins, but a focus upon the self will of course bring fear.

Fear of sickness. There's a sense of, well, I need to take care of myself first and foremost, which resolves in pride and bitterness. Self-reliance. I don't need to gather with others. This kind of pride all conspires together and whispers and tempts us and says, why gather?

Why travel? Why bother? Why labor? What's the real need for Christian expedition? Honestly, why should missionaries really go to a different culture and try to impose anything on them? Do we really have to be present in order to love others?

Do we really have to show up and be present with people to love them? I want you to keep that in mind, and if you have space in your heart to meditate on that question in light of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, we'll continue on with this theme of Christian expedition.

Long before Adoniram Judson and William Carey took their journeys, the apostle Paul undertook long, long journeys. A great deal happens in Acts 20, verses 1 through 16. We start in Ephesus and we read about Paul's anticipation to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost.

From the moment that he leaves in verse 1 of our passage to the prospect of what happens in verse 16 of getting to Jerusalem, that is a span of two years and 2 ,200 miles. It's a whole lot of time of one's life to invest.

It's a whole lot of distance to go given the modes of transportation of the day. Now, this is Paul's plan. He's made his plan, and we see that back in chapter 19, verse 21. When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I have been there, I must also see Rome.

Remember, he purposed in the Spirit. He committed his way unto the Lord, trusting Him to make straight paths. He planned, but in reliance upon the Holy Spirit. What's his plan? He wants to go back to Macedonia.

He wants to see the church in Philippi and the church in Thessalonica and Berea. He wants to pass through Athens. He wants to get to Corinth. And after that, he wants to set sail straight for Jerusalem.

And after that, his plan is to go from Jerusalem to Rome. Big plans. Now, let's see how they work out according to the Lord's will. As we look through chapter 20, verses 1 through 16, we see a flurry of names.

There are names of places, and then there are names of people. We're going to think about the places this morning, and these places can be divided up into regions and cities and islands. As we walk through, I want to, first of all, tell you about the regions.

And if we can catch the pattern of where Paul went in the regions, then I'm going to go back through and talk about the cities. And maybe if I say it twice, we'll figure out where he went and how he got back.

If you have one of those old-fashioned paper Bibles, this would be a most excellent opportunity to flip to the back and use those colorful maps. Passages like this, and I've got the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul back here, maps like this were put into your Bible for passages like this.

So, it's okay to look at the colorful maps at this point. If you're online, careful what you click on. It may send you to different links. Paul's missionary journeys. This one is very special. He starts off in Asia.

Of course, Ephesus is something of a capital in Asia. So, he is in Asia, and he leaves Asia for Macedonia. And according to Romans 15, 19, he made it even to the borders of Illyricum, which is modern-day Albania.

So, when he made it to Macedonia and got to the port city of Neapolis, he at some point, after leaving Philippi, headed way over to the west and got to the coast of the Adriatic Sea. And I can just imagine Paul there on the border of Illyricum looking out across the Adriatic Sea and saying, Rome is just across this body of water.

Remember, his heart is what? His plan is to go down to Greece, to go down to Corinth, and then go to Jerusalem, and then go all the way back to Rome. But this is the closest he's been to Rome yet. He wants to go to Rome.

So, he has made it all the way to Macedonia, and now he's going to go south, and he goes down to Greece. And we discover that he winters there in Greece for three months. That's the end of A .D. 56, the beginning of A .D. 57.

And then his plan is, I want to sail from this southern portion of Greece, and I want to sail directly to Syria. No, not that Syria, the Roman province of Syria, which included Jerusalem, and Judea, and all those places that Paul wanted to go visit for Pentecost.

So, he wants to sail directly from Greece to Syria, to go to Jerusalem. He wants to be there by Pentecost. This will be the 24th anniversary of the Spirit's advent in Acts 2. When you're reading in Acts 20 about how Paul is trying to get to Jerusalem, you're 24 years past Acts 2.

That much time has elapsed in these chapters. I'm preaching a little bit faster than the timeline that's in Acts, so be comforted. When Paul makes it to Jerusalem, he makes it there along many thousands of miles of travel by foot and by sea, which is very dangerous, is very uncomfortable, very often contrary conditions.

But when he makes it to Jerusalem, we see that it was not merely by sail and by skill. It was not merely by sweat and courage. It was by God's providence that Paul and his companions succeed in this journey.

So, how did he go? He was in Asia. He was in Ephesus, a coastal city, which we would consider now the western side of Turkey. And he heads north, crosses the Aegean Sea, comes to Macedonia, goes south into Greece.

He wants to go directly to Jerusalem from there, but can't because it's a plot by the Jews. They don't like Paul very much. Last time he was there, he converted two synagogue leaders and planted a church right next to the synagogue.

And when he was on trial, it was the Jews who got in trouble instead of the Christians. They don't like Paul in Corinth. So, Paul has a plot against him. So, he says, I can't make my normal plan to go straight to Syria.

So, he goes back up north through Greece, through Macedonia, back through Asia, and then starts island hopping and hitting all of the port cities along the coast until he can get to Jerusalem. Now, let's think about the cities and the islands, the cities on the coast and all of the islands that he visited.

The Cities, Islands, and Churches Along Paul's Route

Now, 1 Corinthians 16, in verse 8, indicates that Paul left Ephesus right after Pentecost. And we can name that year as AD 55. In 1 Corinthians 16, 8, he gives the plan, but I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost.

Now, when he leaves Ephesus, he goes north to Troas. Troas is the port city that you leave if you want to cross over the Aegean to Neapolis and immediately to Philippi. Troas is the city that you leave from.

That's the port city. And we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 12 through 13, what Paul was hoping to accomplish there. He said, furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, a door was opened to me by the Lord.

I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia. So he goes up to Troas. He's supposed to meet Titus there. Titus is so helpful to his ministry.

While he's there waiting for Titus, the Lord opens up a door, which in this case, yes, it's a metaphor, but it's actually fairly literal because someone opened a door. A person of peace opened their door and Paul found lodging with them.

He preached the gospel to them, and a church was planted there in Troas, a church that he's going to return to in our passage. He comes back to Troas to preach a very long sermon where we find Eutychus falling out of the window.

While Paul is waiting for Titus in Troas, he preaches, the Lord blesses, and a church is planted there. So then Paul says, I can't wait any longer. I've got to head to Macedonia. So he catches a ship.

He catches a ship sailing west, which, of course, always goes past the island of Samothrace to the port of Neapolis. But he is very wore out by this time, and he comes to Philippi. And we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 5 through 7, the kind of trials, the kind of difficulties that the apostle Paul has in these journeys.

We read them quickly here in Acts, but each one of these journeys is filled with risk. Each one of these journeys is wearying. Each one of these journeys has its own emotional baggage, its own challenges.

2 Corinthians chapter 7, beginning in verse 5. For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Ever been that way?

Ever had your body has no rest? Outside is the conflict, inside are the fears. But listen to this next word in verse 6, nevertheless. And the next word, nevertheless, God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

The arrival of Titus is a comfort to Paul and to his companions, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

So Paul is comforted. At the moment he needed comfort, God provided it, and he provided it in a fellow saint, a brother in Christ, showing up with encouragement, showing up with good news, showing up and joining together in Christian embrace with Christian encouragement, which are also the themes of these first 16 verses of chapter 20.

Well, Paul at some point gets over to Ilyricum, but he also goes down to Greece and winters at Corinth. To be exact, he winters in the house of Gaius, his dear friend and brother there in Corinth. And Gaius, his home, is where the church met.

Romans 16, verse 23, Gaius, my host and the host of the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, and Quartus, a brother. Gaius is the host of the whole church, and he gets mentioned.

Erastus, who is a magistrate, the treasurer of the city of Corinth. That's a pretty high position. He gets mentioned, and then there's Quartus, a brother. I love that. All these different men are sending their greetings to the church in Rome, meaning what?

Paul winters in the house of Gaius, and he writes his epistle to the Romans at this point. Three months he spends there. He writes the letter to the church in Rome, and he organizes the benevolence gift that's going to be taken from the churches in Greece, or Achaia, as it's said in the scriptures.

In Achaia and in Macedonia, the churches gather funds together, and they send it to the needy church in Jerusalem. That's what Paul spends his winter doing, writing to the Romans and organizing this benevolence gift.

Now, they want to leave, so they can't leave straight for Syria. They can't get the monetary gift back to Jerusalem in the most direct fashion. They've got to head out a different way, and so they go back north.

They go back north out of Greece, and they go through Athens and Berea and Thessalonica and Philippi, and as he goes, Paul gathers saints who help guard this monetary gift and support his gospel ministry, both logistically and spiritually.

They make it back across the Aegean Sea to the port of Troas, and we read they spend a whole week there, and Paul preaches to the church on the first day of the week, on the Lord's Day, and he only has this one opportunity to preach to the church.

And so he starts in the evening, and he keeps going the whole morning until the sun rises. After that, Paul's team secures passage on a coastal vessel at the port. They're in Troas, and Paul says, I'll catch you in Asos.

And Paul takes a personal day and walks 20 miles south to the hilltop, coastal town of Asos, where 400 years prior, Aristotle liked to hang out. There they met, and they sailed for the island of Lesbos and the chief city of Mytilene.

They had to sail a little bit every day, so they would get on board the boat in the early morning, probably just before the sun came up. That's when the breeze started flowing. The wind would start at that point, so they had to get on board and get going then, and then they had to make port before the doldrums of the late afternoon set in.

So they would get on board in the morning, sail a little bit, stop for the evening. So from Mytilene, they anchored near the island of Chios, the next day near the island of Samos on the Tregilia. The Tregilia is a little bit of a promenade sticking out from the mainland towards the island of Samos, and there's a strait now called the Strait of Mycolae, and it's only about a mile wide.

So they're sailing in between all of these islands and rocks and trying to keep close to the coast. From there, they finally go down to the port city of Miletus. Miletus is 50 miles south of Ephesus. That's about two days' hard journey.

Two days' hard journey south of Ephesus, and Paul sends a messenger north to Ephesus and says, get the elders at the church in Ephesus and get them down here. I want to spend some time with them. And so after he meets with the elders there, that's when he finally heads off towards Jerusalem.

Why Luke Records the Places and Paul’s Route

Who cares, right? These are far-off places from a long time ago. That must mean they're doubly unimportant. If it's a place that's not near me that I'm never going to go to, who cares? And if these travels happened a long time ago, they must be unimportant, right, such as the spirit of our age.

But we need to take a moment and meditate on the importance of all these places. So thankful that the Holy Spirit bore Luke along in the faithful recording of the travels of Paul to give us each one of these places, each one of these regions, each one of these coastal towns, each one of these islands, and the order in which they went, and how the Lord provided for them and sustained them along the way.

Why is it so important that these places are listed for us in the Word of God? I think, first of all, it's important because Luke desires to glorify God and do good to the saints according to his commitment to his patron Theophilus, as he says it in Luke chapter 1, verses 1 through 4.

This is Luke's second volume. He's still continuing this faithful labor. He says to Theophilus, Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus.

Now, here's the purpose. That you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Luke is writing an orderly account. He has the full story. In fact, Luke is part of the team. You'll notice in verses 4 and 5 that Luke shows up as the pronouns go from they to we.

Luke says,. And then we left Philippi after the days of the unleavened bread. Luke's part of the journey, and he's writing out all of the things that are happening so that we will have certainty and know those things in which we were instructed.

It is of the utmost importance for our personal faith and also for our evangelistic efforts that we know and confess the historic accuracy, the accurate historicity of the Scriptures, of the gospel, of the origins of the church.

This really happened. It happened in this way, according to this order, and these are the places that Paul went. Now, why is that so important? I think it's important because it's all part of God's good plan.

All part of God's good plan. God created the earth to be inhabited, to be inhabited with those who are made in His image, and that those who are made in His image would inhabit the earth full of His praises, giving Him glory and giving Him honor.

This is God's will being done in the labor of the Apostle Paul and all of those with him. Isaiah 45, 18 says,. For thus says the Lord, who is this Lord? He's the one who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited.

What does he say? He says, I am the Lord, and there is no other. So that the whole earth will be filled with those who are made in His image and know that there is one God, and to give praise to Him and glorify Him, which is why Adoniram Judson went to Burma, why William Carey went to India.

It's why missionaries go out and say to people who believe in a polytheistic mantra, a mess of different gods and superstitions, and say to them, no, you're wrong. You're made in God's image, and there's one true God, and you need to know who He is.

He's made you for His glory, and He has shown you who He is by giving all of us His Son. This is God's will that people are not left alone in their cultures to rejoice in the echo chamber of what they've always believed.

But that there are interruptions, that Cretans are not left as Cretans, and Corinthians are not left as Corinthian. The Gentiles are not left to be Gentiles, and the Jews are not left to be Jews. But that all people everywhere are called to come into Christ and become Christians.

This is God's will. We're looking at that will being done as we see all these different places. And further, even more specifically, Luke is rejoicing and listing all the far-off lands. Notice these are the cities on the coasts, the coastlands.

He's talking about the islands that are being visited one after the other. This is specifically the fulfillment of God's new covenant promises through His prophets. When we read these different names, we should think not simply where these are located according to our maps in the back of our Bible and say, I can spot on my map, I can spot Philippi, I can spot Corinth, I can spot Miletus.

Yes, we can do that. But we should spot it not just on the map in the back of our Bible, but on the map in Isaiah, the map that's in Jeremiah, the map that's in Zechariah, because those are the maps or the prophetic atlases that say, here's where the gospel is going to go.

And we're seeing it happen here in Acts chapter 20. So, for example, in Habakkuk 2, verse 14, it says, For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Big picture. Now for things that are even more specific, Isaiah 42, verses 9 through 10. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and the new things I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Sing to the Lord a new song and His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea and all that is in it, you coastlands and all you inhabitants of them. When Paul is in Corinth, when Paul is in Ephesus, when Paul is in Philippi, when Paul is working his way down the coast, what is he doing?

He's preaching the gospel and there is praise going out to the Lord in the name of Jesus Christ according to the prophecies. Isaiah 49, verse 6. Indeed, he says, it is too small a thing, too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

I also give you as a light to the Gentiles, to the nations, that you will be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 51, verse 5. My righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth, my arms will judge the peoples, the coastlands will wait upon me and on my arm they will trust.

Jeremiah 31, verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off and say, he who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. Zechariah 2, 11.

Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and they shall become my people and I will dwell in your midst. And then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. Jesus Christ is building the new covenant temple which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit so that we are all gathered into Christ, we are all one body in Christ, one temple, and the rock that Jesus uses to build the new covenant temple is living stones.

And these living stones are quarried from all the nations. This is how we are brought together in one place. The one place is Christ, the one place is Mount Zion, the one place is the new covenant temple.

We are gathered together in him, united together in him, and we are seeing that happen here in Acts chapter 20. The gospel being preached in the coastlands and in the isles. This is not a geography lesson, it is a geography lesson, but it is a praiseworthy opportunity to give glory to God when we see these places named for us.

And when we read Isaiah 49, 6, just so we should be encouraged by this, when the prophecy about Messiah is made, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel, not enough simply to save the remnant of Israel.

I also give you as a light to the Gentiles, to the nations. You hear this? I also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. That is the passage that Paul preached in Acts 13 when he was in Galatia.

Acts 13 and verse 47, Paul preaches, for so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Do you see this? Paul says the reason why we're preaching the gospel to you is because God said of us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles. Well, in Isaiah, it says that of Messiah. So is Messiah the light of the world or are his followers the light of the world?

Yes. Yes, Jesus Christ is the light of the world. And he also says to his disciples, you are the light of the world. Why? He is the light of the world proper and first and foremost. We are the light of the world in a derived sense because we are following him, because he's given us his spirit, because we preach him.

In that sense, we are the light of the world. This this is saying something about the condition of the world, saying that it's in darkness. It's saying that it's in darkness and that there's a need for a light.

There's a need for light. It's important for us to consider the value, the righteousness of Christian expedition. So often today in the discussion of colonialism and in the in the self pity, I was going to say penance of the secular religion.

Folks look at history and then they just feel so awful that all kinds of people went out to other cultures and did terrible things to them. And yes, those were bad things that happened. But you know, what is the what is the fashion of the day is to include Christian missionaries in with all of the horrors that happen with colonialism.

Did people die? Sure. There were good things done. Yes, they were. Were there fallout? Was there fallout? Yes, there was fallout. Was there progress? Yes, there was progress. It's a mixed bag. But you know what's one really, really good thing that happened?

Christian missionaries went forth and preached the gospel either to the to the tribes that were already here on the American continent or went to other tribes on the Indian subcontinent or went to the islands where nobody wanted to go.

And what happened there? Christians preached the gospel and said, stop thinking the way you normally think. Stop acting the way you normally act. Stop valuing the things you normally value. All of that is wrong.

What what grounds does anyone have to do that? By what right does anyone have to go to somebody else's culture and say, you need to repent of the way you think and repent of the way you act and repent of the things that you value?

By what right? Not because of our skin color, not because of technological advancements, not because of wealth, not because of history, but because of Jesus Christ. All authority has been given in heaven and earth to him.

Therefore, we go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded. It's his authority that we bring to bear.

He owns the islands. He owns the coastlands. He owns the continents. And so we go to all the people who are there as Christians and proclaim to them the word of the Lord. And so you can't read it in your own language.

Well, translate it into your own language. This has been going on for nigh two thousand years. Jesus Christ is building his church, and he's doing a fantastic job. There are Christians all over the planet today, and some of these places, as remote as they are, have generations of Christians behind them.

This is righteous work. Jesus Christ sent missionaries on Christian expeditions long before us, and we are the fruit of it. How is it that I even know the gospel of Jesus Christ and rejoice in it? Because someone, and a whole lot of someones in the past, risked, took courage, suffered, bled, cried, crawled to get the gospel to new people.

And we can praise God for that. I want us to have confidence. I want us to have confidence in the word. This is true. This is accurate. It is powerful and living. This is what we are to bring forward to the nations so that folks will know Jesus Christ.

They will know the Father through Jesus Christ. We need to have courage. We need to have courage for this work. As we think about how Paul and his fellow workers went through each one of these places, and God kept them safe, and God brought them along and supplied all of their needs, we should have courage for whatever work God has for us.

And we also should have concern for the world. We should have concern for the nations. We should have concern for the nations so much that we would co-labor in wisdom with others who can go, and that some of us should prepare, and that we should go.