Progress and Challenges in the Great Commission | Andy Byrd

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Intro/Outro: 00:01

Welcome to Garden Church podcast. We're taking a break from a revelation series while our lead pastor, Darren Rounce, is on sabbatical. During this time, we're gonna continue to push into the Garden's mission of creating resilient disciples by working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. Over the next few weeks, we'll have some amazing pastors from all over the world coming to impart their wisdom and insight on what is the most influential and profound sermon ever given. Enjoy.

Andy Byrd: 00:30

Hey, good morning, Garden Church. How are you guys? Good. So good to be with you. I've been here a number of times, but not since you have grown so much.

Andy Byrd: 00:38

So, I I recognize there's a lot of you that some of us go way back. I have some long term friends and even some distant relatives that are a part of this church. And, of course, your pastors are good friends as well. But, many of you I haven't met yet. So really honored to be with you.

Andy Byrd: 00:53

And, just brief, brief introduction because I wanna jump in. But, I'm from a tiny town in Alaska. I have, spent the last twenty plus years living in Hawaii. I've avoided the Mainland, it seems like. And, I, we have worked for the last twenty plus years with Youth With A Mission.

Andy Byrd: 01:11

My wife and I, we've been married twenty five years. This year is our twenty fifth, which is epic. Gets better every single year. And, we have a bunch of kids. We have six children.

Andy Byrd: 01:21

Four are biological. I always get quite a reaction on that. They're like, two two adopted kids, four biological, and, and and just quite a wild, fun, amazing family. And, honestly, we we just spent the last several decades of our lives and plan to spend every decade of our lives pouring into the next generation. And then particularly looking at, the calling of the next generation to a lifestyle of revival, wholeheartedness, zeal for Jesus, and then stepping into the our missional calling.

Andy Byrd: 01:51

What does that look like? And we spent the last couple decades traveling the world as well. I have such a passion for the nations and for some of the places around the world with little to no access to the gospel. And so, that's a little bit of our background. But as we were praying about, coming, being here with you this Sunday, I know you're in the Sermon on the Mount series and at first, we were talking about a particular passage in that.

Andy Byrd: 02:12

But as I was praying with some of your leaders and so grateful for Alan, who's a new friend, who's really carrying a passion for the nations and seeing the Garden Church really, step into its unique calling to affect the nations of the earth. We thought we would do a unique Sunday this Sunday, kind of step out of the series for one week and really go after God's heart for the great commission. So that's where we're gonna go today. So I want you to turn to the person next to you and say, I love the great commission. And, my my hope this morning is that you I know this is a hope for every morning that we're together, is that you would leave marked.

Andy Byrd: 02:49

And not just marked in our minds, though that's very important, but also marked in our hearts. And that something would shift inside of us, not because there's something wrong, but because there's something new that God is wanting to plant in our hearts. And, that's my hope this morning that as we talk through some of the biblical precedent for the great commission and lay a little bit of foundation, but then also my hope is to give you a little bit sorry, my voice. Is to give you a little bit of a picture of what's happening around the world as much as we can in like thirty minutes. Okay?

Andy Byrd: 03:21

That's gonna be our goal. And that we could we could paint a little bit of a picture of what's happening on a global scale. So that you feel even a little more in touch, a little bit more informed, and that our hearts are drawn a little bit more to what God's doing all over the earth. And part of that is remarkable news. Part of that is way better than the headlines are saying right now.

Andy Byrd: 03:46

Part of that is that God is moving like never before in history, and we wanna get in touch with that. And then part of that is there are real challenges that we still face that we have the great privilege of partnering with God to see real change in the nations of the earth. And I think there is a mandate and a mantle and anointing and a calling on garden church to have a significant impact on the nations of the earth. Not only on Southern California, not only on this region and this nation, which we all carry a passion for, but there are billions waiting for the gospel around the world, and you have an inheritance among those billions. So my hope is that this morning, we will grab a hold of a little bit of that with both compassion, but also with faith.

Andy Byrd: 04:27

I wanna start by talking about a part of our identity. I would imagine that part of your Sermon on the Mount series, we're looking at what does it mean to be a kingdom citizen. It's a big part of what the sermon on the mount is about. What is the the, the the, ethos of the kingdom, and how are we called to live, and what is our lifestyle meant to look like? And as part of that thank you so much.

Andy Byrd: 04:49

Is, is understanding the Imago Dei. Imago Dei is Latin for the image of God. And that we are made in the image of God. So to understand what we're to be like and how we're called to be, it is so important that we can understand who God is and that we are made in his likeness, made in the likeness of Christ. Well, part of that Imago Dei that is that needs a bit of a renaissance and a revival in the church of America is that to be made in the Imago Dei is to also understand that God is the Missio Dei.

Andy Byrd: 05:19

Meaning that he is the missional god. It's Latin for the missional god. So to be made in the Imago Dei also means that you are made in the. And that means that to be a follower of Jesus is to be a missionary. And every one of us in here, no matter what our calling or assignment is, every one of us is called in the image of God to be aligned, connected, and living like the missional God.

Andy Byrd: 05:45

From the very beginning of time, God began his mission. The moment he said, let there be, the missional God began his missional calling. He has always been a missional God. All throughout the scriptures, we see God pursuing humanity, redeeming humanity, chasing his sons and daughters. He is missional in his very core.

Andy Byrd: 06:07

Sometimes we think that God made a church, and then he gave the church a mission. I wanna tell you it is the opposite. God had a mission, so he made a church. We are formed in the image of God to walk as the missional God walks. You see this as he's chasing people all throughout scripture, whether he's calling Abraham, whether he's calling Moses, whether he's redeeming the children of Israel, all the way to Jesus on the cross is the great story of redemption where the missional God is pursuing his people to reveal his love, to reveal salvation, to reveal the gospel.

Andy Byrd: 06:42

Now this is true of us today, right now. We all inherently believe that we are called to be missional. The challenge is, what does that look like? How am I to walk that out? The challenge is at times overcoming fear and intimidation.

Andy Byrd: 06:55

We all inherently know that we are called to be the light and the salt and the gospel in our workplace, in our universities, in our high schools, wherever God would call us. The bigger question is how we do that, and sometimes there's an intimidation factor with that. Some of that changes when you realize you're not the first missionary to show up to your workplace. God is. You're not the first missionary to walk the schools, the the halls of your high school.

Andy Byrd: 07:22

God's been there a long time. You are not the first missionary to try and reach your neighbors. God's been working on their hearts for years. You're not the first missionary to show up at that university. God's been working at that university for decades.

Andy Byrd: 07:36

Since it began, God began his missional work to reach those people. He is the ultimate missionary. He's the relentless hound of heaven. He never stops pursuing his people. So our missional calling is more, accurately understood as our partnership with what he's already doing.

Andy Byrd: 07:54

We're not taking him anywhere. He's already been there. We're not taking him to the unreached. He's working among the unreached right now. He's waiting for us to catch up with him among the unreached.

Andy Byrd: 08:03

He's not waiting for us to move across America. He's moving across America, but he is looking for a church that will partner with him in his missional calling to reach America and reach the nations of the earth. But there's a profound sense of confidence that hits the heart of the believer when we realize this is not all up to us to just try and figure this out and just get a little more courageous and a little more bold. And if I can just overcome my fears, no. Just align yourself with the compassionate, pursuing love of God who is already missional, has always been missional, will always be missional.

Andy Byrd: 08:36

And as we partner with him, we step into our calling to the be the Missio Dei along with God. Now as we talk about the great commission, this is not a biblical phrase. It goes back to a man named Hudson Taylor who was a famous missionary in China in the eighteen hundreds. And the great commission has since then been popularized as sort of a summary of the calling of the church. And it's really based on three primary passages.

Andy Byrd: 09:01

Matthew chapter 28, to make disciples of all nations. Mark chapter 16, to preach the gospel to all creation. And Acts chapter one, to do it everywhere. From Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth. Now this is beautifully simple because all of us get lost when it gets complex or when it gets impressive, and we essentially feel like I'm disqualified.

Andy Byrd: 09:22

I can't do that. It's too impressive. But when you back up and realize that the primary mandate, one of the primary mandates on all of us, no matter our vocation or our career, the place that we live, or what we call our work, is that every one of us has the great privilege to partner with God in making disciples to proclaim the gospel. And then what often can get left behind in our understanding of the great commission is it's not just about making disciples and it's not just about preaching the gospel. We have a biblical god given mandate to do it everywhere.

Andy Byrd: 09:56

And at some point, the reality of the unreached, which we're gonna dive into in a moment, and those that have little to no access to the gospel must become utterly unacceptable to the American church. The reality of millions of people that have never ever heard the name of Jesus, millions that have no access to the gospel, no access to a church, no access to a Bible in their language has to become unacceptable to us. Why? Because the great commission gave us a mandate two thousand years ago that it wasn't enough that America had the gospel. It wasn't enough that Europe had the gospel.

Andy Byrd: 10:31

North Africa deserves the gospel. Central Asia deserves the gospel. The Middle East deserves the gospel. And the great commission is this great permission to make disciples and to preach the gospel all over the earth. Now sometimes when we talk about the great commission, we almost take it more as a command, and it can feel a little bit more maybe just, mandate driven or structural.

Andy Byrd: 10:54

It can feel rigid at times, but this is not the way Jesus viewed the great commission. Luke chapter 15. Let's just go there for a moment to unpack a little bit of what was in the heart of Jesus as he thought about walking out the command that he would give his disciples. Luke chapter 15 is quite well known to us primarily because it's where we get the parable of the prodigal son or the lost son. But at the very beginning of this chapter, Luke chapter 15, it says, now the tax collectors and the sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

Andy Byrd: 11:25

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and he eats with them. So the context of these three parables, which you've probably heard. The first one, Jesus leaves the 90 or the shepherd leaves the 99 for the one. The second one, the woman searches through her house to find her one lost coin. And the third one, the father scans the horizon waiting for his one lost son.

Andy Byrd: 11:49

These are familiar stories, but often I think we misplace their context especially because we have made out the story of the prodigal son to be someone who grew up in the church that wanders away. But that is not the context of the story. The context of the story is Jesus is hanging out with sinners. He's hanging out with people that were never in the church. He's hanging out with people that have yet to meet his love, yet to be encountered by his power, yet to step into their freedom.

Andy Byrd: 12:13

And this Pharisees, the teachers of the law, those that are actually meant to be the leaders of the community of faith in Jesus' day, they're upset that Jesus is hanging out with the lost. Now have you ever been misrepresented or misunderstood by someone? Everyone of you should definitely be raising your hand right now. Misunderstood, misrepresented, someone spoke on your behalf. Is there anything more frustrating than when someone speaks on your behalf and it's completely wrong?

Andy Byrd: 12:39

You're like, I didn't say that. I didn't mean that. That was totally inaccurate, and something rises up in every one of us that's like, that's an injustice. Like, that's not what I'm like. That's not what I meant.

Andy Byrd: 12:50

That's not what I said. That's not what's in my heart. Well, this is one of those moments for Jesus. As he is walking through Israel of his day, he is continually coming up against the misrepresentation of the religious leaders to what the father is really like. And in this moment as he's hanging out with the very ones that he came to save, the religious leaders of his time are, like, criticizing him.

Andy Byrd: 13:16

What are you doing? Hanging out with sinners, eating with them, fellowshipping with them. Don't you know that you shouldn't be hanging out with people like that? And in essence, Jesus goes, you don't know what my father's like. You have misunderstood his heart.

Andy Byrd: 13:32

You have misrepresented his heart, which is even worse. Not only have you misunderstood what my father is like and what I'm like, you have also misrepresented what my father is like. And he goes, let me set the record straight. And I'm gonna tell you a story to tell you what my father is really like. And I want everyone to know what my father is really like.

Andy Byrd: 13:52

He goes, I had a hundred sheep. One of them wandered away. The other 99, they were fine. Guess what I did? I left 99 sheep for one.

Andy Byrd: 14:04

And when I found that one, guess what? I wasn't upset. I threw it on my shoulders. I rejoiced and I threw a party because I my one lost sheep was now found. He goes, that's what my father is like.

Andy Byrd: 14:16

He goes, I'm not done. He goes, there was a woman. She had 10 coins. This was her inheritance, her future, her savings. She lost one of those coins.

Andy Byrd: 14:25

He goes, he she go he goes, you know what I'm like? You know what my father's like? We flip the furniture to find that one lost coin Because my father is not happy with nine tenths of his inheritance. He wants 10 tenths of his inheritance. And when he finds that last lost coin, guess what he's like?

Andy Byrd: 14:43

He rejoices when he finds that lost coin. He goes, I'm not done. He goes, there's a father who had two sons. One of them wasted everything he had. His father's inheritance, his father's wealth gone and prodigal living, partying, a crazy lifestyle.

Andy Byrd: 14:59

He goes, but guess what my father's like? Scans the horizon every day waiting for that son to come home. And when that son comes home, guess what my father's like? He's not angry. He's not distant.

Andy Byrd: 15:13

He's not telling them clean up his mess and then maybe they can talk. He throws himself on that son. He kisses him covered with pig filled. The father himself becoming unclean because of the sun the sun's uncleanliness. He goes, my father puts a robe on his shoulders, a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet, and he throws a party because his lost son has come home.

Andy Byrd: 15:39

He goes, that's what I'm really like. And I'm tired of being misrepresented. Let me tell you what my father is actually like. This is at the very heart and the very core of the great commission mandate is an oozing weepy heart over a lost sons and daughters to come home to the father. What drives the Missio Dei, the missional God is compassion and love.

Andy Byrd: 16:06

A longing that all of humanity would experience the love of God. This is what compels him. This is what drives him. Now it's interesting we can all relate to this. I can relate to this.

Andy Byrd: 16:16

It's wild how often we get angry at sinners for sinning. We read headlines and we're like, what are they gonna do next? We read statistics on a generation. We're like, Gen z. What are they gonna do next?

Andy Byrd: 16:30

What are they gonna come up with? This is so crazy. We read about some something, you know, happening and and immediately what can rise up in our hearts is what in the world are they thinking? And I wanna ask us all a question today, how can they live like a man they've never met? How can they have a freedom they've never encountered?

Andy Byrd: 16:49

How can they live in a love that has never met them? How can people experience someone that they have never met? How can we expect people to live in a way that they've never even known was possible? And this was the compassion and the love that compelled Jesus as he walked out and modeled the day in his time to model for us what the day, the missional God is doing in our day and how we're to live and how we're called. Matthew nine thirty seven, another very familiar passage to us.

Andy Byrd: 17:21

It's one of the great passages about a ripe harvest field and is used a lot when we think about the global great commission. But in this passage, Jesus is walking through towns and villages, teaching in synagogues, proclaiming the good news, healing the sick, healing diseases. Then he looks at the crowds and says he had compassion on them. Why? Because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Andy Byrd: 17:47

He looks at a leaderless people full of anxiety. And if you know a little bit of the context of this moment in Israel's history, it is not a pretty moment. We're talking incredible oppression. We're talking incredible racism. We are talking 70% of every household is living in poverty.

Andy Byrd: 18:08

We have the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Sickness and disease is rampant. This is not a pretty easy sight. Let's just say he's not walking down a Huntington Beach Street, where you might look and go things seem pretty nice, pretty comfortable. He's staring brokenness in the face, but he's not frustrated with it.

Andy Byrd: 18:30

He's staring brokenness in the face, and he's moved with compassion. And his statement and his response is profound. The harvest is ripe. I don't think many of us would look at the Israel of Jesus's day and think the harvest was ripe. Jesus looks at brokenness and recognizes it's a cry for a Messiah.

Andy Byrd: 18:49

He looks at oppression and goes, it's just a cry for freedom. He looks at all of the anxiety. He looks at all of the leaderlessness, sheep without a shepherd and goes all just a manifestation of a longing for a shepherd. A longing for a savior. He's moved with compassion and he declares to his disciples, ask the Lord of the harvest, because the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few.

Andy Byrd: 19:13

Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into this harvest field. And this is profound because you realize in Jesus's moment just like ours, it was not a ripe harvest issue. It was a laborers who believe it issue. And you realize throughout all of history, it's never been a ripeness issue. It's always been a laborer issue.

Andy Byrd: 19:32

If the Israel of Jesus's day, which is about to crucify him, was a ripe harvest field, then how much more is America a ripe harvest field today? How much more is North Africa, Central Asia, the Himalayas, The Middle East? These places are not hard mission fields and that people aren't hungry for a Messiah, a savior, or freedom, or love. The question is, are there laborers who have eyes to see filled with compassion that believe the harvest is ripe? Because if so, then we're gonna see the greatest harvest in all of human history in the decades in front of us right now.

Andy Byrd: 20:09

Now I wanna take us a little bit from this kind of foundation. And my hope is to give you a little bit of a picture of some of what's happening around the world right now in just a few short moments regarding the great commission. And, just to give you an overview, I'm gonna move through this fairly fast and some of it is numbers and stats. But I don't want us to get lost in that because at the heart of this is a compassion filled missional God who doesn't see statistics, but sees faces and names. But I also want us to grapple and to understand both the encouraging elements of what God's doing, but also the challenges that are in front of us.

Andy Byrd: 20:45

So let's jump in. We're gonna go into some good news. Okay? Here's some good news. Iran is the fastest growing evangelical movement in the world.

Andy Byrd: 20:52

That is good news. Turn to someone next to you and go, that's good news. We need to we're gonna interact a little bit this morning. Get we got some reasons to celebrate, and and then we're gonna have some reasons to pray as well. Okay?

Andy Byrd: 21:03

It's a little bit of both, but we have some reasons to celebrate. If you just said this, you know, twenty years ago, thirty years ago, everyone said this is utterly impossible. This is one of the most restrictive regimes in the world when it comes to faith, And the reality today is the fastest growing population of Christians on the earth is in the nation of Iran largely led by women and largely led home to home as courageous believers are sharing the gospel across the nation. Let's keep going. Some more good news.

Andy Byrd: 21:30

For the first time in history, there are Jesus following Christians in every nation on earth. Now you may not have even known that that wasn't a reality, you know, thirty, forty years ago. But probably in the last twenty to thirty years, for the first time in human history, you can look at every single nation on a map, and there are Jesus loving believers in that nation for the first time. So think about two thousand years of church history, and we're the ones to get out of bed, look at a map, and recognize every nation has Jesus worshipers in it for the first time since Jesus came, died, and was resurrected from the dead. There's not one nation left out.

Andy Byrd: 22:06

I had the privilege of working with Loren Cunningham for the last twenty years until he passed away. Lauren had been to every nation on Earth. Literally himself had shared the gospel in every nation on Earth. And you would have sometimes you'd hear these things or you'd see videos or you'd hear a speaker and they'd be like, there are no known believers in Libya. And Lauren, he had a he had an incredible memory.

Andy Byrd: 22:24

He'd be like, I was in Libya in June of nineteen ninety nine. Snuck in there in a trunk of a car. I met with three underground churches and they're doing just fine. And then someone would be like, there's no known believers in The Maldives. And Lauren was like, May 1984.

Andy Byrd: 22:43

I led five Maldivians to the Lord myself. They joined a fellowship and I know they're doing just fine. You're like, for crying out loud, this is this guy's literally been to every nation on Earth. But I want you to feel the joy, the excitement when we think of discipling all nations, preaching the gospel to all creation. That's a vast and a massive job, but unbelievable that we're the first ones to get out of bed in the morning in human history to a map where every nation, there are some people that are worshiping and loving Jesus.

Andy Byrd: 23:13

That's good news. There we go. Now we're getting in the good news train. Okay. Let's keep going.

Andy Byrd: 23:17

Let's stay on this train. More Muslims have come to faith in the last twenty years than fourteen hundred years of Islamic history. If you were to take the founding of Islam in June to two thousand, fourteen hundred years of history, more Muslims have come to faith in Jesus since the year 02/2020 than in four three hundred years of combined Islamic history. Never has there been a move of God in this region of the world like right now. And it's not stopping.

Andy Byrd: 23:47

It's not slowing down. Iran's the fastest growing nation in the world. It's only continuing. Right? The need is still massive, but God is moving like never before.

Andy Byrd: 23:55

Let me illustrate this in some very real stories. I have a friend who is central Asian ethnically. He's a church planter. And he was with me not too long ago sharing stories. He goes, Annie, let me just explain to you how God's moving in our our region.

Andy Byrd: 24:07

He said, young girl, teenager, had gotten saved. She was going to our house fellowship. It's all underground, meaning it's secretive. It's still it's still persecuted to be a believer. It's still illegal.

Andy Byrd: 24:19

And she is, she goes to bed. She's about to go to church the next morning to our house fellowship. That night she has a dream, and in the dream the Lord tells her she needs to invite her mom to church, which could mean she gets kicked out of her family, could mean she gets beat up. It's all if this is real for her. So she wakes up.

Andy Byrd: 24:35

She's sitting on the edge of her bed, and she's she's wrestling with God going, I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can tell my mom I'm a believer. I'm afraid of what will happen. As she's wrestling with God, she hears a knock at her door and it's her mom. Her mom walks in her room and she goes, hey, where are we going today?

Andy Byrd: 24:50

She's like, oh no. Like what do you mean? What's happening? She's she's just totally puzzled. She goes, last night I had a dream.

Andy Byrd: 24:56

A man in white came to me and said I'm going with you somewhere today and it was very important that I go. Where are we going? She's like, we're going to church. Mom got saved, dad got saved, whole family got saved. They're all following Jesus.

Andy Byrd: 25:09

Why? Because God is the missional God. And even where there's not a missionary working, he's already working. He's just waiting for human partnership. He goes, let me tell you one more story.

Andy Byrd: 25:21

He goes, one of our house fellowships met in an apartment, and, the the pastor of that house fellowship got a knock at his door one day. And again, they have to meet secretive. People come in one at a time. They have to be very cautious. So he opens the door and a total stranger standing there, and he goes, is this where the Jesus people meet?

Andy Byrd: 25:37

And he's like, dang. We've been busted. Like, we're it's over. KGB, like what's happening? And he goes, what do you mean?

Andy Byrd: 25:44

He doesn't know how to respond. He goes, what do you mean? He goes, last night I had a dream. A man came to me and gave me this address, and said that I needed to come here and learn about Jesus. Is this where the Jesus people meet?

Andy Byrd: 25:55

And he's like, yes it is. Welcome in. Guy got saved. Family got saved. They're all following Jesus now.

Andy Byrd: 26:01

So many stories like this. I got an email two days ago from a team that's in Turkey. Turkey's the largest unreached nation in the world. And the email was about salvation. People, Turks, turning to Jesus because he's revealing himself to them, and then people are partnering with the mission of God sharing the gospel, and people are getting saved.

Andy Byrd: 26:19

Let's keep going here. More good news. Unreached, unengaged people groups are those without a single known church or missionary working to reach them. Let's just make it simple. Let's call them unengaged people groups.

Andy Byrd: 26:30

Now there have been thousands for years and years of unengaged people groups, meaning not a single known believer in an entire people group. We're not talking about nations now. We're talking about people groups. A people group, they share a language and culture. That's what defines a people group.

Andy Byrd: 26:45

They're ethno linguistic groups. And thousands of them for, you know, for many years has still not had a single known believer or a missionary trying to reach them or a church in their people group. Now the last twenty years has been an unbelievable collaboration of missions minded churches, missions organizations to discover where these people are and to work to engage them for the first time in two thousand years of church history. Because of that, let's go to the next slide here. In the last eighteen years, a 81,000 churches have been planted among previously unengaged people groups.

Andy Byrd: 27:22

Eighteen years. A 81,000 churches planted among people that for two thousand years, not a single person in their language group, their people group had ever heard the gospel, and a 81,000 churches have now been planted among those people groups. Come on. This is good news. Turn to the person next to you and go, this is good news.

Andy Byrd: 27:44

Okay. Let's stay on the good news train a little bit longer before we get to the bad news train. Okay. Here we go. Barna did a major study of young believers in America.

Andy Byrd: 27:53

Where's our Gen Zers in here today? This is the next great generation. And, they found Barna asked the question, how many of you but this was, this was believing Gen z. So it's a subgroup of Gen z. They're believers.

Andy Byrd: 28:07

Ask the question though, how many of you can see yourself as a potential career missionary? Which is a crazy question. 52% of Gen z believers indicated openness to be a commission. That's astounding. Now they won't all become that and they they can't all become that or I guess society would collapse because not enough other people would be in other work or jobs and whatnot.

Andy Byrd: 28:28

But this is astounding that Gen z is pre wired to be thinking about the nations of the earth, and they want to make a difference among places that add little to no access to the gospel. 89% of Gen believer Gen z believers in the nation of India see it as their responsibility to share the gospel. To contrast that, In the church in America today, 1% of American churchgoers will ever lead someone to Jesus in their lifetime. 1%. In the church in America, and I think the garden church is different, but 30 to 40% of believers in the church in America will ever share their faith in their lifetime.

Andy Byrd: 29:10

30 to 40%. That's the current reality in America, And then Gen Z shows up. Recent survey showed that 80% of Gen Z had shared the gospel in the last year of their life with their friends. 80%. In the last year, not lifetime, year.

Andy Byrd: 29:26

80%. We could potentially have the most missionally evangelistically minded generation in history on our hands right now in the midst of an incredibly ripe harvest field all over the world like perhaps never before. Okay. Can you guys handle a little bit of challenging news today? Okay?

Andy Byrd: 29:46

We gotta know the reality so that we know what we're facing. Let's go. Hundred and fifty four thousand people die every single day without faith in Jesus. That's gotta keep us up at night at some point. That's gotta drive us to prayer a little bit more.

Andy Byrd: 30:00

That's gotta drive us to a little bit more sacrifice. Now just to take a pause here for just a second is I am not in any way belittling our missional calling to our home regions, our home state, our neighborhoods, our workplace. Every one of us is a missionary in here. And that is so significant. But at some point, we do have to ask the question, what about the great imbalance for the billions around the world that have no access to the gospel or a church?

Andy Byrd: 30:28

And at some point, they need special focus. Why? Because Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Why? Because Jesus was okay with leaving the 99 who had good churches for the one who had no access.

Andy Byrd: 30:43

No access to his love. I did a little bit of data on California. If you went to a different church every Sunday in California, it would take you four hundred and fifty three years to go to every church in just California alone. Four hundred and fifty three years if you went to a different church every Sunday for you to go to every church in just this state alone, And billions don't know a single believer. They've never walked by a church in their lives because there isn't one.

Andy Byrd: 31:17

They've never seen a Bible because it's not translated for them. They've never met a believer because no believer lives among them. So at some point though every calling is sacred when done in obedience to Jesus, and our mission to our neighborhood, our school, our state, our nation is absolutely as significant as any mission. At some point, we do have to ask the question about the great imbalance. Let's keep going.

Andy Byrd: 31:41

It got a little quiet in here, but like just stay with me. Okay? Promise you we're gonna end with good news. Let's go to the next one here. Today there are 7,246 unreached people groups with 3,400,000,000 people among those people groups.

Andy Byrd: 31:56

The unreached make up 42% of the world's population. What is a unreached people group? It means that that people group is less than 2% Christian. These are not unengaged, they're unreached. An unreached people group is less than 2% Christian, and they're not growing.

Andy Byrd: 32:12

So they lack the training, the resources, the leadership, and the numbers to actually grow in their people group, so they are classified as unreached. That population makes up 3,400,000,000. One of the challenges and sad parts of this is this number is growing. It's not shrinking. It's growing because their birth rate is higher than we're reaching them.

Andy Byrd: 32:32

The birth rate of the unreached is growing faster than the speed of the church in terms of reaching the unreached. Let's keep going here a little bit more. Some more challenges. Only point 37% of all missionaries work among the unreached. There are less than 12,000 missionaries working among 3,400,000,000 people.

Andy Byrd: 32:49

Currently, there is one Christian missionary in the Muslim world for every 405,000 Muslims. Now some of my greatest friends and greatest heroes, they work among, Muslim people groups. They work in this area of the world. Can you imagine waking up in the morning knowing that if you don't reach 400,000 people, they'll never hear. If you don't reach those 400,000 people, they will never hear.

Andy Byrd: 33:12

That's the reality of the of the call of missions in many of these places around the world. To maybe just highlight it one other way is that there are six times as many people today that will go to work at Walmart than there are that are working as full time missionaries around the world. That is global missionaries, Catholic and Protestant. Six times more people will work at Walmart today than will work among the nations of the earth as missionaries. Let's keep going here a little bit more.

Andy Byrd: 33:40

I wanna show you this map. This map, the size of the nation is dependent on their unreached population. Okay? So look over here. We got North America, little sliver.

Andy Byrd: 33:51

South America is super tiny. Southern Africa, of course quite small because of gospel access and wretchedness. But then North Africa is massive. India is bigger than the rest of the world. South Asia, Middle East, Central Asia, all of these places giant.

Andy Byrd: 34:05

Now if Jesus truly came to seek and save the lost, I sometimes wonder if this is a little bit more of the map he sees as he prays for the nations. Not that he doesn't love every nation, every people around the world, but he's looking for that lost coin. He's looking for that lost sheep. And I sometimes wonder if there's a little bit of the map that Jesus sees as he intercedes for the nations, as he works on our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit to walk as missionally as he is. Let's keep going on a little bit more bad news.

Andy Byrd: 34:38

I hope you're not too depressed. Are you guys okay still? Are you with me? Hang in there? Yeah?

Andy Byrd: 34:42

You got a few more minutes? Okay. Here we go. Christian giving. It's about to get a little worse here.

Andy Byrd: 34:46

Okay? Christian income is $70,000,000,000,000. Christian giving is 1,300,000,000,000.0. 80 2 percent of all giving goes to church pastor and staff. That is not a negative.

Andy Byrd: 34:55

We need to support our churches. I am all for that. This is just the data. 12% goes to home missions, leaving 1.7% of all Christian giving goes to reach 3,400,000,000 people that have little to no access to the gospel. Let's go to the next one.

Andy Byrd: 35:11

This is really bad. Every year, a hundred times more money is embezzled by leaders than is in the church than is given to reach the unreached. Evangelical Christians could provide all the funds needed to plant a church in every unreached people group with point 007% of their annual income. If every evangelical gave 1% of their income to missions, we could easily support 10,000,000 new missionaries with 1% of our giving. Now California is the fifth largest economy on the planet.

Andy Byrd: 35:41

California alone could fund the completing of the great commission from this state alone. This state alone. To whom much has been given, much is required. But I I rather look at it like this. Friends, we've been given permission to partner with the compassionate heart of the missional God.

Andy Byrd: 36:00

To see the good news of the gospel touch every single heart on the earth, and friends, we can do it. One of the most depressing stats, I couldn't write it up here because I didn't want it seared in your mind forever, was in 02/2019, a study was done, and America spent more money on Halloween costumes for their pets than they did on reaching the least reached around the world. But our dogs looked like Dracula, and they were cute. While 3,400,000,000 people are still waiting for the gospel. Let's go.

Andy Byrd: 36:31

We're almost done. We're almost back to some good news. I promise. Question was asked of believers in America. To answer this question, you had to be a church going believer.

Andy Byrd: 36:38

So these are committed believers. Okay? Have you ever heard of the great commission was the question. 51%, I've never heard of the great commission. 25% have heard of it, but I don't know what it means.

Andy Byrd: 36:48

6%, I don't know. Their brains broke. They didn't get the question. So they're certainly part of the 51, leaving only 17% of the church of America that knows what the great commission is. So you gotta ask yourself the question, what do 83% of believers in America think our mission is if it's not the great commission?

Andy Byrd: 37:10

And if churches are not talking about the great commission, and this is definitely different for the guard, and I completely understand that, but I'm giving you a picture of the whole. Right? If churches aren't talking about the great commission, what are we talking about? What do we think our mission is if we're not talking at all about making disciples preaching the gospel and doing it everywhere? Now we understand the kingdom is broad and and there are nuances to it, and it touches every single area of life, but Jesus did make it pretty simple in the giving of these mandates that we would understand our mission.

Andy Byrd: 37:40

And you then there's no wonder that giving and going and and our impact isn't what it could be when so few have a firm grasp at a heart or a mind level on what the real mission of the church is. Let's end with some good news. Okay? Here we go. Here it is.

Andy Byrd: 37:54

The good news slide. The church has 14,000 times the finances and 36,000 times the people to finish the great commission. Should we do it? Come on guys. Should we do it?

Andy Byrd: 38:07

Should the garden church do it? Should Southern California do it? I mean this is that what an unbelievable opportunity that's in front of us. In the same time that some of the fastest growing moves of God we've ever seen, unprecedented work among the Muslim world, unengaged people being engaged

Intro/Outro: 38:23

at a historic rate, and all of

Andy Byrd: 38:23

that being done with hardly any historic rate, and all of that being done with hardly any people going, hardly any people giving, and hardly any people even knowing what the great commission is. So imagine imagine, friends, if a few more people went and a few more people understood and a few more churches like the garden went. We have a great privilege to take the gospel all over the earth. Now to end this and to humanize it because my fear sometimes is that by talking about stats and data, we dehumanize what we're talking about. Because again, every single stat is an individual.

Andy Byrd: 38:59

In fact, I have a final map. Let's put this up there. Every blue dot is 50,000 Christians. Every red dot is 50,000 non Christians. How many of you think the greatest strategist who has ever existed in human history thought I have an idea.

Andy Byrd: 39:14

Put all the Christians in a few nations and all the non Christians in other nations. I don't know. How many of you think God wants to change this map? How many think he can change this map? It's estimated that if every Christian shared the gospel with every person in their orbit of life, that over 2,000,000,000 people would still never hear the gospel because there is no Christian in their life, in their orbit.

Andy Byrd: 39:36

We can change that. We should change that. Number of years ago, I was part of a team. We were leading a new project into the Himalayas. And our goal was to do Bible distribution among people that were completely lost.

Andy Byrd: 39:48

They had no Christian background whatsoever. And our question was, could the scriptures be one of the greatest tools of evangelism, of actually reaching the lost and giving them the words of life? And, we so we had a bunch of bibles and we did I don't know if we did the forty five day challenge. We probably should've done a ninety day challenge to try and get in shape to be able to to hike through the Himalayas. We filled our Bibles, backpacks with Bibles and Jesus film projectors, and we set off on this trek into the remote Himalayas.

Andy Byrd: 40:15

We'd already flown into one of the sketchiest airports I'd ever been in my life. Half the instruments in the plane didn't even work. They must

Intro/Outro: 40:22

have been good pilots, though. That's kinda what I reassured myself with.

Andy Byrd: 40:25

If you can fly without instruments, you must be

Intro/Outro: 40:27

a good pilot. We're probably fine.

Andy Byrd: 40:28

That's a little we're probably good. And we landed this remote airport, and we start hiking. We're gonna spend the next week in the remote Himalayas making a circuit doing bible distribution. Well, the first day, we hiked for twelve to fourteen hours. Just a full day in the Himalayas.

Andy Byrd: 40:43

And our legs are on fire. Our lungs are on fire. We're exhausted. And, like, 90 year old Nepali women are out hiking us. I mean, it was just, like, it was demoralizing

Intro/Outro: 40:53

at every level in flip flops. And,

Andy Byrd: 40:56

we finally crest the last peak where we're coming down into the village that was our first place we were coming to, and we didn't know anything about it. None of us had been there. And when we looked down over the mountain pass, beautiful, absolutely beautiful landscape. There was the village. And the village, we could tell as we got closer, was six homes.

Andy Byrd: 41:15

Six six houses there. Day I mean, hours and hours from the nearest village. And I I never felt this emotion the way I did that moment when we started to hike down that village. And I thought to myself of all that we had done to get to this point, and all I could think in my mind at that moment is they are so worth it. They are so worth it.

Andy Byrd: 41:35

Because he came to seek and save the lost. And we went down to that village, we put the project Jesus film projector up. They've never seen anything like this. Put it on the wall. They've never seen Jesus.

Andy Byrd: 41:45

They've never heard his name before. And to see the story of Jesus through the eyes of people that have never ever heard the story before, it comes to life like never before. I remember watching it and seeing their reaction to why would they kill the man who was healing the sick, and loving the lost, and raising the dead? And then when he was resurrected watching their faces light up to go, wait, he came back from the dead. We shared the gospel's unbelievable moment with just these few families.

Andy Byrd: 42:15

We slept there that night in their homes. That was interesting. My blanket was a blanket, but it was alive. I don't know what was in it, but it moved. I don't know.

Andy Byrd: 42:23

I just shut my brain off and went to sleep. And the next morning, we gave them all none of them could read, so they all get audio bibles in their language. And we went to a certain story in the New Testament for this one man. The man whose house I stayed in, I'll never forget him because he was one of those unforgettable faces where when he smiled, his whole face smiled. Like, you know what I mean?

Andy Byrd: 42:45

Like, the eyebrows somehow smiled. His ears were part of the smile. It was just like a smiling face. Huge smile. And when he heard the story of of Jesus, and Zacchaeus, his face lit up to think that Jesus was finding the marginalized, the forgotten, the remote, the isolated.

Andy Byrd: 43:03

And here he is in the middle of nowhere in this little six home village. And, worship team can actually jump up. And, and so we gave him this audio bible. We weren't trying to get them to pray a prayer. That's not really the goal.

Andy Byrd: 43:15

We, you know, that doesn't really work in this setting. Like, there is no church. There are no believers. We're sowing seeds, and then we're gonna send teams back that are church planting teams. And so we share the gospel.

Andy Byrd: 43:25

We, you know, we give him the audio Bible, and we go on with our trek. It was unbelievable. We saw God move in such incredible ways. A year later, the organization that funded all the Bibles sent a team to follow our footsteps because then we started to send multiple teams into this region. They wanted to know, is this working?

Andy Byrd: 43:41

Because they had funded all the Bibles. So they sent a team with a photographer and a journalist, and the stories they heard were unbelievable. They had strangers stop them on the trail and be like, why are you here? And they're like, well, we're we're following these stories. You know, we these teams that have gone out, they go, oh, a team came to our village.

Andy Byrd: 43:57

A man born blind was healed when that team came. And they gave us all bibles. We've been wondering how we could find out more about Jesus. They heard all these stories, right? So they come back a year later after our trip.

Andy Byrd: 44:10

I've kind of, you know, I'm just I'm I'm doing other things. My friend comes up. He throws a magazine down in front of me. And on the cover of the magazine was the man whose face smiled. And I was like, what?

Andy Byrd: 44:22

And I open it up and I read the story. Well, after we had left by his audio Bible, he had decided that there was only one God and his name was Jesus. And he started following Jesus on his own. He hiked the village we started with. It was like twelve hours for us, probably two for him.

Andy Byrd: 44:38

And and found the nearest church, and the picture on the cover of the magazine was this man with a huge basket hanging off of his back full of Bibles. Because he was now trekking Bibles to the whole region bringing people the words of life. These blue dots are not just dots. They're people just waiting for the good news of Jesus. I want you to stand up.

Andy Byrd: 45:03

We're gonna pray. I think garden has a The garden church has a mandate. I think you have a unique calling and anointing to not only see God move in the hearts of people across this region and to affect this region in profound ways. I know you know this, but I I think God is inviting the garden to have a a profound footprint among the unreached. You have an inheritance in the nations.

Andy Byrd: 45:29

There are people that are waiting for someone from this church to come and share the gospel. There are people that are gonna be deeply affected as this church is gripped with a spirit of prayer and begin to cry out for the nations of the earth. You might not be able to find Uzbekistan on a map right now, But maybe a month from now, you've got tears for Uzbekistan because God has gripped you and gripped your heart for the nations. And I think he wants to move in some of your hearts this morning in a way where he would plant a seed that could never be taken again. And I understand that going long term is, in some ways, a narrow calling.

Andy Byrd: 46:05

It's not that everybody in here is called to go long term, but everybody in here was made in the Imago Dei of the Missio Dei. And everyone in here has some great privilege with an oozing, overflowing, compassionate, loving heart to make a difference among the millions that are still waiting for the gospel. And I think God is leading you as a church into a strategy that is right for your church to have a profound impact on the nations of the earth. But the first thing I wanna do is we just respond a little bit. Is some of you in here know you are called to go.

Andy Byrd: 46:42

You know you are called to go. Might be North Africa. Might be South Asia. Might be the Himalayas. Might be Central Asia or the Middle East.

Andy Byrd: 46:50

But I wanna if you know you are called to go, I just wanna invite you to come to the front right now. I just wanna give a bold invitation. If you know you are called to go to the nations of the earth, you might not know when, you might not know where, you might not know how long. You don't have to know all your details, but I just want you to come to the front if you feel like there is a calling on your life to go to the nations of the earth. And I realize it may not be many of you, but I do wanna pray and I wanna highlight those that feel that God is anointing you for that.

Andy Byrd: 47:17

I wanna pray that God would plant that seed even a little bit deeper this morning. Some of you may have come this morning not even thinking you were called, and now you're like shoot I think I'm called. So come to the front, make a little bit more Yeah, just perfect. Great. If you're in the congregation, stretch your hands out to those that are up front here right now.

Andy Byrd: 47:39

Holy Spirit, we pray right now, would you plant a seed that could never be taken? God, I'm asking fill them with compassion, fill them with love, fill them with an oozing overflowing heart for the nations of the earth, God. I'm asking even today for some of them, you would whisper a nation, a region. You'd show them a face. They'd whisper you'd whisper a name, Lord, that you'd connect to real people and real needs across the earth.

Andy Byrd: 48:05

And, God, I pray for every person that has come front right now To the to the front right now. God, I'm asking, move in their hearts in radical ways, God. I'm asking, release that compassion. Father, I'm praying that nothing could steal the seed that you plant this morning in their hearts. Lord, I'm praying that many from the garden, five years from now, which is speaking other languages, working in other regions of the world, with the great privilege of taking the gospel to those that have never heard before.

Andy Byrd: 48:33

So mark them Jesus. Now I wanna ask for the whole congregation, would you just put your hands out before the Lord, and I wanna pray for an impartation on the garden church to carry the heart of God for the nations of the earth. You may never go with your feet, but that your prayers would regularly touch the nations of the earth, that your giving would regularly touch the nations of the earth, that you you couldn't get away from it. God would, in a way, he would haunt us with his love for the nations of the earth, and that this church would be so radically focused on the great commission that ten years from now, that the garden could talk about the languages that have the bible because of your work and your investment. The garden could talk about the churches that have been planted among unreached people groups because of this church.

Andy Byrd: 49:22

So Holy Spirit, I pray right now, release an impartation over every person in this church for a spirit of prayer for the nations of the earth. God, grip us in our homes, at our dinner tables, in our bedrooms, in our small groups, Lord, in our gatherings, in our prayer meetings, Lord. Pray that you would fill us with love and urgency, with faith and with hope, God. And I pray for every person in here, would you plant a seed that would touch our minds, that would touch our hearts, Lord, let it lead to prayer, let it lead to unprecedented sacrifice, let it lead to anything for the sake of finding the sheep that have never encountered his love. Finding the son who is waiting to come home, and finding the coin that is the very part of your inheritance.

Andy Byrd: 50:13

God, grip the garden church with this incredible privilege, and this incredible opportunity that's in front of us, God. May they have the privilege to send many. May they have the privilege to to carry this in prayer. May they have the privilege to see the great commission advance across the earth, Jesus. Thank you, God.

Andy Byrd: 50:33

Thank you, God.

Intro/Outro: 50:39

Thank you for listening. For more information, please visit us at garden.church.