Missionaries are doing many different things. Working in schools, remote churches, working in technology.
What is the Kingdom of God?
It is every place where Gods will is being done.
It is everything gone wrong in the fall being made right again in Christ.
It is God’s dream for his creation.
It is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit extending His life into all creation.
If we do not extend the kingdom of God it will be overtaken by darkness and other kingdoms. Turkey used to be a Christian place but faded into passive Christianity but did not have the kingdom of God. Turkey is now a Muslim nation that has protesting and violence. The French are becoming Muslim and they had 25% control of the world, now the language and people group are disappearing. We need to bring the kingdom of God into music, acting, business, churches, and other areas of society. Our job is to set people free. In Thailand 80% of 15 year olds will be violated. Thailand is getting technology and better homes but they are not living free.
As missionaries we are in a battle but people are never our enemy. One of their friends worked at a Christian orphanage that later became a government orphanage. There was so much corruption, money for toys and such were sold in the black market, children were sometimes sold as child workers. This man grew bitter and was no longer able to be an effective missionary and had to return home to heal and reconnect with God to be able to be an effective missionary. There will be times we get exhausted and wonder why we are fighting but we need to know that we are bringing His kingdom to the world. We need to encourage others that are losing hope and remind others that it is not just about us having freedom but need to let other people free.
Why do we miss the Kingdom of God?
We miss the kingdom of God when we confuse it with church or heaven. Heaven is a part of the kingdom but the kingdom is much more than heaven.
The kingdom of God has come, it is here right now. We cannot confuse it with earthly kingdoms, USA is not the kingdom of God. America is not a Christian nation.
We should not be surprised by unjust laws or gender confusion. Jesus said these things would happen, be of good cheer as I have overcome the world. In the end times knowledge would increase and there would be war everywhere, earthquakes would become common.
We miss it because we inherit a Greek worldview. We need a biblical worldview. EXAMPLE: When you meet a DTS student from Europe, during the DTS you see that they are lazy and touching the girls often. Because you love the person you talk with them and read some scripture to them. You tell them that they need to live in the kingdom of God. If they start saying that they always take a nap in the afternoon in their culture and they are affectionate in their culture. The thing is we live in God’s culture so it does not matter what we are used to, it is what is right.
1 Corinthians 10:23-33 – Do everything to the glory of God.
What is a worldview?
Some people think we do missions work because it makes us happy. “Well I am glad that is what makes you happy.”
If we are Christians we believe humans are created by a holy God and because we believe that we have high regard for human life and reject abortion, euthanasia.
If we are Hindu, we just view humans as highly evolved animals then we can have abortions to remove people that we don’t want. Euthanasia is also generally okay.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that everybody has the same worldview.
In the US many are fighting the law to remove gay marriage but they are not focusing on the hearts of the people. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand but has many cases every day.
We are not to preach about what people are doing wrong but bring them Jesus. For us to tell them that according to our worldview they are wrong will not help. We bring the kingdom of God by bring love, food, service and then they will see the difference.
In a village that Art and Ellen went to they found that as people came to know Christ the priest/monks were not being payed to bless the business or remove evil spirits. They were instead going to Art’s team and they prayed for free. He was hurting the monk’s income. He bought beer for a group of young guys and then told them he would pay them to get rid of the Christians. They had rocks thrown at them and the team was upset about this, Art told them some missionaries (John Wesley) expected rocks to be thrown at them. When John was in England he prayed that he would do God’s will as he felt it was too easy. When he had rocks thrown at him then he praised God. They agreed to stay in the village and staying in the pastor’s home some night, they had a bullet thrown in the room with a warning to leave or get shot. One of the people had 2 children so they packed and then had worship and prayer to ask God where they should go. As they prayed there was a knock and a man from another village that asked if they would come to his village as bad things were happening. He asked what was wrong and he was told that it is a Buddhist village that is being attacked by evil spirits and he felt hopeless as he had no control of the spirits. The people in the market that saw him sad sent him to the YWAM team that they said were over all evil spirits. He told them that the day before, the spirits asked for the sacrifice of a 10 yr. old boy which had already happened. Art asked why and the man said that the father of the boy went hunting and shot a big bird and was unable to find it and when it got dark he had to go back without food for the family. In the jungle it is dangerous with snakes and panthers, when going home he heard birds behind him. This made him uneasy, he then went home and his wife told him that the son was sick. They took him to the witchdoctor and give him whatever he wants to heal the son. When the father brought the boy to the witchdoctor they spoke to the evil spirits and came back and told the father he killed one of the special birds and the entire village would be killed. The only way to save it was to sacrifice the son. When they got to the village the people were uninterested in the forang and what they had to say. The teacher, the man that brought them, said he could share to the children and they saw many children come to Jesus. They would then tell the parents that the child gave their heart to God and the parents just said that the children better be protected by their God. Art brought many outreach teams to the village but the adults would not listen. Years/Months later there was a frail boy and his father took everything they had and gave it to the witchdoctor who prayed to the evil spirits to make the boy fatter. After that he remained frail and was no longer able to speak. A shy girl on that outreach asked to pray and prayed powerfully over the child. The boy ended up opening his mouth and black stuff came out, she then told him to say Thank you Jesus which were the first words out of his mouth. They then asked the father if they could take him to the hospital and the father agreed after they told him that YWAM would pay the bill. He was in intensive care for 3 days and then they took him to the pastor and fed him for a month until he was strong. They then had a public meeting and they had a showing up adults which they never had come before. Then they asked if they wanted to receive Christ and the father and the chief were the first to accept. They are now a Christian village.
Generally child sacrifice is for the tawada (local spirit). There are more child sacrifice now in SE Asia than any other time in history.
The village had a different world view.
We believe God is a loving Father, the universe is moral, personal and rational and we are created in God’s image.
We believe the problem of the world is sin and separation from God. We should believe the solution is the cross. The consequence is compassionate societies, moral culture, dignity and self-worth, blessings and prosperity, purpose hope and life.
Muslims believe Allah is “one”, impersonal. He is the master and we are the slave, we never ask questions. The world’s problem is non-believers, infidels. The solution is Jihad and Shira Law. The consequences are legalism, rejection, slavery, bondage, death. Injustice and oppression.