God is a Missionary God

At the end of Romans, Paul reveals the reason for that theological treatise. His letter was a missionary letter — a request for financial and spiritual support and encouragement as he took the gospel of Christ to Spain. All the theology of the letter was simply his way of affirming his beliefs and teaching, demonstrating […]

Sermon: Paul’s Missionary Message

“Preach Christ:” Paul’s Missionary MessageRomans 15:17-21August 29, 2021 Some sermon topics invariably provoke listeners to experience a sense of guilt: Sermons on prayer lead to thoughts of “I don’t pray enough…” Sermons on evangelism lead to thoughts of “I don’t tell enough people about Jesus…” Sermons on missions lead to questions like “should I go?…” […]

A biblical mandate for missions

Last year, our church elder board developed a policy for missions to determine what missions is and what kind of missionaries our church is committed to support and what our expectations are for ourselves and our missionaries in the missionary endeavor. The process was enlightening as we began to see the breadth of God’s passion […]

Reflections on my recent trip to Russia and Israel

Earlier this month I took a trip to Siberia and Israel to teach biblical counseling with Pastor Dan Kirk and Eric Mock (SGA). I have traveled with these men previously and was particularly anticipating returning to one location in Siberia where we taught two years ago. The goal of the trip was two-fold: Finish a […]

Sermon: Go to the Nations, Pt 3

Go to the Nations: Our Responsibilities in Missions 3 John June 24, 2018 It has been suggested that Acts is the best manual for missions that the church has. We learn a tremendous amount about missions by reading Acts. But many of the principles of missions we glean in Acts are also present in 3 […]

Sermon: Go to the Nations, Pt 2

Go to the Nations: Priorities and Responsibilities in Missions Selected Scriptures June 17, 2018 When I was in college I got a job working for a lumber supply company. I worked in the showroom selling things like plumbing and electrical parts, cabinets, and paint. To say that I was ignorant about the building business when […]

What is missions?

“What is missions?” seems a simple question to answer. But it is not. Because so many are now using missions with a variety of emphases — the social gospel as missions, social justice as missions, outreach as missions, and missional ministry — we want to articulate what we mean by missions. When we use the […]

Sermon: Go to the Nations

Go to the Nations: the What and Why of Missions Selected Scriptures June 10, 2018 I started studying for this sermon series almost 13 years ago. A man who was involved in a kind of mission ministry that we already were a part of in a part of the world where we were already supporting […]

Slain in the Shadow of the Almighty – from Desiring God

John Piper writes this morning: On January 8, 1956 — sixty years ago today — Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Flemming, and Roger Youderian were speared to death on a sandbar called “Palm Beach” in the Curaray River of Ecuador. They were trying to reach the Huaorani Indians for the first time in […]

Sermon: Hospitality, truth, love, and missions, Pt. 2

Hospitality, Truth, Love, and Missions, Pt. 2 3 John 7-14 October 5, 2014 Years ago, when then-speaker of the house Sam Rayburn discovered he had terminal cancer, he shocked everyone when he announced that he was going back to his small hometown of Bonham, Texas. He was often asked, “They have the finest facilities in […]

Sermon: Hospitality, truth, love, and missions

Hospitality, Truth, Love, and Missions, Pt. 1 3 John 1-6 September 21, 2014 One thing we speak of frequently at GBC is the shape of our church ministry: what will we do and how will we do it? There are so many competing ideas of what a church is and how it should function that […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from the last week: You may have made a resolution this week about your Bible reading for this year. Here is some good counsel for “How to read the whole Bible in 2014” (including a variety of Bible reading plans) by Justin Taylor. I’ve also posted several plans for our church here. […]

When children die while serving the Lord

How do you respond when your child precedes you in death? And what do you say when they die in a vicious act of martyrdom. The father of John Stam give an example when he wrote a letter after his son and daughter-in-law were martyred in China in 1934. Our dear children, John Stam and […]

A testimony of God’s grace in suffering

Steve Saint, the son of Nate Saint, one of the men martyred by the Auca Indians in the 1950s, recently suffered partial paralysis in an accident at his ministry. He gives a testimony to the grace of God and calls others to the missionary endeavor from his hospital bed: He has previously talked and written […]

Thinking about…death

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been slowly making my way through Nancy Guthrie’s O Love That Will Not Let Me Go: Facing Death with Courageous Confidence in God. I’ve been encouraged by the biblical thinking of godly men about death. This morning I read this from John Eaves, a believer who was diagnosed […]