Why Support Missions?
- Julie Brennan
- Nov 17, 2024
- 16 min read
Guest Pastor Jared Stuemke
November 17, 2024
Listen, watch, or read the transcript below.
Missions
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Why should we support missions?
We don't need to change the world. We just need to spread the gospel.
Just like it takes 1152 bees (producing 1/12 teaspoon of honey in their life) to make 1 pint of honey, together our small efforts can make big impacts in the Kingdom.
1) Jesus Commands Us to GO
The Great Commission is a command from Jesus. It's not something optional. It's what the church has been called to do.
'And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."' Matthew 28:18-20
2) The Holy Spirit Empowers Us to WITNESS
Whether we witness to our neighbor, a friend, or travel to another culture, another part of the world, or wherever we go, God equips us through His Spirit. This empowerment is for everyone. It's not just for pastors, missionaries, evangelists.
'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ' Acts 1:8
3) Jesus cares for the Lost and so Should We
At the heart of missions is God's deep love for every single person. Jesus came to rescue the lost and now sends us to do the same.
Compassion must move us to action. People need to hear the gospel before it's too late and we are running out of time.
'For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” ' Luke 19:10
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Transcribed by Turbo Scribe
Why this wife has lost her voice? Now we're really glad to have Jared and his family here. With no further ado, Jared Stupke. Did I say that right? Stupke.
Oh, Stupke. You guys hear me okay on this thing? Yep. Yeah, if you're German, it's Stumke.
You gotta spit a little bit. Well, good morning. It's wonderful to be here in Ashland.
We met a lot of new people this morning. And I probably won't remember everybody's name. It takes me quite a while to remember names.
My name is Jared Stupke and my wife, Melissa. I'll introduce our family a little bit more in a minute. Before I get started, why don't we just pray again? We can't pray too much.
Alright. Lord, we just thank you for this day. Thank you for bringing us all to this place.
Father, I just ask the Lord to calm my nerves this morning. I'm still nervous speaking sometimes. And I just pray that you would give me a peace, Lord.
Let me speak what you want to be heard this morning, Father. Speak to every one of our hearts. Show us, God, what you would have for us.
What you would say to us this morning, Lord. Just for you in this service, through being a part of this service, Lord. Guide our steps and our words and our hearts, Lord.
Lord, we just thank you for your word. And your deep love for us. Before I begin today, before I talk more about our family and where we're going and all that stuff, I have a little bit of a message for you guys.
It's not too long, but it's just about missions and it's just about what I think is the heart of the church. I just want to share a little bit about why we do missions, why we go, why we witness, why we do what we do, what God has called us to do. The mission to share our faith and to share our hope that is in us is not optional.
It's the heartbeat of our Christian walk. The famous Amy Simpson, the Canadian preacher and missionary, said it like this. Missions is not merely an option for the church.
It is the church's mission. If I can maybe boil down this Christian walk to its simplest forms, I just jotted down some things. I think these are the basic elements of this Christian walk.
Abide in Christ. Remain in Him and in His Word. Commune with Christ.
Have a relationship with Christ. Share your faith and witness. Share what we have in Christ with others.
And if I can boil down the purpose of the church as a whole, to its simplest form, I would say it's to glorify God, to know Christ, to make Christ known, make disciples, remain in Him and in the orthodox teachings of scripture, to come together in unity and mutual fellowship. That's what the church is. But a big part of that is sharing what we have, sharing our faith, sharing the hope we have in Christ.
So the three things I came up with to share today, these are the three whys or the three reasons we do this. The first one I came up with is Jesus demands us to go. Matthew 28, 19-20 says, it's the Great Commission, you've all heard it, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Great Commission is a command from Jesus. It's not something optional. It's what the church has been called to do.
It's for all believers. If Jesus has saved us, He also sends us. We are His hands and His feet, sharing the hope of salvation with people near us, far away, wherever we go, wherever we can do, wherever we are.
It's to share Christ. It's to first commune with Him, first to know Him and then to share Him. The second thing that came to my mind when I was praying about this is the Holy Spirit empowers us to witness.
Acts 1:8, that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. We don't go on our own strength. The Holy Spirit gives us the boldness and the power to share the gospel.
Whether we witness to our neighbor, a friend, or travel to another culture, another part of the world, or wherever we go, God equips us through His Spirit. This empowerment is for everyone. It's not just for pastors, missionaries, evangelists.
It's for all of us. So, we need to make Christ known wherever we go. I want to share something with you real quick.
Where's that jar of honey? Where'd you bring that jar of honey? I don't know why I'm thinking about this this morning, but I just feel like something God wants me to share this morning. Something about honey that I was thinking about. This is from my own hive at my house.
We have one hive and we get like five gallons of honey out of it every year. It's enough for our family and to share a little bit. A fascinating thing about honey and bees is... There's a lot of fascinating things.
If you observe bees, they're just amazing animals. I just like sitting there and watching them work. It blows my mind.
Bees live an average of 30 to 40 days. That's their entire lifespan. In those 30 to 40 days, each bee can create about one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.
That's a tiny little amount. Like a twelfth of a teaspoon. I was just thinking about that.
This is kind of like our Christian walk. It's kind of like missions. We each contribute this small amount, maybe.
I don't want to say insignificant. It's very significant, but it might be small. It might be larger.
But overall, we all contribute a little part to this larger part. It takes a lot of bees to make this little jar of honey. I didn't do the math.
Julie can probably do the math. It's a lot of bees. If you think one twelfth of a teaspoon times the size of that jar.
It's a lot of bees. I bring that up because I just want to say this. We each have to do our part.
We each have to be who God has called us to be. We're each unique. We each have different skills.
Different giftings. The Lord has called us each one to do what he's called us to do. I don't know what it is for you.
I know what it is for my family at this season in life. But I don't know exactly what my kids will do. I also want you to think about this.
Think about your own life. How many in here remember their grandparents? You knew your grandparents. You remember them.
Most people in the room remember grandparents in some way. How many remember their great-grandparents? A little less, but still some of you. I was fortunate enough to know both of my great-grandparents on my mom's side.
They didn't pass away until the late 80s, 90s. It's pretty rare to know both of your great-grandparents. Did anybody know a great-great-grandparent? One or two people in here? What about a great-great-great? Any? Probably not very many, if any.
Unless your family had really young kids. Every generation, you're probably not going to know your great-great-great. What I want to say with that is our lives are so short.
It's like a whiff of smoke. It's like a blink of an eye. If you think about those people that came before us, you might know their name.
You might know a little bit about them, but you don't really know that people. I hate to say it, but once you're gone, people are going to forget you within a generation or two. They may know your name, but they're not really going to know who you are or what kind of person you were.
My point is this. I really want to make the most of what we have. I know I don't mean to say this to the church.
There are so many things like money, power, fame, and all that stuff. Stuff, stuff, stuff. We all use so much stuff.
That stuff is just fleeting. It's so pointless. I would love to see us spend our lives and spend that little time we have building things of eternal value that last and last.
For the rest of my life, I want to definitely spend whatever little time I have left building things of eternal value. That's why God's called us on the mission field. God's called you to other places.
He's called you to your work. He's called you to the grocery store. He's called you to wherever you go.
Wherever you are, that's where God's called you to be. I want to emphasize that we're all witnesses. I don't want to say we're all missionaries because the term missionary is specific to somebody going to a different culture, a different country, a different demographic, a purpose spreading the gospel.
We're all called to be witnesses. Wherever we go, we're supposed to share this faith, this hope that we have in us with everybody we come in contact with. So that's my prayer for the church, not just this church, I mean the church as a whole.
That's my prayer is that we should, first of all, know Christ, know our position in Christ, know our unity in Christ, and share that with this world. Whether it's just a conversation, whether it's a kindness thing, whether it's speaking just a word of encouragement to somebody and showing them the love of Christ. That's what we're called to do as the church.
And I want to get better at that. I'm definitely not great at that. I'm an extreme introvert by nature.
I'm recovering. But I mean I've been an engineer my whole life. I don't talk to people.
I talk to computers and electronics and that's my life. But as I get older, man, I want to be like some of these older guys who can just strike up a conversation and talk to people. And somehow it always leads back to Christ.
I don't know how these guys do it. They'll be talking about an oil change or something. And somehow it leads back to knowing Christ and what Christ has done in their life.
I don't know if you guys know people like that. I've known several people like that. They're usually older gentlemen because they just don't care anymore basically.
They don't care who they talk to. Am I right? They don't care what they say. And their life just shines Christ wherever they go.
And that's what I was trying to get at here in this point number two is the Holy Spirit gives us this ability. The more we seek Christ in private, the more we can proclaim Him in public. And I'm praying that we can get better at that as a church.
I'm praying that as a family we can get better at that. As an individual, I pray that for my kids. I believe the church needs to focus on witnessing.
We need to be intentional about leading more people to Christ. Discipling them, showing them, and growing the church. Not just numbers, but I'm talking about growing the church in our relationship with Christ.
Closer to Him. Closer to His word. Closer to the teachings of Christ.
The teachings of scripture. Let's go on to number three. The third thing I was thinking about on why we do missions is Jesus cares for the lost and so should we.
Luke 19 10, for the Son of Man comes to seek and to save the lost. At the heart of missions is God's deep love for every single person. Jesus came to rescue the lost and now sends us to do the same.
Compassion must move us to action. People need to hear the gospel before it's too late. Okay, we are running out of time.
I know the church knows this. This is what we talk about all the time. We are running out of time.
I'm a believer that if somebody does not know Christ, they will spend eternity separated from Christ, from God. I believe that with all my heart. If I didn't, I wouldn't go preach the gospel in Africa.
What's the point? I believe there is one way of Jesus. One way of God through Jesus. There is salvation in Noah.
No one else. God has given Noah the name of heaven. We must be saved.
I believe that more than anything. It makes me desperate to spread the gospel. We need to have that passion.
We need to have a reason. This is my biggest reason. God loves every person.
God wants to reunite us in that perfect relationship. That perfect communion with God. That can only happen through Christ.
That can only happen with us, the church, sharing what we have. They need what we have. They don't know it, but the world needs what we have.
Jesus is the only hope in this world. I believe that. Do you guys believe that? Those are my three reasons I came up with.
I hope they make sense. I was praying, what should I share with this church? I don't know this church. I just know a few people now.
What message does the church have as a whole? What message does God have for the church as a whole? I think it is share. Communion. Remain in Christ.
Remain in him. Abide in Christ. Share with the world.
That is what I plan to do for the rest of my life. I hope many of you do the same thing. I don't want to just come to church and play church.
Play this Christian walk. I have done that for many years. I have done that many times in my life.
I don't want to be that kind of person. I want to be someone who shares the gospel. Who has a true relationship with Christ.
I don't know about you, but that verse in the Bible. I think it is about Matthew 7, chapter 20. Or chapter 7, verse 20-21.
Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord. Once you say that, depart from me. I'm sorry I can't record exactly right now.
Yeah. Depart from me. I believe there are many, many people in the church that don't know Christ.
And that is going to be a sad day when the Lord returns. I think we need to know Christ. We need to share Christ.
This task is urgent. And we must all do our part. Whether we are going, giving, witnessing.
This is not an option. It is the mission of the church. Lord, I pray that God will give us the boldness and the compassion to be the church he has called us to be.
As individuals, as families, may everything we do surround the Lord. Be seasoned with the word of God, with Christ. Lord, guide us to do that.
Lord, I just thank you, God, that the church is here and they are listening. Lord, I pray that you would guide us, Lord. Give us the boldness to have conversations.
To have urgency. To have an honesty. Lord, that we are broken people, but we know where to find hope.
We know where to find hope. And that is what we need. Alright, this morning I want to just share a few things about our family.
I want to introduce our family. Do we have a video that you would like? Why don't we play that video real quick. It will show a little bit of what we have been doing and then I will explain more.
Let's start with that. Alright, quick introduction for my family. I am Jared.
My wife, Melissa, who lost her voice. They were going to pray for her in Sunday school. I said, let's wait until next week to pray.
My kids, Ariah, Isaiah, and Josiah. The two boys are with us today. My oldest daughter just started school in Greenville.
Oh yeah, I have a slide for that. My wife told me I have a slide for that. With a family picture on it.
There we go. So that is my oldest daughter. She is 17.
She just started school in Greenville. Or Greenville, because I told her it was Sunday school. So she is not going to South Africa with us.
Which is kind of sad. But she wants to finish her degree. Of course, we are leading her in a different direction.
We love her. She is very independent. She is into horses.
She was taking a law enforcement major. But she has changed that now. I am not sure what she is going to do when she is older.
I don't think she knows what she is going to do. I don't think I know what I am going to do when I grow up. I have a map here.
This will be our first full term in Rustenburg, South Africa. My wife and I and my family have been there three times. But the longest I have ever been there is a month.
So now we are joining the team of Engage Africa. And the missionaries Jet and Abby Hunt. We will be joining them for one year.
And then we will come back for three months. And then another year. And that is our first term.
So this will be the first time we have ever done something this long. And the Lord just opened these doors for us to be in South Africa. We have two main areas.
Actually, before I say that. A little bit about South Africa. There are 14 official languages in South Africa.
There is a slide for that too. So there are some of them. They just recently added South African Sign Language.
And then they added another one. That is a mixture of Dutch and Zulu that they use in the mines. So they can communicate in the mines.
South Africa is very mineral rich. There are a lot of gold mines, diamond mines. Platinum mines.
Unfortunately, the workers in these mines don't get rich off these wonderful things. It is the foreign companies that come in with their big mining companies. So it is kind of sad to see the poverty.
There is so much wealth here, but there is so much poverty. In a country that has so many natural resources. But that is what we are dealing with there.
Freedom Park is the best way I can describe it. It is a tin shack community that goes as far as the eye can see. It is surrounding the largest platinum mine in South Africa.
The Apollo Mine. People come from all over the world. But mostly all over Africa to work in these mines.
There is a great need for jobs in all over Africa. These mines provide great work experience. Great work, great jobs.
But we feel it is a very strategic place to be. Because when people come in from all over. We can share the gospel with them.
And then they take it back with them. Even in some countries that are closed and not open to the gospel. They will still have workers coming in.
So in some ways it is an open door to closed countries in Africa. We are blessed to be a part of this. There is a church there that has been there for 12 years.
Started by Jeff and Abby Hunt. We will be joining them. Two main areas of ministry.
The first place is Freedom Park here. And I will get to the second place in a second. But the first place is there is a church here in Freedom Park.
So we do a lot of outreaches. A lot of kids outreaches. We have a trailer that goes.
That folds down in the sound system. And we do puppets and all that kind of fun stuff. But Hope Church is there to reach this community.
There is another Catholic church close by. But we are the only, I would say, Protestant type church in this area. There is a lot of a mixture of religions.
They will call a pastor when they are sick. But they will also call a witch doctor. One of our main focuses here is discipleship training.
Getting people in the Word of God. Leadership training. We have raised up the youth and children pastors that are at this church.
Both came out of this community. And the pastor that is about to take this church over came out of this community. So we are raising up leaders there.
So this church can be totally independent. These are just some houses. This here is two houses actually.
So two families, if you can imagine, live in this one place here. If you see there is a white door and a blue door. There is a separation there.
There are two different houses. So a lot of poverty here. A lot of hopelessness.
But the Lord is doing awesome work. People are coming to Christ. People are knowing Him.
People are taking that back home. And it's the main purpose of Engage Africa is to reach the children. But of course what comes with that is you reach the whole family as well.
But our main focus, we do these children's outreaches. And these kids just find out about Christ. Is my battery back? So that's Freedom Park.
That's what the Lord is doing in Freedom Park. And then the second major place, the major area of ministry that we'll be serving at is Hope Church. I'm sorry, Engage Africa has a property that they purchased in Rustenburg, South Africa.
And at that property, we will be opening an orphanage very soon. The building is already built. But we've been waiting on government approval, which takes forever over there.
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