Building Great Commission Families
Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and make disciples.
Dr. Daniel Akin
Jul 28, 2019 43m
In this sermon Dr. Daniel Akin stresses how important the commandment to go into all the world and make disciples was to Jesus. He points out that it was the most important thing on Jesus' mind, and it was the final thing he said as ascended to heaven. He says that knowing this, it is our responsibility to raise our family with the heart to carry out The Great Commision, he shares many tips on how to make this a reality in your family. Video recorded at Columbia, South Carolina.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 00:00 I want you to take your Bible and join me this morning in the last chapter of the gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 28. We're going to give our attention quickly, because this is a message that's going to be very, very practical. Normally people who've referred to me over the years as a Bible walker, you said, what does that mean? I just walk through the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse, phrase by phrase, word by word, and I'm going to do a very quick explanation of the text. But my goal this morning is to be very practical in the context, of how is it that we can build great commission families.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 00:41 So, I am going to look at a particular way for us to apply the final marching orders of Jesus in Matthew chapter 28, so look at what the Bible says there beginning with verse 18, "And Jesus came and said to them, that is to the 12, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." By the way, some form of the word all, or always, occurs four times in this text. It is emphasizing his comprehensive, universal, sovereign Lordship over all things, in light of his glorious bodily resurrection. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So in light of that, here is my final marching orders for the church. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy spirit." Very trinitarian driven. "Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." Last words are meant to be lasting words, because they convey what a person thinks is important, and what really matters to them. If you knew that you were about to die, or you knew you were about to leave some people that you dearly love. The odds are you would not be trivial, but you would speak about something that really matters to you.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 02:11 Now, of all the things that Jesus could have talked about before he ascended back into heaven, he decided that he would speak to what we call The Great Commission. Now, I'm amazed recently to learn that among those who go to church regularly, 51% of all Americans said they had never even heard of The Great Commission. Another 26% said, well, I've heard about it, but I don't know where you would go to find it. It's interesting to note that Jesus gave some form of The Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, in Mark chapter 16, in Luke chapter 24, in John 20, and in Acts chapter 1. So in the four gospels, and the Book of Acts, some form of The Great Commission is found.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 03:07 But it's most popular rendition is found right here in Matthew chapter 28. First of all, he establishes his power, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Then he lays out for us clearly his plan, "Go and make disciples." Now it's interesting, make disciples is the only imperative. It's the main verb in verse 19, and the first part of verse 20, "Make disciples of all the nations." But the participles go, baptize, and teach, as they orbit about that particular imperative, received the force of an imperative. So Jesus commands us, you go. Jesus commands us, you baptize. Jesus commands, "Teach them all that I have commanded you. This is how we make disciples of all the nations." The Greek word [inaudible], we got word ethnic from it, of all the [inaudible.] Now, most missologyologists point out that those who are committed to The Great Commission, rightly focus on what we call the outer edges of darkness, the outer edges of darkness. We will often use the words underserved, unreached and unengaged people groups of the world, and this is what we mean by the outer edges of darkness.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 04:35 Now, it's an amazing thing to realize where we are today in the year 2019. First of all, just a little of math for us, a few figures. Today, approximately 7.6 billion people on planet earth, 7.6 billion. That by the way, constitutes, or is made up of 17,043 different people group. They have their own language, they have their own distinctive identity, 17,043 distinct people groups, making up 7.6 billion people. But here's what's amazing., even in the year 2019 with all of our resources, with all of our technology, with all of our access to quick easy travel around the globe, there is still 3.14 billion people that are unreached, underserved, and unengaged. In other words, there's still today, not quite half the world's population that has either no access to the gospel, our very limited access to the gospel. Which means this, today there are billions of people on planet earth, now listen to me, they will be born, they will live, they will di, they will go to hell, and they never even one time heard the gospel and in many cases never even heard the name of Jesus. After the first service of very sweet, kind, elderly man came up to me and said, can I just ask you a question about the fact that you said, even though they've never heard, they will still go to hell. If they've never heard, aren't they safe? And I said, well, if they're safe, then we shouldn't go. Now let that logic sink in, if people who've never heard the gospel are safe, then why in the world would Jesus tell us to go? He tells us to go, because they're not safe, they are lost. And God will not judge them according to what they do not know, but God will judge them based upon the revelation they have. And the Bible says, apart from a conscious commitment of your heart and life to the gospel, once you reach the age of accountability and have adequate mental capability, then you stand before a Holy God condemned with no hope. That is why we must go. It's amazing again to think, there are places in the world today where you and I could go be dropped onto the ground by a helicopter or a parachute. Hit the ground, start walking, and we could walk days, weeks, and months, we would never see a church, and we would never even meet a Christian. No, the call to the gospel demands that we go, our obedience to Christ and our love for others demands that we go.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 07:51 But here's my thesis for today. I do believe that it is crucial that we obey The Great Commission, extending the gospel to the outer edges of darkness, and reaching out to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. But I believe to be the most effective, great commission people possible, we need to understand that The Great Commission should start in the home, and The Great Commission should begin in the family. Now, this is a very, very young crowd, but you won't stay young very long, take my word for it. And so understand something, parents and grandparents by the way they teach, by the way they live, and by the way they model life should instill in their children and grandchildren a passion for obedience to The Great Commission. After all, good theology and good missiology is as much caught as it is taught. Furthermore, in survey after survey after survey, we learned that for children, nothing has changed. When you ask them who their heroes are, they will you, my heroes are my parents. They asked teenagers 20 years ago, same answer, 10 years ago, same answer, 5 years ago, same answer. Who's your hero? Is it a movie star? Nope. Is it a rock star? Nope. Is it an athlete? Nope. Is the politician? Are you kidding me? I'm just playing there now, don't you get mad at me? I'm not here to [inaudible] that kind of junk. But no, no, no and no, my hero is my dad, and my hero is my mom. So here's the bottom line, what you love, they'll love. What you value, they will value. What you have a passion for, they will have a passion for. And children do listen to their parents, children do care what their parents think, and children pay a whole lot of attention to what their parents do. So, in this room today are either parents, or soon to be parents, in most cases. So as a parent, who wants to instill in their child a great commission DNA. What will that look like day in and day out as you love well your children, for the glory of God, and the good of the nations, as you instill that great commission DNA in them?
Dr. Daniel Akin: 10:16 I'm going to give you very quickly, 10 very simple, basic, practical ideas that I believe will get us way down the road in cultivating for our children a great commission home, and a great commission heart. So here we go. Number one, be incarnational in your parenting. Be incarnational in your parenting, in other words, step back and ask, how does my 5 year old, or my 10 year old, or my 15 year old, or my 18 year old, how do they look at life? Given their sex, given their age, given their personality, given their interests, given their friends, how do they look at life right now? What is important to them? And you love them well, by getting down on their level, and entering into their world, by being incarnational in your parenting. Let me remind us all of this morning, how do we know that God loves us? I'll tell you how we know that God loves us, he came down into our world, and got on a our level, in the person of his son, Jesus Christ. Now I'll be the first to say, okay, I want to be very honest, I'll be the first to say that is much easier said than done.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 11:28 I heard about a little boy, his turtle died, broke his heart, cried all day. Dad came home from work, little boys in the backyard crying. Mom says, honey, he won't come to the house, his turtle's dead. I can't get anywhere with him. Can you try to do something? So dad goes back there. Sure enough, the turtle's not moving, the little boy is crying. Dad begins to wrack his brain, and he says, well son, now look, I'm so sorry your turtle died. But I'll tell you what, we can have a turtle funeral, and celebrate your turtle dying and going to turtle heaven or wherever they go. And so anyway, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to get a shoe box, and we're going to put them in that shoe box. And I'm going to dig a hole right here in our backyard, and we're going to bury your turtle back here, he'll always be here in our backyard. And he says, we're going to have a little funeral service for your turtle, I will out preach a little message for your turtle's funeral, and you can invite your friends over to be a part of your turtle's funeral. And I'll tell you what, since we're celebrating your turtle going to turtle heaven, we'll just have a little party. I'll get your mom to make a cake, I'll make some homemade ice cream, and we'll just have a little party with all of your friends to celebrate your turtle's funeral. And then after that, we'll go down to the park, and we'll ride the rides, and we'll take our baseball and bat and we'll play a little ball. And he said, so what do you think, we do all that to celebrate your turtle's funeral. Well, he still crying, but he says to his daddy, we can have a party. Oh, we can have a party. And I can invite...You can invite every friend you've got. And mom will make the cake, I'll make the ice cream, and we'll do all that to celebrate your turtle's funeral. What do you think? Well, the tears stopped, and a little smile came across his face and he said, well, daddy, that'll be okay. And boy dad felt great, he had saved the day. He took his son by the hand, they begin to walk back to the house. And can you believe it, at exactly that moment as they were walking away, suddenly out of that shell, boom, comes that turtle's head, and he begins to look around and check everything out. The dad saw it and the dad said, well, look, son, look your turtle, he's not dead after all. The little boy, he began to scream and cry again, kill him daddy, kill him. I want to have my party. Now, I admit it is not always easy to get into the world of a child, but if you love them, you're going to work at it. You're going to spend time with them, you're going to be there with them, and you're going to try as you spend that time with them to instill in their little lives already as a two year old, a five year old, an eight year old, a ten year old, a vision for the world, and a heart for The Great Commission.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 14:15 Number two, love well your mate, love well your mate. I have a very simple thesis here, and that is this, great partners almost always make great parents. Why? Because the number one need in the life of a child, related to love, is security. And nothing brings security in the life of a child like knowing my dad loves my mom, my mom loves my dad, and they're always going to be here just for me. And here's where I want to go with this, your children ought to learn about the love of God for the nations, by the way they see you love your mate. Your children, dads, ought to begin to see and develop a love for the nation, by the way they see their daddy loving their mother, and by the way mama loves their daddy. After all remember this world, every tribe, tongue, people, and nation is nothing less than the body of Christ, and the bride of Christ bought by his blood. And so by the way, we parent well, by the way we do marriage well, we show our children something about the love and the heart of God for the nations.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 15:27 Number three, you love your kids well toward being great commission minded children by spending time with them, by spending time with them. Hudson Taylor was considered perhaps the greatest missionary ever to China. I would not disagree with that. And Hudson Taylor said this about childhood quote, "At no other time is there a greater capacity for devotion, or a more pure uncalculating ambition in the service of God, than when they are a child." Apparently Hudson Taylor's parents took the time early in his life to instill this kind of devotion to him, because this is amazing, but listen, when Hudson Taylor was only five years old, he wrote in his Bible, when I am a man, I mean to be a missionary to China. And he was. You say, wait, wait, wait, wait, Danny, hold on, time out, time out, time out. A 5 year old cannot know what they're going to be when they grow up, a 10 year old can't even know what they're going to be when they go up, a15 year old is even pressing the edges to know what they're going to do when they go up. Well, I don't believe that, and I don't know why we treat our children like they're stupid. I certainly don't know why we treat teenagers like they're stupid. Bill Wallace, the great medical missionary to China, a Southern Baptist martyred there for his work on the Chinese. When he was 14 years old, wrote in his Bible, I will become a medical missionary, and he did Jim Elliot, teenager, I'm going to become a missionary. Elizabeth Elliot. teenager, I am going to become a missionary, Hudson Taylor, five years old, I am going to become a missionary, and his family did not push back on that, but they fanned that flame in his heart. And China has never been the same because of the ministry of Hudson Taylor. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 7 through 9, lays out for us very clearly how this happens in terms of spending time with your children. It follows what is known as the Shamar, " Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And then it says, in verse 7, "You shall teach them, that is God's commandments, diligently to your children. And you shall talk with them (When?) four times. You should talk with them, one, when you sit in your house. Number two, when you walk by the way. Number three, when you lie down. And number four, when you rise up, that is when you are to be teaching your children.'" But here's the problem, we don't spend the time necessary. We don't spend the time necessary. We get so caught up with our world, we don't spend the necessary time with our children to impact and shape their lives in that kind of way.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 18:21 A couple of years ago, a secular survey was taken, here's what they learned. On average, on average, 5 year old’s spend 25 to 35 minutes a week with their dad, but they spent 20 to 25 hours a week with a television, or what we now refer to as "technological babysitters". Think computer, think iPad, thinks smartphones, think all those other gadgets out there. So hear me one more time, 25 to 35 minutes a week with their dad, 20 to 25 hours a week with a TV or another technological babysitter. That may explain this, Reader's Digest took a survey of 4 and 5 year old’s and they asked them this question, if you had to vote to give away either your daddy or your TV, which would you vote to give away? 33%, one in three said, I'd rather give away my daddy, than I would my TV. One man, reflecting back over his childhood, sat down and wrote this, and it actually made its way into a local newspaper. Here's what he said to his parents, "You didn't take care of me, you sent me to daycare. You didn't feed me, you sent me to McDonald's. You didn't study with me, you bought me a computer. You didn't talk to me, you bought me a stereo. You didn't look at me, you bought me a TV. You didn't play with me, you bought me toys. Now that I'm grown and you are old, why should I come and see you? I don't even know who you are." Yes, love is a beautiful four letter word, but I think sometimes we spell it best this way. T. I. M. E. So fathers in particular, what kind of projection of the perfect heavenly Father are you given to your children in terms of the time that you invest in them?
Dr. Daniel Akin: 20:21 Number four, learn to listen to your children. Learn to listen to your children. James 1:19 says, "Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger." So parents, do you know your children's heart? Do you know what concerns them, what interests them, what matters to them? Do you sit down and just listen to them, and let them talk. Ann Dunnigan who had studied how to cultivate missionary homes says, "When we ask a child, what do you want to be when you grow up? Mission-Minded parents and teachers, we'll turn that question, and our question being turned in a different kind of a why has the capacity and the possibilities of completely redirecting their lives in a different way and toward a different kind of future." She says, "We might say something like this to our children, not when you grow up, what do you want to be? But maybe something like this, Oh, I wonder when you grow up, what exciting plans has God prepared for your life? When you grow up, will you do whatever God wants you to do?" George very graciously mentioned a moment ago that we have four sons and they're all in the ministry, but all four of them would tell you, my dad never one time told us he wanted us to go into ministry. What I did tell them was, when you go up, just make sure you love and serve Jesus with your whole heart, and I really don't care what you do. Serve Jesus with your whole heart as a lawyer, or a banker, or a father. Or for females, as a mother, as a wife, as a school teacher, I could go on and on and on. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as what you do, you do all for the glory of God with a whole heart set upon the savior. So what does it mean to love your kid in this kind of why? It means putting away the smartphone, and putting away the iPad, and turning off the TV, and sitting down eye to eye, ear to ear, heart to heart, and locking in, in that kind of way. You say to your children, I'm here not to talk, I am here just to listen, because I think what you think is important.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 22:30 Number five, read missionary biographies to your children. Following the model of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 11, we all know in this room that there's great power and inspiration in story. My son John named his son Judson, after the famous Baptist missionary from America Adoniram Judson. My son Paul named his son Micah Elliott, honoring the name of the very famous American missionary, Jim Elliot. I would argue that a missionary hero should be a regular staple of the spiritual diet of your children. And brothers and sisters, there is a ton of material out there written on the children's level, on a child's level, that will acquaint them with the unbelievable stories of a Jim Elliott, an Amy Carmichael, an Eric Little, an Adoniram Judson, a David Livingston, a Hudson Taylor, a Nate Saint. William Carey, the father of the modern missionary movement. Lottie Moon, Bertha Smith, John and Betty Stam, how about George Lyle? George Lyle, who's George Lyle? Well, I always love to say, if Adoniram Judson is the father of American missions, George Lyle is the grandfather of American mission. You say, well, who was he? He was a slave. He was a slave, and George Lyle came to faith in Christ. And by God's good grace, his owner was a believer, so he began to give him freedom to go up and down the Georgia South Carolina border to preach the gospel. In fact, many people referred to him as the black George Whitfield, who helped launch the first great awakening. He was such a powerful preacher. He later was granted his freedom by his owner, and then war broke out between America and Great Britain, and the family tried to re enslave him. But a man said to him, George, I'm going to do work in Jamaica. I'll take you and your wife and your children. I'll pay your passage, you can pay it off. He was a bivocational minister for the rest of his life, but he went to Jamaica a decade before Judson went to Burma, and planted a church in Kingston that exploded. From there, he then began a church planting movement all across Jamaica. About four years ago, a man came to my office at Southeastern Seminary. And I said, I'm just curious. I'm just curious, have you ever heard of a man named George Lyle? And his face lit up like a Christmas tree and he said, oh, you're talking about the apostle Paul of Jamaica. He actually was on the mission field even before Carey went to India, and Judson went to Burma, but most people have never even heard of this wonderful, faithful, godly pastor and missionary. You ought to make missionaries the heroes of your children.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 25:36 Number six, expose your children to missionaries and their lives by having them in your home, sharing a meal with them, and listening to their stories. There really is no way for me to overstate this morning, the impact of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot, on modern missions. Will Elizabeth happened to be the child of missionary parents. Jim Elliott noted in his journals that his family regularly entertain missionaries in their homes, so that is a teenager, he determined I will be a missionary. John Stam, who was martyred at the age of 27 in China, had parents who ran the star of hope mission in Patterson, New Jersey. His wife, Betty Stam, also martyred with her husband, was born into a missionary family, all of whom, all the siblings became missionaries. In fact, she said in her diary, "All five of us children expected to return to China as missionaries. Our parents never urged it, it just seemed the natural and the right thing for us to do." I could multiply that many times over, because we are shaped and molded by the people we get to know, and the people we grow to admire.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 26:56 Number seven, go on mission trips, and take your children with you. Go on mission trips, and take your children with you. Now, let me be very, very practical here. Begin with short term, and easier access trips. I would not say to any of you this morning, well, you need to pack up and go spend a month in Afghanistan, I would not tell you to do that. I don't think you're ready for it. I don't think I'm ready for it. Alright? And I've been all over the world, I've been in over 30 countries. But spending a month, or spending a life, in Afghanistan, you better count the cost. So start with easy trips. Start with readily accessible trips, then move to midterm, then moved to tougher conditions. We do know this, almost, not all, but almost all career missionaries first caught the missionary bug on a short term missionary trip. Now, how does this then relate to your children? A wonderful book I would commend to all of you, called The Mission Minded Child. The Mission Minded Child, and Dunnigan says it like this, "A mission minded child dreams of fulfilling God's destiny in their life. A mission minded child may want to become a missionary, or a teacher, or a doctor, or a newspaper reporter, or a state governor, or a pastor, or a business person, or an airline pilot, or an author, or florist, or a mother, as long as it's what God wants them to do. A mission-minded child prays for that lost next door neighbor. A mission-minded child is not a picky eater." No wait, that's not true. My middle son Paul would be in the picky eater hall of fame, of that there's absolutely no question. And so what does God do in his hilarity? He calls him to be a missionary, and sent his buns to Africa, and then sent him to work among Palestinian refugees in Jordan. And he not only had to eat things he didn't like, he had eat things he didn't even like to look, and God did that to him. So God can take, if you're here and you're like, I'm a picky eater, I'm never going anywhere. Watch out, God may be lurking around your corner. A mission minded child takes home a photo magnet from the visiting missionary family, puts it on the kitchen refrigerator so they can pray for them. A mission minded child spends a summer night sleeping outside on the trampoline, gazes up at the sky filled with stars, and realizes God's plan is infinitely bigger than his or her own backyard. A mission minded child imagines rollerblading on the great wall of China. A mission minded child recognizes the names of David Livingston, and Amy Carmichael, and Hudson Taylor. A mission minded child learns to use chopsticks. A mission minded child puts extra money in the monthly missions offering, and feels really good about it. A mission minded child thinks it could be fun to sleep in a mud hut in Africa. A mission minded child reads all the way through the Bible by the age of 10 or 11 or 12, and is excited to start and do it again. A mission minded child stares at the photos in the new geography textbooks or magazines, and imagines climbing to the top of that Egyptian pyramid, snorkeling in those tropical blue waters, and giving a new outfit to that poor boy with the ripped up shirt. A mission minded child befriends the new kid at school. A mission minded child thinks beyond the box of what's merely expected, and hopes to do something big or something little but all for God. A mission minded child wants to obey even when no one is looking. A mission minded child above all things loves, and wants to serve, Jesus.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 30:58 Number eight, teach your children what the Bible says about missions. Teach your children that it was the final marching orders of the Lord Jesus. Teach your children that the greatest missionary who ever lived was the Lord Jesus, who left heaven, and came all the way down here to save us from our sins. Teach your children that the greatest theologian who ever lived, was also the greatest missionary who ever lived, and his name was the apostle Paul.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 31:24 Number nine, pray for the nations and missionaries by name. A. B. Simpson said, "Prayer is the mighty engine, that is to move the missionary work." A. T. Pearson said, "Every step in the progress of missions is directly traceable to prayer." You say, well, how do you go about doing that? Well, I'll just tell what I do. First of all, at our school, every spring when we have our spring meetings for our trustees, we will have a commissioning service for all of our students that are leaving Southeastern to go to the mission field, and they all have prayer cards. If you were to come to my office today at Southeastern Seminary, there's at least 25 prayer cards scattered around my office. Then you could go over to my office at the house and you'll find another 25 prayer cards scattered all over my office. And every time I see one, I pray for them. I have all of them put me on their mailing lists, so I can keep up with them, and every time they write me, I not only pray for them, I write them back. Which they tell me they really appreciate, because most people don't. And then every morning, every morning, this morning, no exception, I get from the Joshua Project, go the Joshua Project and ask them to put the you on their email list, and every morning I receive an unreached people group. So morning it was the Gujar, G, U, J, A, R, of Pakistan, 5.5 million, virtually no Christians among this very large people group in Pakistan. So it's not difficult to pray for the nations if you want to. And then adopt, as a family, an unreached people group. Adopt a nation where the gospel is desperately needed. Pray for China, pray for Indonesia, pray for Afghanistan., there are so many countries where the gospel is desperately needed. And then adopt a specific missionary, and pray for them.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 33:15 Finally, number 10, model missional living as a life priority before your children. Model missional living as a life priority before your children. Now listen to this very carefully, David Shibley, founder of Global Advance says this, "God is not calling us to win the world, and in the process lose our families. But I have known those who so enshrined family life, and we're so protective of quality time, that the children never saw in their parents the kind of consuming love that made their parents' faith attractive to them." Some have lost their children, not because they weren't at their soccer games, or didn't take family vacations. They lost their families because they never transmitted a loyalty to Jesus that went deep enough to interrupt their personal preferences.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 34:26 So some practical things to think about as I close, in the form of six quick questions. Number one, do you have a passport? Do you have a passport? If you don't have one, go get one. Why? Because you can't go overseas without a passport. So first thing, go get a passport. In fact, if you won't go get a passport, then you're not serious about this. I mean, I've just basically wasted 30 minutes of our time. If you are serious about it, and you don't have one, go get a passport, alright? Second question, do you go on national and international mission trips? This church is doing them all of the time, so the opportunities readily avail themselves. Thirdly, do you pray? Do you pray that your children, and for those of you that are my age, do you pray that your children and grandchildren might become overseas missionaries? That's not an easy prayer to pray, but I prayed it even again this morning for my grandchildren. Do you personally give to missions? And do you give sacrificially? Are you just kind of flipping God a quarter? Do you give in a way that it hurts so bad, it feels really good? If you've done that, you know what I mean. Do you have a mission savings account set up for your children and grandchildren? That's a novel idea, I didn't even think about that until about seven years ago when I heard someone get up and say, you know, we will set up savings accounts for our kids to go to college. But have set up a savings account for your kids or grandkids to go on a mission trip? And I thought, you know what? I haven't, but I have now. So there's a missions account for Danny and Charlotte Akin. So that when our 12, and soon to be 13 ,grandkids take their first mission trip, and grandmama which they call her Lottie, Lottie and G-daddy are going to make the biggest gift to their grandkids when they go on that first international mission trip. But then listen to this one very carefully, do you have a great commission ministry in your will or estate planning? Now, lots of young folks here, a lot of young folks who are thinking, I don't even have a will yet. Well you need to get one, and you certainly will need to get one soon. When you get married, you certainly got to have one, because if you get dropped dead, you at least want to make sure you cover the funeral so your mates not left with huge funeral expenses. But you can do better than that, you can start using those kinds of savings accounts to build money for the future. So for us, I saved money, I put money into retirement, but it's really not for retirement. You say, why not? Because my goal is when I die to make the largest single gift to the work of the Lord I've ever made in my entire life, and I will. I will. If I die tomorrow, the Lord's work at Southeastern Seminary will get hundreds of thousands of dollars. I've never written a check, or had drafted out of my bank account for my church for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it will happen when I die. You say, why would you do that? Well, first of all, because I want to be involved in the work of the Lord after I'm gone, and secondly, Jesus deserves it. So yes, I intend to leave money to my children, but I want to leave something for the work of the Lord too.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 37:39 There's a wonderful missionary, most of you won't know his name unfortunately. His name is James Frazier. James Frazier lived at the turn of the last century, the 1900's. James Frazier was a genius, he was a honor student in engineering at the University of London, and he was also an accomplished concert pianist who had an incredible career mapped out for his life. But in his senior year in college, someone gave him a little booklet called, Do Not Say. He read that booklet, and it so got ahold of his heart, that James Frazier did not become an engineer in London, he did not become a renowned concert pianist, but he rather picked up and moved to the Himalaya mountains in the Western part of China. Where he started working among, what I call the Chinese hillbillies, the Lisu. L. I. S. U., go Google it, the Lisu people group. L. I. S. U. He worked among them, all of the villages that he worked in were 10,000 feet and higher among the Himalayas. Five years, no converts. In the biography called, Mountain Rain, written by his daughter Ellen Crossman. She says, "On a number of occasions, my father contemplated suicide because the work was so unsuccessful., and on one occasion a man nearly killed him." But he stayed and he worked and he stayed and he worked and he stayed and he worked, and today most conservative estimates will tell you that there are more than 300,000 Lisu followers of Jesus Christ, because of the life of James Frazier. Now, what did he read in that booklet that compelled him to change, and altered the direction of his life? This is what he read and I close, A command has been given, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It has not been obeyed.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 39:45 More than half the people in the world have never yet heard the gospel. By the way, that was true in 1900, and it's still true in 2019. I can't even begin to imagine, I just have to think God looks down from Heaven and he weeps over that. So one more time, more than half the people in the world have never yet heard the gospel. What are we to say to this? Surely it concerns us Christians very seriously, for we are the people who are responsible. So if our master returned today to find millions, we could translate that billions, of people unevangelized. And he looked, and of course, he would look to us for an explanation. I cannot imagine what explanation we can give. Of one thing I am certain, most of the excuses we make with such a good conscience now, we would be wholly ashamed of then.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 40:52 Brothers and sisters, The Great Commission is not an option to be considered, it is a glorious, wonderful, gospel command to be obeyed. Let our obedience then begin where it should, in our homes and in our families. Brothers and sisters, don't let it stop there, there are people all over the world who still need to hear the good news of King Jesus.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 41:21 Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the final marching orders of our savior, that makes it very clear what he wants his church to be doing until he comes again. And that is Lord, going, giving, sacrificing, giving our lives to see the nation's reached with the gospel. Now, Lord, I want to be very clear, not everyone is called to go, though many are. But Lord, all of us are called to pray for the nations, all of us are called to give, to reach the nations, all of us are called to support those who do go. And Lord, here's an amazing thing, you brought the nations to us. In this room, it is filled with college students at the University of South Carolina, and Clemson, and other schools. And Lord, they know there are thousands and thousands and thousands of internationals who are here, they're lonely, they get discouraged, they're looking for a friend. And Lord, we can be a friend to them, and by that avenue, open up the door for gospel witness. So Lord, we have many who need to go to the nations. But Lord, in your goodness, you brought the nations to us. Now, Lord, may we get busy working among them. Lord, you died for every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, you have all of them on your heart. May they likewise be on our heart as well, until you come again [inaudible]. Make it so in our lives. We ask this in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Recorded in Columbia, South Carolina.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 00:41 So, I am going to look at a particular way for us to apply the final marching orders of Jesus in Matthew chapter 28, so look at what the Bible says there beginning with verse 18, "And Jesus came and said to them, that is to the 12, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." By the way, some form of the word all, or always, occurs four times in this text. It is emphasizing his comprehensive, universal, sovereign Lordship over all things, in light of his glorious bodily resurrection. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So in light of that, here is my final marching orders for the church. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy spirit." Very trinitarian driven. "Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." Last words are meant to be lasting words, because they convey what a person thinks is important, and what really matters to them. If you knew that you were about to die, or you knew you were about to leave some people that you dearly love. The odds are you would not be trivial, but you would speak about something that really matters to you.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 02:11 Now, of all the things that Jesus could have talked about before he ascended back into heaven, he decided that he would speak to what we call The Great Commission. Now, I'm amazed recently to learn that among those who go to church regularly, 51% of all Americans said they had never even heard of The Great Commission. Another 26% said, well, I've heard about it, but I don't know where you would go to find it. It's interesting to note that Jesus gave some form of The Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28, in Mark chapter 16, in Luke chapter 24, in John 20, and in Acts chapter 1. So in the four gospels, and the Book of Acts, some form of The Great Commission is found.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 03:07 But it's most popular rendition is found right here in Matthew chapter 28. First of all, he establishes his power, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Then he lays out for us clearly his plan, "Go and make disciples." Now it's interesting, make disciples is the only imperative. It's the main verb in verse 19, and the first part of verse 20, "Make disciples of all the nations." But the participles go, baptize, and teach, as they orbit about that particular imperative, received the force of an imperative. So Jesus commands us, you go. Jesus commands us, you baptize. Jesus commands, "Teach them all that I have commanded you. This is how we make disciples of all the nations." The Greek word [inaudible], we got word ethnic from it, of all the [inaudible.] Now, most missologyologists point out that those who are committed to The Great Commission, rightly focus on what we call the outer edges of darkness, the outer edges of darkness. We will often use the words underserved, unreached and unengaged people groups of the world, and this is what we mean by the outer edges of darkness.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 04:35 Now, it's an amazing thing to realize where we are today in the year 2019. First of all, just a little of math for us, a few figures. Today, approximately 7.6 billion people on planet earth, 7.6 billion. That by the way, constitutes, or is made up of 17,043 different people group. They have their own language, they have their own distinctive identity, 17,043 distinct people groups, making up 7.6 billion people. But here's what's amazing., even in the year 2019 with all of our resources, with all of our technology, with all of our access to quick easy travel around the globe, there is still 3.14 billion people that are unreached, underserved, and unengaged. In other words, there's still today, not quite half the world's population that has either no access to the gospel, our very limited access to the gospel. Which means this, today there are billions of people on planet earth, now listen to me, they will be born, they will live, they will di, they will go to hell, and they never even one time heard the gospel and in many cases never even heard the name of Jesus. After the first service of very sweet, kind, elderly man came up to me and said, can I just ask you a question about the fact that you said, even though they've never heard, they will still go to hell. If they've never heard, aren't they safe? And I said, well, if they're safe, then we shouldn't go. Now let that logic sink in, if people who've never heard the gospel are safe, then why in the world would Jesus tell us to go? He tells us to go, because they're not safe, they are lost. And God will not judge them according to what they do not know, but God will judge them based upon the revelation they have. And the Bible says, apart from a conscious commitment of your heart and life to the gospel, once you reach the age of accountability and have adequate mental capability, then you stand before a Holy God condemned with no hope. That is why we must go. It's amazing again to think, there are places in the world today where you and I could go be dropped onto the ground by a helicopter or a parachute. Hit the ground, start walking, and we could walk days, weeks, and months, we would never see a church, and we would never even meet a Christian. No, the call to the gospel demands that we go, our obedience to Christ and our love for others demands that we go.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 07:51 But here's my thesis for today. I do believe that it is crucial that we obey The Great Commission, extending the gospel to the outer edges of darkness, and reaching out to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. But I believe to be the most effective, great commission people possible, we need to understand that The Great Commission should start in the home, and The Great Commission should begin in the family. Now, this is a very, very young crowd, but you won't stay young very long, take my word for it. And so understand something, parents and grandparents by the way they teach, by the way they live, and by the way they model life should instill in their children and grandchildren a passion for obedience to The Great Commission. After all, good theology and good missiology is as much caught as it is taught. Furthermore, in survey after survey after survey, we learned that for children, nothing has changed. When you ask them who their heroes are, they will you, my heroes are my parents. They asked teenagers 20 years ago, same answer, 10 years ago, same answer, 5 years ago, same answer. Who's your hero? Is it a movie star? Nope. Is it a rock star? Nope. Is it an athlete? Nope. Is the politician? Are you kidding me? I'm just playing there now, don't you get mad at me? I'm not here to [inaudible] that kind of junk. But no, no, no and no, my hero is my dad, and my hero is my mom. So here's the bottom line, what you love, they'll love. What you value, they will value. What you have a passion for, they will have a passion for. And children do listen to their parents, children do care what their parents think, and children pay a whole lot of attention to what their parents do. So, in this room today are either parents, or soon to be parents, in most cases. So as a parent, who wants to instill in their child a great commission DNA. What will that look like day in and day out as you love well your children, for the glory of God, and the good of the nations, as you instill that great commission DNA in them?
Dr. Daniel Akin: 10:16 I'm going to give you very quickly, 10 very simple, basic, practical ideas that I believe will get us way down the road in cultivating for our children a great commission home, and a great commission heart. So here we go. Number one, be incarnational in your parenting. Be incarnational in your parenting, in other words, step back and ask, how does my 5 year old, or my 10 year old, or my 15 year old, or my 18 year old, how do they look at life? Given their sex, given their age, given their personality, given their interests, given their friends, how do they look at life right now? What is important to them? And you love them well, by getting down on their level, and entering into their world, by being incarnational in your parenting. Let me remind us all of this morning, how do we know that God loves us? I'll tell you how we know that God loves us, he came down into our world, and got on a our level, in the person of his son, Jesus Christ. Now I'll be the first to say, okay, I want to be very honest, I'll be the first to say that is much easier said than done.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 11:28 I heard about a little boy, his turtle died, broke his heart, cried all day. Dad came home from work, little boys in the backyard crying. Mom says, honey, he won't come to the house, his turtle's dead. I can't get anywhere with him. Can you try to do something? So dad goes back there. Sure enough, the turtle's not moving, the little boy is crying. Dad begins to wrack his brain, and he says, well son, now look, I'm so sorry your turtle died. But I'll tell you what, we can have a turtle funeral, and celebrate your turtle dying and going to turtle heaven or wherever they go. And so anyway, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to get a shoe box, and we're going to put them in that shoe box. And I'm going to dig a hole right here in our backyard, and we're going to bury your turtle back here, he'll always be here in our backyard. And he says, we're going to have a little funeral service for your turtle, I will out preach a little message for your turtle's funeral, and you can invite your friends over to be a part of your turtle's funeral. And I'll tell you what, since we're celebrating your turtle going to turtle heaven, we'll just have a little party. I'll get your mom to make a cake, I'll make some homemade ice cream, and we'll just have a little party with all of your friends to celebrate your turtle's funeral. And then after that, we'll go down to the park, and we'll ride the rides, and we'll take our baseball and bat and we'll play a little ball. And he said, so what do you think, we do all that to celebrate your turtle's funeral. Well, he still crying, but he says to his daddy, we can have a party. Oh, we can have a party. And I can invite...You can invite every friend you've got. And mom will make the cake, I'll make the ice cream, and we'll do all that to celebrate your turtle's funeral. What do you think? Well, the tears stopped, and a little smile came across his face and he said, well, daddy, that'll be okay. And boy dad felt great, he had saved the day. He took his son by the hand, they begin to walk back to the house. And can you believe it, at exactly that moment as they were walking away, suddenly out of that shell, boom, comes that turtle's head, and he begins to look around and check everything out. The dad saw it and the dad said, well, look, son, look your turtle, he's not dead after all. The little boy, he began to scream and cry again, kill him daddy, kill him. I want to have my party. Now, I admit it is not always easy to get into the world of a child, but if you love them, you're going to work at it. You're going to spend time with them, you're going to be there with them, and you're going to try as you spend that time with them to instill in their little lives already as a two year old, a five year old, an eight year old, a ten year old, a vision for the world, and a heart for The Great Commission.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 14:15 Number two, love well your mate, love well your mate. I have a very simple thesis here, and that is this, great partners almost always make great parents. Why? Because the number one need in the life of a child, related to love, is security. And nothing brings security in the life of a child like knowing my dad loves my mom, my mom loves my dad, and they're always going to be here just for me. And here's where I want to go with this, your children ought to learn about the love of God for the nations, by the way they see you love your mate. Your children, dads, ought to begin to see and develop a love for the nation, by the way they see their daddy loving their mother, and by the way mama loves their daddy. After all remember this world, every tribe, tongue, people, and nation is nothing less than the body of Christ, and the bride of Christ bought by his blood. And so by the way, we parent well, by the way we do marriage well, we show our children something about the love and the heart of God for the nations.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 15:27 Number three, you love your kids well toward being great commission minded children by spending time with them, by spending time with them. Hudson Taylor was considered perhaps the greatest missionary ever to China. I would not disagree with that. And Hudson Taylor said this about childhood quote, "At no other time is there a greater capacity for devotion, or a more pure uncalculating ambition in the service of God, than when they are a child." Apparently Hudson Taylor's parents took the time early in his life to instill this kind of devotion to him, because this is amazing, but listen, when Hudson Taylor was only five years old, he wrote in his Bible, when I am a man, I mean to be a missionary to China. And he was. You say, wait, wait, wait, wait, Danny, hold on, time out, time out, time out. A 5 year old cannot know what they're going to be when they grow up, a 10 year old can't even know what they're going to be when they go up, a15 year old is even pressing the edges to know what they're going to do when they go up. Well, I don't believe that, and I don't know why we treat our children like they're stupid. I certainly don't know why we treat teenagers like they're stupid. Bill Wallace, the great medical missionary to China, a Southern Baptist martyred there for his work on the Chinese. When he was 14 years old, wrote in his Bible, I will become a medical missionary, and he did Jim Elliot, teenager, I'm going to become a missionary. Elizabeth Elliot. teenager, I am going to become a missionary, Hudson Taylor, five years old, I am going to become a missionary, and his family did not push back on that, but they fanned that flame in his heart. And China has never been the same because of the ministry of Hudson Taylor. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 7 through 9, lays out for us very clearly how this happens in terms of spending time with your children. It follows what is known as the Shamar, " Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And then it says, in verse 7, "You shall teach them, that is God's commandments, diligently to your children. And you shall talk with them (When?) four times. You should talk with them, one, when you sit in your house. Number two, when you walk by the way. Number three, when you lie down. And number four, when you rise up, that is when you are to be teaching your children.'" But here's the problem, we don't spend the time necessary. We don't spend the time necessary. We get so caught up with our world, we don't spend the necessary time with our children to impact and shape their lives in that kind of way.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 18:21 A couple of years ago, a secular survey was taken, here's what they learned. On average, on average, 5 year old’s spend 25 to 35 minutes a week with their dad, but they spent 20 to 25 hours a week with a television, or what we now refer to as "technological babysitters". Think computer, think iPad, thinks smartphones, think all those other gadgets out there. So hear me one more time, 25 to 35 minutes a week with their dad, 20 to 25 hours a week with a TV or another technological babysitter. That may explain this, Reader's Digest took a survey of 4 and 5 year old’s and they asked them this question, if you had to vote to give away either your daddy or your TV, which would you vote to give away? 33%, one in three said, I'd rather give away my daddy, than I would my TV. One man, reflecting back over his childhood, sat down and wrote this, and it actually made its way into a local newspaper. Here's what he said to his parents, "You didn't take care of me, you sent me to daycare. You didn't feed me, you sent me to McDonald's. You didn't study with me, you bought me a computer. You didn't talk to me, you bought me a stereo. You didn't look at me, you bought me a TV. You didn't play with me, you bought me toys. Now that I'm grown and you are old, why should I come and see you? I don't even know who you are." Yes, love is a beautiful four letter word, but I think sometimes we spell it best this way. T. I. M. E. So fathers in particular, what kind of projection of the perfect heavenly Father are you given to your children in terms of the time that you invest in them?
Dr. Daniel Akin: 20:21 Number four, learn to listen to your children. Learn to listen to your children. James 1:19 says, "Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger." So parents, do you know your children's heart? Do you know what concerns them, what interests them, what matters to them? Do you sit down and just listen to them, and let them talk. Ann Dunnigan who had studied how to cultivate missionary homes says, "When we ask a child, what do you want to be when you grow up? Mission-Minded parents and teachers, we'll turn that question, and our question being turned in a different kind of a why has the capacity and the possibilities of completely redirecting their lives in a different way and toward a different kind of future." She says, "We might say something like this to our children, not when you grow up, what do you want to be? But maybe something like this, Oh, I wonder when you grow up, what exciting plans has God prepared for your life? When you grow up, will you do whatever God wants you to do?" George very graciously mentioned a moment ago that we have four sons and they're all in the ministry, but all four of them would tell you, my dad never one time told us he wanted us to go into ministry. What I did tell them was, when you go up, just make sure you love and serve Jesus with your whole heart, and I really don't care what you do. Serve Jesus with your whole heart as a lawyer, or a banker, or a father. Or for females, as a mother, as a wife, as a school teacher, I could go on and on and on. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as what you do, you do all for the glory of God with a whole heart set upon the savior. So what does it mean to love your kid in this kind of why? It means putting away the smartphone, and putting away the iPad, and turning off the TV, and sitting down eye to eye, ear to ear, heart to heart, and locking in, in that kind of way. You say to your children, I'm here not to talk, I am here just to listen, because I think what you think is important.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 22:30 Number five, read missionary biographies to your children. Following the model of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 11, we all know in this room that there's great power and inspiration in story. My son John named his son Judson, after the famous Baptist missionary from America Adoniram Judson. My son Paul named his son Micah Elliott, honoring the name of the very famous American missionary, Jim Elliot. I would argue that a missionary hero should be a regular staple of the spiritual diet of your children. And brothers and sisters, there is a ton of material out there written on the children's level, on a child's level, that will acquaint them with the unbelievable stories of a Jim Elliott, an Amy Carmichael, an Eric Little, an Adoniram Judson, a David Livingston, a Hudson Taylor, a Nate Saint. William Carey, the father of the modern missionary movement. Lottie Moon, Bertha Smith, John and Betty Stam, how about George Lyle? George Lyle, who's George Lyle? Well, I always love to say, if Adoniram Judson is the father of American missions, George Lyle is the grandfather of American mission. You say, well, who was he? He was a slave. He was a slave, and George Lyle came to faith in Christ. And by God's good grace, his owner was a believer, so he began to give him freedom to go up and down the Georgia South Carolina border to preach the gospel. In fact, many people referred to him as the black George Whitfield, who helped launch the first great awakening. He was such a powerful preacher. He later was granted his freedom by his owner, and then war broke out between America and Great Britain, and the family tried to re enslave him. But a man said to him, George, I'm going to do work in Jamaica. I'll take you and your wife and your children. I'll pay your passage, you can pay it off. He was a bivocational minister for the rest of his life, but he went to Jamaica a decade before Judson went to Burma, and planted a church in Kingston that exploded. From there, he then began a church planting movement all across Jamaica. About four years ago, a man came to my office at Southeastern Seminary. And I said, I'm just curious. I'm just curious, have you ever heard of a man named George Lyle? And his face lit up like a Christmas tree and he said, oh, you're talking about the apostle Paul of Jamaica. He actually was on the mission field even before Carey went to India, and Judson went to Burma, but most people have never even heard of this wonderful, faithful, godly pastor and missionary. You ought to make missionaries the heroes of your children.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 25:36 Number six, expose your children to missionaries and their lives by having them in your home, sharing a meal with them, and listening to their stories. There really is no way for me to overstate this morning, the impact of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot, on modern missions. Will Elizabeth happened to be the child of missionary parents. Jim Elliott noted in his journals that his family regularly entertain missionaries in their homes, so that is a teenager, he determined I will be a missionary. John Stam, who was martyred at the age of 27 in China, had parents who ran the star of hope mission in Patterson, New Jersey. His wife, Betty Stam, also martyred with her husband, was born into a missionary family, all of whom, all the siblings became missionaries. In fact, she said in her diary, "All five of us children expected to return to China as missionaries. Our parents never urged it, it just seemed the natural and the right thing for us to do." I could multiply that many times over, because we are shaped and molded by the people we get to know, and the people we grow to admire.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 26:56 Number seven, go on mission trips, and take your children with you. Go on mission trips, and take your children with you. Now, let me be very, very practical here. Begin with short term, and easier access trips. I would not say to any of you this morning, well, you need to pack up and go spend a month in Afghanistan, I would not tell you to do that. I don't think you're ready for it. I don't think I'm ready for it. Alright? And I've been all over the world, I've been in over 30 countries. But spending a month, or spending a life, in Afghanistan, you better count the cost. So start with easy trips. Start with readily accessible trips, then move to midterm, then moved to tougher conditions. We do know this, almost, not all, but almost all career missionaries first caught the missionary bug on a short term missionary trip. Now, how does this then relate to your children? A wonderful book I would commend to all of you, called The Mission Minded Child. The Mission Minded Child, and Dunnigan says it like this, "A mission minded child dreams of fulfilling God's destiny in their life. A mission minded child may want to become a missionary, or a teacher, or a doctor, or a newspaper reporter, or a state governor, or a pastor, or a business person, or an airline pilot, or an author, or florist, or a mother, as long as it's what God wants them to do. A mission-minded child prays for that lost next door neighbor. A mission-minded child is not a picky eater." No wait, that's not true. My middle son Paul would be in the picky eater hall of fame, of that there's absolutely no question. And so what does God do in his hilarity? He calls him to be a missionary, and sent his buns to Africa, and then sent him to work among Palestinian refugees in Jordan. And he not only had to eat things he didn't like, he had eat things he didn't even like to look, and God did that to him. So God can take, if you're here and you're like, I'm a picky eater, I'm never going anywhere. Watch out, God may be lurking around your corner. A mission minded child takes home a photo magnet from the visiting missionary family, puts it on the kitchen refrigerator so they can pray for them. A mission minded child spends a summer night sleeping outside on the trampoline, gazes up at the sky filled with stars, and realizes God's plan is infinitely bigger than his or her own backyard. A mission minded child imagines rollerblading on the great wall of China. A mission minded child recognizes the names of David Livingston, and Amy Carmichael, and Hudson Taylor. A mission minded child learns to use chopsticks. A mission minded child puts extra money in the monthly missions offering, and feels really good about it. A mission minded child thinks it could be fun to sleep in a mud hut in Africa. A mission minded child reads all the way through the Bible by the age of 10 or 11 or 12, and is excited to start and do it again. A mission minded child stares at the photos in the new geography textbooks or magazines, and imagines climbing to the top of that Egyptian pyramid, snorkeling in those tropical blue waters, and giving a new outfit to that poor boy with the ripped up shirt. A mission minded child befriends the new kid at school. A mission minded child thinks beyond the box of what's merely expected, and hopes to do something big or something little but all for God. A mission minded child wants to obey even when no one is looking. A mission minded child above all things loves, and wants to serve, Jesus.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 30:58 Number eight, teach your children what the Bible says about missions. Teach your children that it was the final marching orders of the Lord Jesus. Teach your children that the greatest missionary who ever lived was the Lord Jesus, who left heaven, and came all the way down here to save us from our sins. Teach your children that the greatest theologian who ever lived, was also the greatest missionary who ever lived, and his name was the apostle Paul.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 31:24 Number nine, pray for the nations and missionaries by name. A. B. Simpson said, "Prayer is the mighty engine, that is to move the missionary work." A. T. Pearson said, "Every step in the progress of missions is directly traceable to prayer." You say, well, how do you go about doing that? Well, I'll just tell what I do. First of all, at our school, every spring when we have our spring meetings for our trustees, we will have a commissioning service for all of our students that are leaving Southeastern to go to the mission field, and they all have prayer cards. If you were to come to my office today at Southeastern Seminary, there's at least 25 prayer cards scattered around my office. Then you could go over to my office at the house and you'll find another 25 prayer cards scattered all over my office. And every time I see one, I pray for them. I have all of them put me on their mailing lists, so I can keep up with them, and every time they write me, I not only pray for them, I write them back. Which they tell me they really appreciate, because most people don't. And then every morning, every morning, this morning, no exception, I get from the Joshua Project, go the Joshua Project and ask them to put the you on their email list, and every morning I receive an unreached people group. So morning it was the Gujar, G, U, J, A, R, of Pakistan, 5.5 million, virtually no Christians among this very large people group in Pakistan. So it's not difficult to pray for the nations if you want to. And then adopt, as a family, an unreached people group. Adopt a nation where the gospel is desperately needed. Pray for China, pray for Indonesia, pray for Afghanistan., there are so many countries where the gospel is desperately needed. And then adopt a specific missionary, and pray for them.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 33:15 Finally, number 10, model missional living as a life priority before your children. Model missional living as a life priority before your children. Now listen to this very carefully, David Shibley, founder of Global Advance says this, "God is not calling us to win the world, and in the process lose our families. But I have known those who so enshrined family life, and we're so protective of quality time, that the children never saw in their parents the kind of consuming love that made their parents' faith attractive to them." Some have lost their children, not because they weren't at their soccer games, or didn't take family vacations. They lost their families because they never transmitted a loyalty to Jesus that went deep enough to interrupt their personal preferences.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 34:26 So some practical things to think about as I close, in the form of six quick questions. Number one, do you have a passport? Do you have a passport? If you don't have one, go get one. Why? Because you can't go overseas without a passport. So first thing, go get a passport. In fact, if you won't go get a passport, then you're not serious about this. I mean, I've just basically wasted 30 minutes of our time. If you are serious about it, and you don't have one, go get a passport, alright? Second question, do you go on national and international mission trips? This church is doing them all of the time, so the opportunities readily avail themselves. Thirdly, do you pray? Do you pray that your children, and for those of you that are my age, do you pray that your children and grandchildren might become overseas missionaries? That's not an easy prayer to pray, but I prayed it even again this morning for my grandchildren. Do you personally give to missions? And do you give sacrificially? Are you just kind of flipping God a quarter? Do you give in a way that it hurts so bad, it feels really good? If you've done that, you know what I mean. Do you have a mission savings account set up for your children and grandchildren? That's a novel idea, I didn't even think about that until about seven years ago when I heard someone get up and say, you know, we will set up savings accounts for our kids to go to college. But have set up a savings account for your kids or grandkids to go on a mission trip? And I thought, you know what? I haven't, but I have now. So there's a missions account for Danny and Charlotte Akin. So that when our 12, and soon to be 13 ,grandkids take their first mission trip, and grandmama which they call her Lottie, Lottie and G-daddy are going to make the biggest gift to their grandkids when they go on that first international mission trip. But then listen to this one very carefully, do you have a great commission ministry in your will or estate planning? Now, lots of young folks here, a lot of young folks who are thinking, I don't even have a will yet. Well you need to get one, and you certainly will need to get one soon. When you get married, you certainly got to have one, because if you get dropped dead, you at least want to make sure you cover the funeral so your mates not left with huge funeral expenses. But you can do better than that, you can start using those kinds of savings accounts to build money for the future. So for us, I saved money, I put money into retirement, but it's really not for retirement. You say, why not? Because my goal is when I die to make the largest single gift to the work of the Lord I've ever made in my entire life, and I will. I will. If I die tomorrow, the Lord's work at Southeastern Seminary will get hundreds of thousands of dollars. I've never written a check, or had drafted out of my bank account for my church for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it will happen when I die. You say, why would you do that? Well, first of all, because I want to be involved in the work of the Lord after I'm gone, and secondly, Jesus deserves it. So yes, I intend to leave money to my children, but I want to leave something for the work of the Lord too.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 37:39 There's a wonderful missionary, most of you won't know his name unfortunately. His name is James Frazier. James Frazier lived at the turn of the last century, the 1900's. James Frazier was a genius, he was a honor student in engineering at the University of London, and he was also an accomplished concert pianist who had an incredible career mapped out for his life. But in his senior year in college, someone gave him a little booklet called, Do Not Say. He read that booklet, and it so got ahold of his heart, that James Frazier did not become an engineer in London, he did not become a renowned concert pianist, but he rather picked up and moved to the Himalaya mountains in the Western part of China. Where he started working among, what I call the Chinese hillbillies, the Lisu. L. I. S. U., go Google it, the Lisu people group. L. I. S. U. He worked among them, all of the villages that he worked in were 10,000 feet and higher among the Himalayas. Five years, no converts. In the biography called, Mountain Rain, written by his daughter Ellen Crossman. She says, "On a number of occasions, my father contemplated suicide because the work was so unsuccessful., and on one occasion a man nearly killed him." But he stayed and he worked and he stayed and he worked and he stayed and he worked, and today most conservative estimates will tell you that there are more than 300,000 Lisu followers of Jesus Christ, because of the life of James Frazier. Now, what did he read in that booklet that compelled him to change, and altered the direction of his life? This is what he read and I close, A command has been given, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It has not been obeyed.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 39:45 More than half the people in the world have never yet heard the gospel. By the way, that was true in 1900, and it's still true in 2019. I can't even begin to imagine, I just have to think God looks down from Heaven and he weeps over that. So one more time, more than half the people in the world have never yet heard the gospel. What are we to say to this? Surely it concerns us Christians very seriously, for we are the people who are responsible. So if our master returned today to find millions, we could translate that billions, of people unevangelized. And he looked, and of course, he would look to us for an explanation. I cannot imagine what explanation we can give. Of one thing I am certain, most of the excuses we make with such a good conscience now, we would be wholly ashamed of then.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 40:52 Brothers and sisters, The Great Commission is not an option to be considered, it is a glorious, wonderful, gospel command to be obeyed. Let our obedience then begin where it should, in our homes and in our families. Brothers and sisters, don't let it stop there, there are people all over the world who still need to hear the good news of King Jesus.
Dr. Daniel Akin: 41:21 Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the final marching orders of our savior, that makes it very clear what he wants his church to be doing until he comes again. And that is Lord, going, giving, sacrificing, giving our lives to see the nation's reached with the gospel. Now, Lord, I want to be very clear, not everyone is called to go, though many are. But Lord, all of us are called to pray for the nations, all of us are called to give, to reach the nations, all of us are called to support those who do go. And Lord, here's an amazing thing, you brought the nations to us. In this room, it is filled with college students at the University of South Carolina, and Clemson, and other schools. And Lord, they know there are thousands and thousands and thousands of internationals who are here, they're lonely, they get discouraged, they're looking for a friend. And Lord, we can be a friend to them, and by that avenue, open up the door for gospel witness. So Lord, we have many who need to go to the nations. But Lord, in your goodness, you brought the nations to us. Now, Lord, may we get busy working among them. Lord, you died for every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, you have all of them on your heart. May they likewise be on our heart as well, until you come again [inaudible]. Make it so in our lives. We ask this in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Recorded in Columbia, South Carolina.
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