Go and Tell

SUMMARY

In this sermon, Karl Ihfe outlines the church's recent focus on missions, stemming from a season of prayer and discernment. Survey results showed members' desire for emphasis on local missions, long-term partnerships, empowering indigenous workers, and intentionality in mission work. Ihfe discusses key partnerships like the children's home, Open Door, and Carpenter's Kitchen.

The sermon delves into Biblical passages, including Matthew 28:16-20 and Romans 10:9-15, to underscore the importance of sharing the gospel. Ihfe uses these scriptures to remind the congregation of their role in God's mission. He shares a story about high school students providing prom dresses as an example of living out the gospel in practical ways.

Ihfe concludes by challenging the church to be "the sermon" in their daily lives, encouraging members to seek opportunities to share God's love in their communities. He announces the church's plan to support members in local mission efforts, matching funds for various outreach initiatives.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Well, earlier this spring, church we talked some about missions, and we, as the missions committee, invited you to join us in a season of discernment and prayer. We spent a couple of weeks thinking about the power of prayer and how much Jesus taught his disciples to pray. In fact, we looked at the story in Luke 18 where Jesus tells them a story, and Luke gives us the context for that parable. He says, Jesus told them this story so that they would pray and never give up, to keep praying, to always pray. And we spend a little time reflecting on Jesus teaching on prayer, and then listen to Paul as he actually writes out a couple of his prayers to the church in Ephesus where he challenges and he dreams for them.

He says, my hope is that your love would deepen in Christ and in knowledge and in wisdom and at that wisdom and discernment, that it would grow and it would expand, it would become something much larger and more open. He says, I pray that you're going to be filled with the fruit of righteousness, that all that you learn and that heart that continues to grow would not just be something that lives between your ears, but it would seep down into your heart and begin to impact the way that you live. Then we spent the next week reflecting on this idea of discernment. What does it mean to discern? And looking at some of the Old Testament examples of those heroes of faith who discerned.

We talked some about Joseph and as he was counseling Pharaoh, right before that Pharaoh, he said, before the famine, he said, you need to find someone who's discerning, who can see what's going on around them, who knows God's Word, and who can figure out, discern, learn, understand, and chase after what it is that God wants. We looked at Moses and King Solomon. When he was asked for anything by God, he said, God, would you give me a discerning heart? So we thought together some about what it means to be people who discern. And then we looked at a real world church example in Acts chapter 15, where the disciples are trying to contemplate the apostles about God's saving work that's happening amongst the Gentiles in Antioch.

And how some had said, well, no, no, no, they've got to convert to Judaism before they can become Christians. And we're not sure what to do. And so they go to the leaders of the church and they ask, and what we're told is the church said, well, it seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit, right? They spent some time discerning. Here's what we know about who God is and what he's called us to.

And as Rodney and Michelle reminded us, gathered around the table, that God had a plan, a desire, a hope, a dream for his people to become. And they lost sight of that dream. But that dream included this ministry to the Gentiles. And so it seemed good to us that we would continue to see that ministry flourish. So during our season of prayer, we sent you some daily prompts to be thinking about different ways that God's at work in the world and how we might partner with him.

And afterwards, we gave you a survey and 48 of you responded, talk to us about what you saw, what you heard. In this morning in Bible class. We spent some time going through those results, but I wanted to share just a couple of those that were so impactful to the committee. As we began to plan and think, okay, this next year, Broadway Mission, what's that going to be about? There were four kind of areas of emphasis that we discerned from the study, from the survey rather.

And the first one was, we want to emphasize local missions. Most of you said, hey, would you help us to learn how to live more missionally in the city, in the place where we are, whether it's in our neighborhoods or in our schools, maybe it's at our workplace and in our communities. Would you help us to figure out some ways to challenge, to grow to develop those muscles of local mission? How do we evangelize? How do we reach out and share the good news with people?

And so we're going to spend a lot of time this next year thinking together and helping us grow in that. But not only that, they said, we want to value some long term partnerships that we want to be the kind of church that we have been for 135 years, where when God invites us to partner with ministry, that we stick with it for the long haul. That's not just something we send money to, but that we could really engage with and grow in that opportunity together. Along with that said, we want to empower indigenous workers, folks who live in the places where the gospel needs to be shared. How can we help empower them and develop them and help them grow and become the kind of people who live on missions.

So that's just as good for us here in Lubbock, Texas, as it is for our friends at Uzima or down in Ecuador. How do we empower those who live in those places to share? And underneath all of that, we want to be more intentional. We want to make sure that the efforts and the initiatives that we partner with and join in that we can clarify what are the goals? How do we know when that work is being successful, and how can we know where to tweak and how to grow and develop it?

But not only that, how does it fit in with who we're trying to be? That missional focus that God's calling us to be. A city set on a hill, a light that won't be hidden. And so with that in mind, the missions team said, well, let's focus in then and help our church return to what are some of those local partnerships that we've had for a long time that we want to reinvest in. And so you're going to see and hear about opportunities over the coming weeks and months together about the children's home of Lubbock and the incredible work that Rudy and his team are doing out there.

You're going to hear some more about Open Door, and we're going to hear from Chad and Jamie in the amazing work that they're doing across the street and how we can continue to partner with them in that we well hear some about our carpenters's kitchen in the ways that we are serving meals every week to folks who are food insecurity in our city, in our own backyard. How can we continue to develop and nurture that? That's one of those ministries that we hope goes away one day because there's nobody hungry. But until that day, we feel like God's called us to say, hey, you've been blessed. Would you bless some others?

Would you help them find a meal, something to eat? And then thinking some together about what that might look like in terms of homes. So we've had a partnership with Habitat. We've had several other partnerships where you're going to hear more opportunities about ways for us to live on mission together. And so to encourage that work, then the mission said, well, we need to hear from a couple of those passages that mean so much to us here at Broadway.

Last week, we jumped headfirst into Matthew 28, that great commission passage where Jesus, standing on a mountain, commissions his disciples. And we're told this by Matthew, in the 28th chapter, he says, Verse 16, the 11 went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told him to go. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you and surely I'm with you always. To the very end of the age, we talk some about how doubt is not the opposite of faith, right? Certainty is the opposite of faith. But whenever there's faith, there's going to be doubt. And so Jesus, he doesn't say, hey, you doubters, get out of here.

He says, no, no, no, you doubters, you go and you make disciples. You keep telling people about me and you teach them the stuff that I said and you teach them and you model to them how to live it out. Because somehow in doing so, God is going to do some amazing things in and around you. He's going to change you and he's going to change your community. And so we wrestled some with, okay, what does that look like?

What empowers us? Well, because Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me and I am sending you Jesus plan for his name to be shared, for the kingdom of God to break in on earth as it is in heaven. He says, it's through my church, it's through you. And so what's going to sustain us as we do that hard work? Well, he says, I'm with you.

I'm with you always to the end of the age. So that great passage of challenge. We spent some time in this last week. This morning I want us to spend a remaining time thinking about the words that Tara read for us just a moment ago from Romans chapter 10. Paul's writing this incredible letter.

We're going to spend a few minutes there. If you have your Bible, let me invite you to turn over to Romans 10 as you're doing. So let me set a little context for you. My brother in law is a contractor and if you know anything about contractors, one of their main jobs is to make sure the project works and goes on time, that people show up when they need to show up, that they do the job that they're supposed to do. So he's working with plumbers and electricians and builders and all kinds of roofers, all kinds of folks, drywall people.

But invariably if you've ever tried to build a house or had a house built for you, or known somebody who has s tried to build a house, you understand problems happen. You know, I know it's hard to imagine, but just think for a moment that at some point the electrician is working on some stuff and they think they know the best way for that to happen. But it's different from the plan. Well, the plumber did this and I don't think the plumber should do that. He should do this.

And then the plumber says, oh yeah, well what do electricians know? I know what plumbing is. The plumbing needs to happen this way. And so my brother in law Nate has to show up and kind of say, okay guys, look, let's go back to the plan when this whole project started. This is what we're trying to do.

This is where we're going, this is where we're head. Stay on task. Sometimes those different groups and teams that he's trying to lead and organize, they start developing their own ideas about how the plan should go and what it should look like. And he has to step back in and say no, no, no. Remember guys, this is what it's all about.

This is where we're going. This is what Paul is s doing a loose translation, but this is what Paul's doing here in chapter 10. He's trying to help them explain what's going on, what's happening. As you heard Randy say, God had a plan from the very beginning and Israel got confused on their plan and started to think about, well I think I know a better way for it to be and the Markings and the way that people will know who we are. We want to define that picture.

We want to demonstrate that by how we live by following this law and doing it so well and then creating barriers so that other people can kind of distinguish and differentiate. They missed the plan. They were trying to design God's people and plan according to their way rather than doing their way according to God's plan. So Paul has to go back and remind them of God's original plan, that actually their scriptures even testified about how they're going to turn away, that they're going to struggle with keeping God's plan. In fact, in doing so, one of the paths of that plan, or one of the parts of that plan rather, is that others who are outside this family of God are going to start coming in.

So Paul reminds them and he predicts using their own scriptures, right? He uses Isaiah and he uses Joel and Deuteronomy 30. The kind of this amazing picture of what is going to happen when God says, I am going to give you a new heart and that’s going to be a sign to the people around how you live, what you confess, what you say. And so what Marked Israel out before this circumcision, physical and fidelity of the law. That's not going to be what Marks the people of God.

In fact, it's going to be a circumcision of the heart in this fidelity to Jesus. And so here we find these words that Tera read a moment ago. If you declare with your mouth Paul says that Jesus is Lord, then if you believe it in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it's with your heart that you believe and are justified. It's with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

As the scripture says, anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. For there's no difference between Jew and Gentile the same Lord is Lord of all, and he richly bless us all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

How then can they call on the one that they've not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they're sent as it's written? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

And how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. It's not that he's literally meaning Isaiah here. This is his prophecy. He said, this is going to be the people's response, that when they hear that amazing news, they're going to be so thankful, so overjoyed at the feet of those who brought that news to them. Not literally.

Oh, I love your feet. Though they may have nice feet. The point is how joyful, how incredible that you brought me this amazing story. And Paul's going, I've seen it church with my own eyes. God transformed lives and the joy that results in that.

I've seen the opportunities to be included in God's family. It's life changing. And so then he asked these four questions. And these four questions kind of echo throughout the rest of the letter. And they've been echoing forward into our day today.

How can they call on the one they've never believed in? And how can they believe if they've never heard? And how can they hear if nobody ever tells them? And how can anyone ever tell them if. If they are not sent out?

So that word comes to us. Maybe your translation that says, how can they hear if no one preaches to them? And you say, well, Carl, I'm not a preacher. I mean, some of you may be thinking it. Not everybody can be an incredible preacher like you, Carl.

And to that I just want to say, first, thank you. That's so sweet of you to think that. But secondly, and more importantly, not all preaching is done by a preacher in a pulpit. In fact, not all preaching is done with words. Some of the greatest sermons I've ever heard were demonstrated in the life of a Jesus follower, someone who committed themselves to following the way of Jesus.

I came across a story a few months ago about some high schoolers at Lubbock Christian High School who undertook this amazing little project. Maybe you saw the news story. And so I was telling our missions committee about it and I said, hey, I was thinking about using this as an illustration in my sermon on Mission Sunday. And they said, one of our members, Terr. I said, hey, I know them.

And I said, would you set up a chance for us to talk with them? I would love for them to come and share their story with us here at Broadway to kind of give us a picture of what it looks like to live out a sermon on behalf and for the sake of the kingdom that would impact people in our city. Like to give us maybe an idea of what that could look like. And she said, sure, I'll call them. And they had some other stuff they had to do today, but they said, we'll sit down and do an interview.

So Gary came up on the weekend and we filmed this interview, and I just wanted you to hear part of their story. Check it out.

Prom is a special night, but for some, the cost of dress can be an obstacle. And that's why Love a Christian School is stepping in, making sure no girl misses out on the magic. Molly Davidson, one of the volunteers, says seeing families react makes it all worth it.

I had a mom come up to me last year and she. I don't think she really knew what it was. She heard about it and she came up to me, she was like, so are they actually free? Like, no cost? I was like, no, like, you take it, you're good.

She started crying to me. She gave me the biggest hug. I feel like that really impacted me because I realized how much this does mean to families. Ye. So all the girls, I would come in, you could tell that they were all shy and everything, but as soon as they would start trying on dresses and like all the workers and all the volunteers, we just.

I mean, we'd help them and stuff, but, like, you could tell their face just light up when they saw and they could finally see how beautiful that they are and how God sees them, they could finally see that. And we just kind of would help them boost their confidence. So I don't know, they just. You could tell that they could finally see their own beauty. And it Was really special.

Seeing the girls and their moms come in and their face light up. I know whenever the girls try on their dresses and complete strangers go, you look so beautiful. And their faces light up and the moms cry because the moms were like, I didn't think I'd be able to buy my daughter a dress. And I get one for free. And it's allowed girls to attend prom that probably wouldn't have attended because it is so expensive.

This year, I think we gave away 400 dresses. I know it was a lot. And so we keep track of all of them and like, what sizes we need to get more of for next year. And we'll just have multiple businesses and just like people around the community will come and drop off dresses. So part the people that we partnered with, they could no longer do it.

So we had to take all of the dresses, which thousands of dresses, find a place to store the dresses, find a place to hold the event that was large enough that all of the surrounding communities could come to. So it's still really big. It could be bigger. We would have speakers come and lift the girls up and tell them that, yes, beauty is outward, but beauty is within and our beauty, you know, God sees us, we're all beautiful. Life right now with all like social media and everything, its's hard to be able to see your own beauty and to be able to like, uplift other people.

It just, it makes you feel really good and you can just tell everybody in the room just feels special and we're all in a good mood, we're all happy. You can just feel God's presence in there. We had girls who came to this event last year, bring their dresses back this year and say, I got this dress last year for junior prom and I'm bringing it back so I can share it with someone else. And I was floored by that, that they wanted to pass it on, that they didn't keep it, that they felt, I'm going to bring this back and bless someone else with this dress. And that was God at work.

Like, that was showing that it impacted them and that they saw the importance of it and wanted it to continue. If you would like to help, call Love at Christian High School. Make contact with them. They'll put you in contact with the mothers who are taking it over for next year and they would be very appreciative for any help that anyone could offer. I love how in the midst of solving a problem, these conversations start taking place and the next thing you know, a question gets Sparked.

Why are you doing this? What would lead you to do something like this? So it transforms the simple moment of helping a girl find a dress for her prom, which is an important thing, into this opportunity to tell them about what real beauty is and how God created you beautiful and how God loves you. You heard in there, Tracy reference, there was a church or a group that helped us before, and they can't help us anymore. And so me, Goofy Lee said, could we help you?

And she said, that would be amazing. That would be incredible. Like, what if Broadway said that could be maybe one of our local missions that we could say we could bless some young women and we could help them learn about the way that God sees them and we could bless them. I given them them an opportunity to experience an important moment in the life of a young person. What if God could take those simple, seemingly mundane opportunities and actually transform them into gospel conversations?

That's why we want to have a stronger emphasis this year on saying, hey, church, every one of us is sent. Every one of us is called to be on mission for God's kingdom, to have opportunities to share the good news with people. And for some of you, maybe it would involve some words. It's going to involve a moment where you're going to have to say something in the beauty of our God, as he says, I'll give you the words. Don't worry.

Just be faithful to show up. I'll tell you what to say. My guess is for the majority of us, it's going to be more of a sermon in the way we live, because you never know what people are going through. You never know when a young person who just needs a prom dress, that's all I need. I don't need to hear anything else.

All of a sudden begins to see what real love looks like when someone just cares and gives. Because this ministry is so cool. It provides shoes, it and jewelry and makeup. They have a little show where they put the parents outside and then the girls dress and they walk out and they get a chance to be cheered for. Mean.

It's an amazing experience. And they come walking away going, who does this kind of thing mean? Who would think of that? What was a group of high school students who said, you know what? I have a friend and she can't go because she can't get a dress.

I could give her one of, well, I've got some shoes, I got some dresses. Well, then it began to expand. Maybe there's more than one, or maybe there's more than a few. And this year, 400 dresses were given out. It's an amazing opportunity.

Church will we be willing to be called and sent so that someone might hear for the first time there's a God who loves them. I may surprise you to know As a preacher, I've been called a lot of things. I've been called any number of names, but my favorite name actually came early on in my ministry here. Kaley and I and the family had just moved here in 2012 and there was a family here, the Pounds family. Some of you know, David and Sandra have a couple of little kiddos and little Elisha I think was probably about Barrett's age when we moved here.

And I was out in the community. I was at the store getting some stuff and I was walking out of the store and David and Elisha were in the parking lot and they saw me and I was kind of across on the other side of the parking lot. So they weren't going to yell and scream. But Elisha looked up at his dad and he said, “hey, dad, there's the sermon.”

They kind of associated Karl. This is the sermon. This is the sermon. This is the sermon. Now it's the sermon.

He'd say, hey, there's the sermon.

I've tried to live up to that name ever since I was told, hey, dad, there's the sermon. Hey, mom, there's the sermon.

Missions want you to know we want you to become the sermon in your little world. God is going to give you a moment sometime this year where you get to demonstrate what following Jesus is really about. And sometimes it's going to require some words, but more often than not, I'm just going to ask you to live in a particular way to be the sermon. And so Missions has reoriented our budget. We went back and reoriented our budget to try to accommodate this.

And so those of you who have gotten the budget, you've seen that number. We talked about it in class this morning. If not, grab one on your way out. But there's a section in there called Domestic missions. It's about $10,000 we set aside, said, hey, what we'd like to do is partner with our church in all the ways they're trying to be a sermon.

And so for some of you, it may be in your small group, you go, hey, I want to be. There's a service project that I'd like to help out. Do you think Broadway would help us with that? And we'd say, yeah, yeah, Broadway would love to help you with that. In fact, we're going to match you dollar for dollar up to about $250.

You raise some money, we'll match that money so you can be the sermon. Not every sermon requires money, but some, it may. Some of you may work at a place that says, hey, I go on a medical mission. My office goes on a medical mission. Would probably be willing to help support that.

Absolutely. We'll match you dollar for dollar up to $250. Some of you say, well, I live in a neighborhood with lots of young families or I live in a neighborhood with lots of people who don't know about Jesus. I'd love to throw a little block party to try to come up with some opportunities, some conversations, to build some relationships, to meet some needs, like the prom queen event. It's just our own little version of that.

Would probably be willing to invest in that. Absolutely. Why? Because Broadway is invested in you living out the gospel in your neighborhood, in your next. It doesn't just have to be a Broadway mission, though.

We want you to support that and we're asking you for that. But part of Broadway's mission is you being on mission, and we want to partner with you because we know God's given you favor and opportunity in certain areas and aspects of our community that many of us could never go into. Would you come and talk to us about it? Could we partner with you? We'd love for you to dream some about that.

Not only that, we want to be sending you out across the world. In fact, Brian, they told our high schoolers, next summer we're going back to Ecuador. Our young people are going back to Ecuador. We're excited about that. Our hope is maybe in a couple of years they may be going to Kenya, to Africa.

There are s some opportunities coming down the road. And you say, well, I'd like to go to Africa. I'd love to be on mission. We'd love for you to go. We're dreaming together with our partners in South America and on the continent of Africa.

God, how are you at work? How can we partner with you? How can we send our people over there to get a picture, a glimpse of what life on mission looks like? That when we come back off the mission field together, we’ve changed we're different, that we begin to see things different and hear things different and engage with people in a different way? Why?

Because how can they call on the one if they've never believed? And how can they believe if they've never heard? And how can they hear if no one ever says anything? But how can they say anything if no one sins? Church, this morning we're sending you in the name of Jesus.

Would you live on mission for his sake, his kingdom? We want to partner with you on that. Just a moment. I'm going to say a prayer and ask God to bless this offering we are going to take up now to say. All right, dig deep, Church.

We've been asking you to pray and to think, to be sacrificial in your giving. Let's take up an offering now. All the different ways that you can give Venmo. All those ways are available. We've got some envelopes at each of the boxes.

On your way out, if you want to do a check or cash, just drop it in there. Drop it in the box. We can't wait to see how God is going to multiply, how he's going to preach so many sermons. Our hope is that he's going to preach 550 sermons this year, and they're going to impact our community deeply. Father, would you help us to be radically generous?

Would you remind us of who first shared with us the good news and that for some of us, it wasn't a sermon, it wasn't even a Bible class. It was a friend who just came along and loved us in such a sacrificial, meaningful way that it impacted us. And for some of others, it was a need, a desperate need we had in our life for some tangible thing. And somebody stepped up and met that need. Because of that, a question got asked.

In response to that question, the conversation started. Oh, God, thank you for sending those men and women into our lives to share the good news with us. Lord, would you send us now in the name of your son Jesus, to be the sermon? Would you help us to demonstrate the kingdom that there's a different way to live, even in something as simple as a prom? God, our beauty is not Marked by our outward adornment, but by the inward reality that you created us and you love us.

God, would you help us to see others the way that you see them, not as pagans going to hell, but as sons and daughters who, Jesus, you died for? Would you open our eyes this week to those missional opportunities you're going to give to us? Would you inspire in us creative and courageous hearts, Lord, that you might plant seeds in us to impact our community? Maybe it's to grow a deeper partnership at work and to go on mission there. Maybe it's in our school cafeteria to be a table that's just radically inclusive of those who feel left out.

Maybe it's some other way. God, whatever it is, would you give us courageous and creative hearts to see it? God, thank you for the gifts that you've given to this church. And thank you for multiplying them in such powerful ways. We've seen it with our own eyes this year, God, would you do it again with this gift now?

Would you help us to give sacrificially that we might make an impact for your kingdom, in the name and for the sake of your son, Jesus, the Messiah, Amen.