February 8, 2026 | Next Door to the Nations

Next Door to the Nations | Missions Conference 2026

Acts 16:6–10

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (ESV)

In “Next Door to the Nations,” Tim Hood walks through Acts 16:6–10 to show how God guides mission by both closing doors and opening new ones. Paul and his team plan to preach in familiar places, but the Holy Spirit redirects them again and again until Paul receives the Macedonian vision, and they move immediately in obedience, convinced God is calling them to bring the gospel there. Tim ties that moment to the church’s role in missions, where the Spirit sends through the church and the church “holds the rope” through prayer, unity, and support. He stresses that strengthening healthy churches is good, but it is not the finish line because many people still have little or no access to the name of Jesus. The sermon frames calling as first a call to Christ, which then leads to gospel proclamation, practical disciple-making, sacrificial living, quick obedience, and expectant faith that God will save and build his church among the nations.

Transcript of Next Door to the Nations | Missions Conference 2026

Introduction to Tim Hood and Opening Prayer

Jed Gillis: I'll take just a moment and introduce our speaker this morning, Tim Hood, who is, uh, the president of Shepherd Staff. And he, if you know Brad and Jamie Newport, you know, our, our long connection with them, uh, Shepherd Staff is the organization that they're with now. I'm grateful to have Tim as a partner in the gospel and as a friend here and looking forward to him sharing the word with us.

Uh, before we do that, children, if you're headed out the door to Children's Church, you're welcome to do that. You're also always welcome to be in here with us. We love to have you here in the room. Before he comes and speaks, I'd like to take just a moment and ask God for his blessing on this time.

Jesus, we thank you that you are a solid rock. We thank you that when life feels difficult, when it feels like it's shifting under our feet, we have confidence that you have given us innumerable blessings and you delight to show your riches to all those who trust in you. So Lord, we come this morning asking you to do what you've promised, asking you to take the truth of your word, to use our brother, to use him to speak your truth in such a way that your Spirit presses into our souls, the riches that you give us. We ask that you would not just give us ideas to cope with life, that you would not just give us thoughts to try and have a better week, or we want something much bigger than that. We want you. We want fellowship with you. And we trust that you not only can do it, but you promise to work through your words, so I pray that you would guide our brother in the words that he says. That you'd guide him in the way that he communicates, that your Spirit would do far beyond what he could ask or think, or we could ask or think, because you are the God who's worthy for us to declare your glory here in Knoxville and in every square inch of this planet.

So I pray that you would help us to celebrate that this morning in Jesus' name, amen.

The Nations Parading into the Presence of Our Savior

Tim Hood: Thank you pastor and thank you church. Good morning. So as the children were parading in with the flags, I couldn't help but think of Revelation chapter seven, verse nine. Scripture says, in after these things, I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could count. From every nation and all tribes and people and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb.

That is the reason that we do this, that final picture in eternity when the nations are parading in into the presence of our sovereign and our savior. And the children reminded me of that. Walking through the lobby this morning and looking at the prayer cards and the display tables, and seeing the rich heritage that exists at berean of mission engagement around the world. I couldn't help but think of these children that God might call them up and out.

Who's Next?

Tim Hood: And I noticed two of the missionaries listed. In the countries where they serve, there are two blank spots. I don't know if you've noticed that. They just say who's next? And what my prayer church for Berean, what my prayer for my own heart, for my own family is, is that that would be the perpetual question of our heart is who's next? That we would constantly have a posture of obedience. Isaiah 26:8 Yes, Lord. Walking in the way of your truth, we wait eagerly for you for your name and your renown are the desire of our souls that that would be who as the people of God we would be that our lives would echo yes, Lord. And it's clear that this church has a rich history of Yes Lords throughout the generations of people that have called Berean Bible Church home. And so it's a joy to get to partner with you.

In fact, um, Dave, right? In fact, Dave was, you were sharing about the brothers who brought their friend to the Lord and cracked open the roof to get him there. There are a lot of times though the context is very different that missionaries feel the same way. If Brad and Jamie could stand here this morning, if the many missionaries that you all support now and have supported in the past could stand here, they would say, thank you for holding the corner for us. Thank you for bringing us to Jesus. We heard even this morning from Adam and Mary, from the Johnsons, they kept saying, thank you for praying for us.

That is where the battle for the nations is fought and won is as we go to the Lord on our knees. Jesus said that when he looked at the multitudes, he said, this is ripe for harvest, but he wasn't an American. We know that because if you'd been an American, Jesus would've said the field is ripe unto harvest, so go get busy. But he didn't. What did he say? He said, no, pray. Pray to the Lord of the harvest, that he might raise up laborers to go.

When we align our heart with the heart of God, the natural response has to be that we go, but we align our heart first. We get our heart aligned first, and, and I know that that is the story of this church. So thank you for that. Thank you for hosting moments like these to pause and to remember the nations, to beseech the Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers into this harvest field. And to even consider if perhaps you, perhaps your son or daughter, perhaps your friend might be the one that would say, here am I, send me.

It's true, and we heard some of the stats this morning that more people in the world have access to a Coca-Cola than they do to the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are literally billions of people, billions with a bee, that have little to no access to the gospel. Most of the world, it's not that they have rejected Christ, they have never been given the privilege to hear the story of his love.

Many Have Not Even Heard His Name

Tim Hood: And so what does that mean for you and what does that mean for me? How do we respond to such a need? But a far greater need is what we see pictured in Revelation seven, that Jesus is worthy of worship from every language people, tribe in nation. He knows better than any of us possibly could, that he is what their hearts long for most of all, and his desire is that they might know that redemption. They might know that grace, they might know that freedom.

A few years ago I was in the country of India, which quite frankly is an amazing place. Beautiful colors, amazing food. The culture, the people were wonderful, but it was like going to the moon. I mean, there was just no place I'd ever been in the whole world like it. It was so different, so unique. So special. It's also so lost. In fact, more people are lost in the country of India. There are more unreached, unengaged people groups in the country of India than any other place on the planet.

And I met a lovely young lady who was in her mid thirties, who had only recently become a follower of Jesus Christ out of a Hindu background. And we were working every day with local pastors. We had flown into the city of Delhi, which as you might imagine is massive. And we would traverse all through the countryside and try to find, as we would go into villages, people that were open to hearing the gospel. And one of those people had been years before this young lady, and she was sharing her story of faith with me.

And I said, well, before you became a follower of Jesus, what did you think about him? And she looked at me so quizzically and she said, what did I think about him? What did I think about him? I said, well, yes. I mean, before you came to believe, what did you think about Jesus? She said, I didn't think anything about him. She said words that pierced my soul. She said, I had never even heard his name. How is it possible in the age in which we live that someone could live and die having never heard the name of Jesus? Will the Clarion call to you and to me church, is that we would go and make much of the name of Jesus, that we would proclaim his name among every language people, tribe, nation, and we see that demonstrated here in Acts chapter 16.

Reading Acts 16

Tim Hood: So if you have a copy of the scriptures, and I hope you do, would you turn please to the Book of Acts chapter 16, beginning in. Verse five.

Scripture says, so the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number daily, and they passed through, uh, Phrygian and the Galatian region having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come to Mysia, they were trying to get into Bithynia and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.

In passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision immediately. We sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them, therefore putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace and on the day following to Neapolis and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony, and we were staying in the city for many days.

Prayer

Tim Hood: Would you pray with me please? Father, we are desperate to know and to apply. This word to our lives, we are desperate to know and apply for your Spirit to take these words and press them down deeply in our hearts. So that we might walk in obedience before you. So God, that's what I'm asking today, that there would be no distraction that any word I say that is unnecessary would be dismissed and unremembered in anything that you speak through me would find a place good seed and good soil that would produce a harvest of faith in righteousness. In Jesus name. Amen.

The Call to Missions in the Midst of a Worship Service

Tim Hood: So in the passages that are preceding. Acts chapter 16. Uh, quite a lot is going on, and, and I'll just summarize that for you, but it would be good even today or sometime this week to go back and look at these passages because there are so many points of application for you and for me.

But if we go all the way back to Acts chapter 13, the church at Antioch, which is in present day, Turkey, Antochia, it's now called, and the church at Antioch, there were gathered together believers from different parts of the known world. And we see them listed, the elders, the teachers and what they were doing and how they were serving the church.

But it's very interesting to me that it was in the midst of a worship service. The church was fasting and praying and worshiping, and the Spirit said to the church, set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work that I have called them to.

So I think it's interesting because Paul and Barnabas didn't come to the church at Antioch and say, Hey, we've got a great idea. We think that it's time for us to go be missionaries. There was none of that. No. The Spirit said to the church, set them apart for this task. It's funny, we don't even know if they wanted to go. I can imagine Paul being like, Hey, I get seasick, and Barnabas being like, oh, I can't stand the food. But no, I mean, we have no idea. All we know is that the Spirit told the church to set them apart. And the church did, and they went.

Now what is really important, a, an important question to ask is who sent Paul and Barnabas the church or the Spirit? And the answer is yes. The church sent Paul and Barnabas, but the Spirit is the one who sent them through the church.

And Shepherd staff as an organization exists to do the same thing. Brad and Jamie Newport are not Shepherd staff missionaries. They're Berean Bible Church missionaries that happen to be serving through Shepherd staff. Hebrews 13 says, to submit to those in authority over you because they have watch care for your souls. That's you guys. That's your pastors and elders. It's this body of believers holding the rope for them.

Now we provide the administrative support. We make sure, uh, donations get receded, that they have insurance and retirement and all of those essential yet very non-glamorous things, but you are the ones doing the sending and we want to help you do that. And because we believe that is the model that is demonstrated in Acts 13 in scripture.

There are a lot of things that are simply descriptive. They talk about how God was moving in certain people's lives, and there are other things that are instructive. They, as it was happening this way, so do that as well. Prescriptive and descriptive. So it's prescribed or it's described. We believe that the sending of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13 is a prescription. That the church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the authority of the Holy Spirit, informed by the word of God, needs to send out missionaries. So that's what they did.

So Paul and Barnabas went all over planting churches, proclaiming the gospel. So the missionary task is that it is gospel proclamation. It is that broad gospel seed sowing that we see demonstrated throughout the book of Acts. And then it is that wise discipleship as that seed bears fruit, teaching them to observe everything I've commanded Jesus said, and you remember the Great Commission is that. Jesus said in Matthew 28, 18 through 20, all authority in heaven on Earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, panta ta ethne, out of all people, out every language, every tribe go and make disciples of all nations. And then doing what? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything that I've commanded with the promise low. I'm with you always, even to the ends of the age.

Paul and Barnabas demonstrate that. They are proclaiming the gospel, they're making disciples, and they're planting churches. So they do that all over. You know, the story gets exciting. At some points it gets dicey at some points. There's struggle, there is difficulty, there's challenge, but then they come back to the church that sent them out. They come back to the church at Antioch, much like Adam and Mary and the Johnsons and others, the Newports are coming back to Berean. So they came back to the church at Antioch chapter 14 and 15 talk about that, that they rehearsed the great acts of God and how, and told about how God had opened up the door of faith among the Gentiles. And that's what we got to celebrate even this morning.

Missions Has Struggles, Even in Relationships

Tim Hood: Well, as time progressed, and they, scripture actually says that they stayed a long time, uh, back with the church at Antioch. But then Paul said to Barnabas, and, and this is where it gets just a grunt, tricky. So stick with me. He said, let's go back and visit the churches. Let's go back and strengthen and encourage them. That is the other part of the missionary task. Planting churches and strengthening churches that already exist. We want to encourage them build up the body. This book, the New Testament, was written to strengthen the existing church. That's right. That's good. That's important.

But Paul and Barnabas had a little bit of a struggle because Barnabas wanted to take John Mark, who had initially gone with them, and then. He returned and that really struck Paul the wrong way, but Barnabas was insistent and so they went different directions. Barnabas took John Marks as they went to Cyprus. The church again, laid hands on Paul and this time Silas and sent them out again.

Now here's just a little caveat and so important when we consider the work of the church and this ministry of reconciliation that God has given to us and through us. I think that Barnabas was right. I think John Mark needed to go. I think Paul was wrong. And the reason I think that is because throughout the rest of the New Testament, we see John Mark pop up in different epistles. We see Paul even say of John Mark, he has been so helpful to me, bring him. And so there is a real desire for John Mark to remain faithful in ministry and we see that happen. We never hear from Barnabas again.

Here's the thing, I think Barnabas was right, but he handled it wrongly. I think Paul was wrong, but he handled it rightly. Because, see, Barnabas got mad and he left. Paul submitted to the church again, submitted to the leadership of the church, and then the church laid hands on him and sent him out.

As you and I potentially get a little crossways with each other. Um, the Lord has redeemed us from so many things, but there's still a lot of brokenness and flesh that keeps rearing Its ugly head, isn't it? Well, it's so critical, even as Pastor Jed was referencing last week, that we bear one another's burdens. That's the good stuff and the bad stuff too. And so what fulfill the law of Christ? Scripture says, and so we have to bear with one another, and I'm afraid Paul and Barnabas didn't bear with each other well. That happens a lot, unfortunately, on missionary teams because eternity is at stake. So the enemy is not sitting idly by while missionaries go to the nations.

So praying for unity and harmony on the missionary teams that you support needs to be at the top of your list every single day that they would abide in Christ and know him and seek him.

The Importance of Contextualization

Tim Hood: So that brings us to Acts chapter 16. Where they are going to strengthen the church. And if you look at those first few verses of the chapter that we didn't rebuild, but let's do that now. So actually 41 verse 41 of chapter 15, and he was traveling through Syria and Clic strengthening the churches. Remember that's what they were sent out to do. And that is great. That's really great. And he came also to Derby and to Lystra and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman. Who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts. They all knew that his father was a Greek.

So he, this is contextualization. He's wanting people not to miss the message that Timothy's going to share about the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, because he hasn't fulfilled these Jewish rituals. So there's, this is conte context, contextualization for the gospel sometimes. There are physical, there are cultural, there are traditional barriers that keep people from hearing the gospel that we want so earnestly to share. And so as missionaries who want to remove as many of those contextual issues as we can, and, and for Timothy, that was a pretty big deal. Uh, verse four.

Now, while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees that had come from the church in Jerusalem and had been decided upon by the apostles and elders.

It Wasn't Enough

Tim Hood: Verse five. So the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number. That's exactly what Paul and Silas this time had been sent out to do. But hear me friends, it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. Matthew 24 14 says, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed as a testimony among all peoples, and then the end will come.

If every single church in the United States were thriving, loving the Lord, loving each other, loving the word, it wouldn't be enough. If every church in China was loving the Lord, loving the word, loving each other, it wouldn't be enough. If every church in Europe was loving the word, loving the Lord, loving each other, it wouldn't be enough.

You see, Jesus wants witnesses. He wants disciples. He wants believers from every language people, tribe and nation. There are more than 10,000 Panta ta ethne, specific people, groups. We're not talking about the traditional geographical nations that we think of. We're talking about the peoples of the earth.

When I was serving and living in the country of Chad, which. It is kind of an interesting place, um, not a club med destination, as you might imagine. It was a pretty different place. In fact, I, I lived in a mud block house in the capital city. Most of our streets were dirt. Um, often in the evenings, uh, I would teach an English class, and in fact, I had been working with a group of guys. Most of them were Muslim. Uh, well actually all of them were Muslim and we had been using the scriptures as our curriculum. We've been storing through the Bible. We started. In Genesis and trace that scarlet thread all the way to the life of Christ and his ascension, which you might imagine is a little bit different course of study for the average Muslim young man.

Well, so Musa was one of the guys in that class, and he was from the Guran tribe, one of the Ponta, one of these language groups, a people group in the country of Chad. In fact, Chad has 138 distinct people groups. If you ask them, are you Chadian. They will look quizzically at you. 'cause that's not really a thing.

If you ask them if they're Buduma, if they're Masalit, if they are Daza, they will say, oh yes. Or they will say that's the tribe nearby. They are distinct ethnic groups. Musa from the Guran tribe, a very violent warlike tribe, and the northern party of part of the country of Chad had been coming to the center where I taught English for a while. And he was progressing beautifully in his proficiency in English, and often in the evenings we would walk down those dirt streets and we would talk about all kinds of things.

Often faith would come up, and one day Mus has said to me, Tim, will God hear my prayers? I said, well, no. Moose said he won't because scripture teaches that we have to have an advocate, someone to stand between us and God because he's holy and we're not. And he knew I was talking about Jesus, the final sufficient, all sufficient sacrifice. And he said, but Tim, what if my prayer is to know if the, it's the road of Isa, which is their word for Jesus, or if it's the road of Muhammad? I said, well, yes, Musa. If that's your prayer, God will surely answer it because scripture teaches if you search for me, you'll find me if you search for me with all of your heart. So yes, God will answer your prayer.

Well, a couple weeks later, Musa came into the office there at the center where I was teaching, and he sat down across the desk from me. He said, Tim, I need to tell you something. And this was his word. He said, I need to testify. He said, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me, and he has made my heart white. On the outside, I'm the same old Musa, but on the inside I have been made new.

And I watched this transformation happen. But again, Musa wasn't just thinking the gospel is good news for me. He was thinking the gospel is good news for the Guran. That is the heart of God for all people everywhere.

God's Calling

Tim Hood: So Paul and Silas were strengthening the church and that was beautiful. It just wasn't enough. And so we see that in these. Next verses where they're wanting to go into all these other cities in Asia and something really curious is happening And what is that? The devil stopped them. No. Who stopped them? The spirit. Why? Because the scriptures, the gospel was actually thriving.

In fact, if you turn over. A few, um, chapters to chapter 19. Um, oh, sorry. I've been into, but, uh, where are we? You're just gonna have to take my word for it. He says in, um, I'm sorry, y'all. He says in chapter 19 that there is now no place for me to preach in Asia. It's not that there were all, everybody in all of Asia had chosen to believe. But they had had an opportunity to hear, but God was sending him, God was sending this team into Europe, into Macedonia to proclaim the gospel, to make disciples and to plant churches. And so that's what they did.

But there I, I want to go real quickly to this verse. Nine and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. I know that's the theme for your mission's emphasis this year, and it's a good one. 'cause look what happens next. It says that they, this is chapter 16, I'm sorry. Um. Therefore putting, or in verse 10, and when they had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel there.

So who called them to preach the gospel there? The Macedonian man. Was God. And he uses these different tools, these different methods, these different ways to help us understand.

Now that word calling, especially when we talk in terms of missions, can sometimes be a bit prickly. It's the same word that Matthew Chapter 10 uses, uh, to talk about. Jesus calling the disciples to himself. It's the same word that's used in Acts 13 when the Spirit says to the church to set aside Paul and Barnabas for the work that I have called them to. Uh, it's an invitation, it's a bid to come to.

And what's really important though, is that when we think about calling, it is not a calling to an assignment. It is not a, a calling to an appointment. It is a calling to a person. Now that often results in an assignment that often results in an appointment, but Mark three 14 says Christ appointed 12, that they might be with him and then he sent them out to preach. Are being with Christ always proceeds our doing for Christ.

Luke 9 23. Jesus said if anyone would follow me, he must do what? He must come first. He must die to himself. Take up his cross and follow me. We die to our own ambition. We die to our own plans. The invitation to come to Christ is always an invitation to death to us so that he might live through us and through us, might proclaim this beautiful gospel to the nations. We are not called to a project, but to a person, and we follow him then to the nations.

Answering the Call

Tim Hood: So what do we do with this? Answering the call. The first thing we need to do, if as Paul was responding to this vision of a Macedonian man whom he assumed, and rightly so, was God calling him to Europe. We must preach faithfully.

Verse 14 of chapter 16 says, A certain woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a cellar of purple fabrics. A worshiper of God was listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. That speaking, sometimes we immediately associate preaching with what happens up here on a Sunday morning, but the word preach simply means to herald, it means to proclaim. It means to announce the good news, we are all preaching as we are sharing in our daily lives, the message of salvation. So Paul preached faithfully.

Then if you look on in, in chapter 30 and 30, which I understand are not chapter and, uh, verses 30 through 32, I understand y'all look at more next week. Paul and his companions are in prison. Verse 30, it says. He brought them out and, and after proclaiming the gospel and said, sir, what must I do to be saved in verse 31? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. The first thing we do in answering the call is to preach the gospel boldly to preach the gospel faithfully.

Next, we disciple practically after Lydia heard the gospel and respond to the gospel. The next step for her was what? And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, if you've judged me to be faithful, stay in my house, come in and be with me. So the first step was baptism. She heard, she believed she was baptized.

We see that also with the Philippian jailer. Look back at verse 33. He took them that very night, washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized. That is disciple making. Remember Matthew 28 in the Great Commission, Jesus said, go and make disciples, baptizing them. What baptism is for all of us, not just for our Baptist friends. It is for all believers everywhere. That proclamation that we have been made new it, it hearkens all the way back to the Old Testament traditions of ritual washing, passing through the sea on on dry ground, all of those things that we see. Even Jesus was baptized, not for redemption, but for obedience, and we want to teach new disciples to obey.

Then number three, we live sacrificially. It cost a lot for these disciples to go and make other disciples, prison, difficulty, suffering, rejection, all of those were part of the story. They sacrificed time. They sacrificed resources. They sacrificed their comfort. Answering the call of God means that we will live sacrificially.

Friends, some of you are incredibly generous and that honors God. Maybe the Lord is leading you this morning. Not just to be generous, but to be sacrificial. Money isn't everything but it rates up there with oxygen and Chick. Chick-fil-A. I mean like we have things we have to have to survive, right? And so maybe as you think about what it looks like to hold the corners of the mat for these missionaries that are going out, would be for you to say, Lord, not somebody else to write another check but me, not somebody else to get on their knees to pray, but me. Not somebody else to join a short term mission trip, to go labor alongside them but me. Maybe it isn't just counting the cost. It is also paying it. Maybe that is part of how the Lord would lead you even today.

Next, answering the call means walking obediently. There's a real important word in this story in verse 10 of chapter 16, when he had seen the vision immediately. We sought to go to Macedonia 'cause we concluded that God was calling us through this vision. Our obedience needs to be like oatmeal. It needs to be instant. We need to instantly obey when the Lord pricks our hearts. When the Lord reminds us of something, when the Lord convicts us, when the Lord encourages us, our first response needs to be immediate obedience.

It also needs to be obedience with joy, right? This gospel that we have sung about this morning that has transformed our lives that we have the chance to remember as we took communion. It has given us life and we need to proclaim that life to others. Obedient, instant, immediate obedience.

And then number five, act expectantly. They expected that the Holy Spirit was going to move. They expected that people would respond. They expected that the power of God displayed in the gospel would change lives for the glory of God and for the good of those that they would encounter. And maybe you say, well, Tim, I haven't shared the gospel in a long time.

I don't know what I would say. I don't know. I don't know that many lost people. Can I just challenge you to do a couple things? Before your feet hit the floor in the morning, before you even get out of bed, would you simply pray? God, show me on whom your Spirit is blowing today and on whom your Spirit desires to rest and lead me to them in obedience.

Sometimes the Lord brings people to us that need to hear the gospel and he is sending them to us for that purpose, but we don't share. We don't engage them with the gospel. We don't meet them where they are, or we are waiting for some sort of really exciting moment or some deep spiritual encounter, but sometimes it happens like this.

When I was serving in Jordan before going to Chad, it was the month of Ramadan, which is actually coming up soon for Muslims and for Muslims during Ramadan. They fast from sun up to sundown, and then they break fast every night with a big meal. And this particular evening, I was breaking fast with a friend of mine named Zaed at Chili House Restaurant. Kind of an odd place to eat in the Middle East, but the food wasn't bad and it was pretty cheap, and I was poor, so that was fine.

So before Zaed and I started to eat, I, I simply bowed my head to pray. I didn't make a big production of it. I, I didn't even say anything. But when I looked up, Zaed had had the most astonished expression on his face. Which, that actually surprised me because you see, Zaed and I had been friends for a long time. We were both students at the University of Jordan. I was studying Arabic and he was, I don't know what he was studying, but we had, um, great plans to rule the world together. My degree is in political science, which isn't great for anything but jeopardy. And, um, it, it's also good for running the world. And so Zaed and I would actually talk about politics. Ironically, the two things in the Middle East that everybody wants to talk about are politics and religion. The two things we're not actually allowed to talk about here, but Zaed and I would often talk about so many things happening in our world and somehow some way those stories always led to faith.

I understood him from those conversations to be a devout Muslim from a devout Muslim family. But as I looked up from my prayer in the middle of Chili House restaurant, he looked at me and he said, what did you just do? I said, well, I was praying. He said, what were you praying for? I said, well, I was asking God to bless our conversation and our time together and to lead us in truth. He said, that's beautiful. He said, we can't talk to God like that. We can't know God like that. He said, Tim, this is the month of Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslims and it means nothing to me. He said, my parents keep the television on the Saudi Arabian channel with pictures of the kaba, the holiest sight in Islam all day long, and it means nothing to me. He said, I hear the call to prayer resound throughout the city five times a day, and it means nothing to me, and in desperation, he looked at me and he said, I feel so lost.

I said, Zaid, if you feel lost, Jesus said, I've come to seek and save the lost. That means he came for you and I got to lovingly there in the middle of Chili House restaurant, lay out the gospel for Zaid. We didn't plan that. We didn't orchestrate that, but there is a holy expectation that when God is leading, he intends to draw those that he's calling to himself.

Our neighbor Helen, moved in across the street. We were actually so sad to lose the neighbors that had sold that house and we were so disappointed, but we were still praying God give us, uh, neighbors that will love you and that will get to share life together. And Helen and her husband moved in. Um, her name's not Helen, but uh, I'm just gonna call her that for the sake of her own privacy, because this is her story. Helen and her husband had met in the foreign service. They've been all over the world, and they moved into our corner of Lenoir City, Tennessee, and she and her new job was surrounded by believers and that provoked so many questions in her heart. She's from Eastern Europe, so she grew up adjacent to religion, but spent most of her life under a communist regime. So she had so many questions.

Well, you know what? She asked my wife, Hey, will you walk in the evenings with me? Because she is from Eastern Europe. The single digit degrees wholly unphase her. But my wife from southern Alabama was like, can we wait till it warms up just a little. So and so as they would walk, Helen would ask her all of her questions that had been building over time about Jesus and about the gospel and how she would respond, and this has gone on for years.

One day they were walking at the park near our home. And Helen began to describe to my wife the sensation that she had in her soul. And this is what she said. It's like someone is knocking. And Janet opened for her the gospel and said, Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens, I will come in and eat with him and eat with me. And she said it was him. He came to me and sitting there on the park bench, she finally gave her heart and life to Jesus. Sitting in the middle of that park, she was transformed on a walk.

In a restaurant at a school, on the bus. In your workplace, in the mall, God is calling the nations to himself and he's using you to do it. If I were God, I would've chosen another way. I wouldn't have hitched this global eternal plan to you and me, but he has by his sovereign will, because he intends to take his Spirit inside of us and his word that is teaching us and the community of believers that challenge and encourage us to send us to the nations and back again. He is a God of every language, people, tribe and nation. From next door to the nations, he is sending you and me across the hedges and the highways, across the mountains, across the seas. God's heart is for every language, people, tribe and nation.

And your response in mind is to preach fatefully, disciple practically, live sacrificially, walk obediently, act expectantly, because the heart of God is for every single person, you and me. And all of the nations that will one day stand before him worshiping before the throne proclaiming salvation belongs to our God and to the lamb who was and is and is to come.

Closing Prayer

Tim Hood: Would you pray with me, please. This morning response for you may look different than it does for the person seated next to you. If you would just, just bow your head and close your eyes and just settle in your heart. With the Lord. What is absolutely true for all of us is that we have to respond.

We never encounter the word that an option is to do nothing unless we are in sin and disobedience. And so this morning, as you consider this call to come and help this call to come and share this call to make disciples. Maybe you've been praying, God bless the missionaries, and it's time to be praying more fervently, more intentionally, more passionately for the nations.

Maybe you've been giving, but just as it strikes your mind, you haven't been giving generously or sacrificially. Maybe you've been very content for others to go, but you have yet to say yes yourself. Or maybe some days like this, rock you to the core because you know you're supposed to be overseas. You know you're supposed to be involved in some kind of very specific ministry, even here in our community or in our state, and you haven't been walking obediently. You haven't responded immediately. But God is calling and today's the day to answer.

So we just do business. With the Lord this morning.

Father, I can't help but believe that there are people in this room, myself included, that find ourselves in one of these places. Maybe doing just enough to not feel so bad about ourselves, but our hearts are not fully submitted to you. Or maybe we've been considering the press on our hearts from your Spirit to go and we just have said no. Or maybe father, we just never thought about it, and today you are awakening in our hearts a deep desire to see you lifted high among the nations. God, wherever we are and wherever we're going, would you be exalted? Would you be magnified. As we abide in you, would you give us your heart? Would you give us your mind? Would you give us your words?

Father, I pray that our hearts would say yes, Lord, and that whatever you show us to do next, we would do joyfully, completely, and obediently. In your name we pray, amen.