Principles of Strategy and Methodology, Part 1

Introduction to the Missions Policy Study and Today's Topic

0:00 This Adult Sunday School class was held on November 5, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. For you who are visiting with us, and we are especially grateful for the group who are visiting with us from our sister church up in Fairfield, we do extend a very warm welcome to you. And for your sake especially, as well as any other visitors, let me just briefly explain what we have been doing for some 12 Lord's Day mornings in this adult class, today being the 13th, and that is we are studying the missions policy of our own congregation. We have been seeking to set before you the policy which was in some measure formally articulated by the elders back in February of 1987 on one of our... annual elders retreats. We did not create anything new on that occasion.

1:00 We simply sought to formulate the principles by which we had been operating and to which we had been led over our many years of life together at that time, over 20 years together, and we felt it was necessary that we should crystallize those principles that had been hammered out, not in an ivory tower of theoretical, a kind of theoretical, theological think tank, but in our actual experience as a church seeking to fulfill our part in the great missionary mandate. And so that you as the Lord's people might intelligently and therefore in faith enter in wholeheartedly and with greater enthusiasm to that policy and to the missionary endeavor your elders deemed it wise that I should be their mouthpiece to articulate, in your presence and with your help as we've studied together that policy. Thus far we've covered six of the seven areas that concentrate the major categories of our present missions policy. We've looked at the identity and the primary tasks involved in the work of missions, the authorization and warrant for our undertaking and overseeing the work of missions, thirdly the principles and principles of the work of mission. and practice of inter-church cooperation in the work of missions.

2:29 And we have even this week a marvelous example of that, working with Pastor Barker. I spoke to Steve just on Friday, and the schedule's all worked out. And while Steve is home, he's going to be visiting how many churches, Steve? Where are you?

2:44 Around 25 churches. And that's not getting to all the ones who would like to have him. That's having to be selective. And we're having a wonderful expression of these biblical principles of inter-church cooperation.

2:57 And as we saw, one of the major elements of that is communication. And it is with that end in view that our brother will be visiting these churches. Then we considered the fourth category, the selection of missionaries. Fifthly, companionship in the work of missions.

3:14 And last of all, the relationship of missionaries to the sending church, to the church or churches planted under his labors, and to churches already existing in the field in which he is sent to labor. Now today, we take up the seventh category of our missions policy, namely, the essential elements of a biblical methodology and strategy of missions. The essential elements of a biblical methodology and strategy. And the particular concern of this aspect of our study is best brought into focus by this question.

Critique of a Modern Missionary Methodology

3:57 What strategy and methods should we adopt in seeking to pursue the task of missions in accordance with the previously established principles. The first six categories were basically the setting forth of unambiguousou etwasенты. of principles and policies of missionary endeavor. Now our concern is, what is a biblical methodology and strategy for carrying out the work of missions consistent with those principles and policies? For example, one thing we could not do, and I will cover the masthead of this publication, but it's a publication of people who are committed to the same confessional standard as we are, not here in our own country. And when I received their publication this week, look at the print, those of you, even in the back can see it, another new missionary. And I thought, marvelous, they're going to tell us how God has raised up and equipped a man and has gathered the support of churches

5:19 and has a church in which he has proven himself, sending him forth to preach the gospel, to plant churches, to secure permanent, competent, biblically qualified, resident leadership in the person of elders and deacons. But alas, this is what I read. Monica, a woman, comes from Germany, came to Britain to train as a midwife, a profession which she hopes to use, in the Arab world. Then Monica goes on very sincerely to say how the Lord spoke to her very early in her Christian experience about becoming a missionary.

6:00 And then how God began to speak to her about becoming a missionary in Muslim lands. She doesn't say how God spoke to her, but God spoke to her. And when she came to the particular local church in which she began to fellowship, she said she was fearful they wouldn't receive her because she was a Christian. Because, she said, I would have to tell them they would have to receive me as one whom God had called to serve as a missionary in some Muslim country.

6:29 And alas, she was so pleased, and I am not saying any of this sarcastically or tongue-in-cheek, when the church said, look, if God's brought you to us, we take you with your call and with your direction to the mission field. And the article concludes by saying, I think I will call myself attentive, and I will be going to the Middle East there to work with my profession, i.e., a midwife.

6:56 You cannot get a visa as a missionary as such, and the best way to meet people is just by living with them. So here is a woman, and we do not question her sincerity, nor the sincerity of the church, nor of the society that is sending her forth, calling her a missionary, when all she is doing in reality is changing the path of her life. She is changing the path of her life. She is changing the place of exercising her profession as a midwife.

7:23 Well, obviously, any strategy that we adopt would never lead us to regard such a person in such a function as a missionary. And I read that both to underscore what we're pressing towards in this seventh category, and also to underscore that when I've made assertions along the way that seem strange to some of you, because you've been so blissfully insulated from what's going on in the majority of the evangelical and Reformed world, this is a publication from a Reformed missionary society that adopts our confession of faith, and yet they identify as a missionary. In these large letters, a midwife going to the Middle East to practice midwivery with a view of faith. A view to being a Christian witness. And I say to her willingness to learn Arabic, both classic and popular Arabic, and to labor as a woman in a Muslim context, and in the Middle East, I say bless God for such devotion to Jesus Christ.

8:39 And concerning her desire to be a witness to Muslims, I say bless God for her compassion for souls, but to adopt, to identify her as a missionary, I say shame on such disregard to biblical categories of identifying the work of God. It can only bring confusion. Now then, we are concerned, you see, that what we've articulated as our categories of policy be implemented in an actual strategy consistent with those policies and principles. And so, this morning, and God willing, completing the study next Lord's Day morning, we want to address some of the specific elements of a biblical strategy and methodology of missions. And we're going to follow the ordinary pattern we have used. We're going to look at various groupings of scripture, and then we're going to try to extract from those scriptures the various strands which, woven together, constitute at least the fundamental elements of a biblical methodology and strategy of missions. So if you'll open your bibles,

Establishing the Universal Scope of Missionary Vision from Scripture

10:05 I'm going to read about six or seven texts.

10:12 And as I read the texts, I want you to be looking for one thing as it pertains to the question of a biblical strategy and methodology of missions. And here is the question. In the light of the passages that I will read and you will follow in your Bibles, what ought to be the scope of our concern, desire, and vision in conjunction with the work of missions? According to the passages about to be read in your hearing, what ought to be the scope of our concern, desire, and vision in conjunction with the work of missions? And we're going to start with some Old Testament texts and then end up in the book of the Revelation. First of all, Psalm 2. Psalm 2.

11:11 This great messianic psalm quoted several times in the New Testament, at least parts of it. Particularly in conjunction with the spread of the gospel against the opposition of men. We read in verse 7, I will tell of the decree Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And in the New Testament, that is interpreted as referring explicitly to the resurrection and subsequent ascension of the Lord, for Jesus, in which he was not begotten as to his person, but he was begotten to his official position as enthroned, resurrected, messianic king. Now, what does Jehovah say to the messianic king, his son? Verse 8. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

12:27 And now, turning from that passage, we will turn over to the New Testament, Matthew chapter 28, in the interest of time. I was going to read one or two passages out of Isaiah, but I think we will skip over them to Matthew chapter 28, to a passage we've looked at a number of times for a number of principles connected with missions, beginning, beginning with verse 18. And Jesus came to them, and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you. And lo! I am with you. I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, or the consummation of the age.

13:28 And now Mark 16 and verse 15. Assuming for our discussion this morning that this is a part of the gospel as Mark wrote it, we read, And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel, unto the whole creation. And now to Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter 1 and verse 5, breaking into Paul's opening statement in the Roman epistle, Through whom, that is, through Christ our Lord, we received grace and apostleship unto obedience of faith among all the nations. Among all the nations for his name's sake. And then the first chapter of Colossians, Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, verses 3 to 6, and then verses 22 and 23. We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have toward all the saints,

14:56 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you, even as it also all bearing fruit, and increasing as it doth in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. Verse 22, Yet now hath he, Christ, reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish, and unreprovable before him, if so be that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven, whereof I, Paul, was made a minister. And now our final passage, Revelation 7 and verse 9, one of the passages I used in the first study I gave in what will be an ongoing quarterly missionary emphasis when this series is done. Revelation 7 and verse 9, After these things I saw, and behold a great multitude which no man could number, out of every nation,

16:22 and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes and palms in their hands, and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb. Now, question. According to these passages, what ought to be the scope of our concern desire and vision in conjunction with the work of missions? And before you answer, try to make your answer as succinct and as comprehensive as possible. We're seeking now to establish a methodology and a strategy of missions with reference to it according to these passages, what ought to be the scope of our concern, our desire and vision, in conjunction with this task? Someone want to venture an answer? All right, Paul?

17:31 Every nation in the entire earth. All right. Someone else want to state it a bit differently? All right, Rich?

17:39 Comprehensively universal. All right. Someone else? All right, Pete?

17:47 Pardon? All right. Every nation, every tongue, every people. All right, Pete?

18:17 Very, very good. Can you give that back? Run that by again. All right.

18:27 Now, Pete has added an element that is absolutely crucial. So crank up your volume, Pete, and go ahead and read it. That's all right. If you...

18:36 Pardon? All right. All right. All right.

19:00 I believe Pete has brought together in a very accurate way a response to that question. What ought to be our desire, vision, and concern? And Pete has said our concern should be that the Lord Jesus receive all that the Father promised him and all that he died to purchase, and our desire should be that all that he has given should be taught to those to whom we come in the work of missions, and it ought to extend to the entire world. And perhaps the only thing that we could add to that is that that world must be conceived of in terms of individual people, that we must not think in terms of just broad, generic categories of homo sapiens, but we are to preach the gospel to the whole creation, to every creature. So with reference then to the scope of our vision and concern in this matter of the strategy of missions, we must constantly fight against what things that keep us from this kind of universal, comprehensive,

Barriers to a Comprehensive Missionary Vision: Prejudice and Logistics

20:27 Christ-centered concern and vision. What are the things that keep us from the realization of that and therefore would impinge upon our mission's strategy and our mission's methodology? All right, Chuck?

20:59 Very, very good. Our prejudices, which is a problem of the what? The heart. And then the logistics of getting there, which can be a problem of the heart if it's unbelief, but it's more a problem of a realistic facing of the obstacles.

21:16 Now, can you think of any instances in Scripture where those things were a hindrance to the church initially penetrating all cultures and all peoples in the midst of great obstacles? Can you think of prejudice and how it operated, and in whom it was operating to hinder the spread of the gospel? Bill? I think it's Bill there.

21:42 Yes? With the Gentiles staying with their house, and then when you returned to the church, they questioned how they had given a vision, what came to Cornelius' vision and orchestrated the whole event. That's right. And all of that orchestration of a vision to Peter, a vision to Cornelius, was to break down the barriers of prejudice.

22:23 Now, having broken them down and getting Peter to the house of Cornelius, and preaching the gospel and the Lord by the Spirit coming in power and saving Cornelius and his household, did that prejudice die in Cornelius' household as far as Peter's heart was concerned? Are there any indications that he had an ongoing trouble with racial and ethnic prejudice? All right. All right.

22:59 In the book of Galatians, Paul gives the account of how he had to withstand Peter to his face because before these Judaizers came, Peter was eating with the Gentiles, his prejudice was at least being subdued and mortified, and then either out of fear of the faces of his fellow Jews or their influence resurrecting his prejudice, and only God knows how much it was of either one or both, or any of them, or any combination of the same, Paul had to rebuke him that in this area he was manifesting prejudice. And so this whole matter of prejudice is one of the great barriers to any church having a vision, a concern, a perspective with reference to its missions policy that is as broad and comprehensive as the Word of God mandates that it should be. Now, what about practical logistical hindrances as Mr. Davies has called them? Can you think of any such in the record of the early church?

24:09 How about, all right, yes, Doug? All right, he tells them that many times he had longed to come to them, but up until now, he had been hindered in the fulfillment of that desire. And in another place he says, Satan hindered us. How about jails and shipwrecks?

24:48 I mean, there are some obstacles in the way of Paul accomplishing his worldwide missionary vision. Now, he had certain hindrances logistically that we don't have today, but we have some that he didn't have. As a Roman citizen, he could go anywhere in the world without having to have the approval of the existing government, without having a visa, a passport, and all the rest. All he'd have to do is demonstrate his Roman citizenship, and he was in.

25:20 He didn't have to struggle with a language made up of an entirely new set of vocables. And what was it that you were first told, Steve, when you were beginning to learn Tagalog, that certain words were like what? I remember it was a very vivid image. You can't remember it.

25:38 See, you speak Tagalog so well now, you can't remember it. But it was strange. It was like trying to wrap your tongue around your molars or something like that. I mean, if you've ever...

25:47 You can wrap your tongue around your front teeth, but try to wrap it around your molars. And there is the problem of the tremendous diversity of linguistic groups. These are barriers that stand in the way. But in spite of those barriers, we are nonetheless, if we are thinking biblically and our hearts are impressed with the Word of God, to seek to attain and maintain the disposition I think most clearly epitomized by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1.

The Disposition of Debtorhood in Missions

26:18 And I want you to turn there, if you will, for a moment. This ought to be our disposition given the fact we are not apostles, we have not been specifically called to bear the name of Christ personally to the ends of the earth, all of us, not one of us, a calling equal to or even in any way parallel to the apostles, but those qualifications notwithstanding, here is the disposition that ought to reflect the heart of a biblical, spirit-filled, properly missionary-oriented church. Romans 1, verses 14 and 15. I am debtor, both to Greeks and to barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish, so as much as in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome. So that our disposition as a congregation ought to be that we recognize that in freely receiving the benefits of the gospel, we have in a real sense become debtors to everyone, starting with those closest at our elbow, our own spouses and children. If they are not the recipients of Christ

27:46 as offered in the gospel to our neighbors, to our own community and to the ends of the earth, we have a debt to discharge. And that sense of debtorhood will keep us in the posture of openness, of willingness, of desire, of sensitivity to this scope of the missionary endeavor. And so with reference to the question, what strategy and method should we adopt in seeking to pursue the task of missions in accordance with the previously established principles, first of all, it ought to be a strategy and a methodology that reflects this concern that the Lord Jesus will have all that he died for, all that the Father promised him from among all of us. All of the nations of the earth as the gospel is brought to all people. And that puts us then in the posture of being debtors. Now, if that is our posture, what practical effects will it have when your elders announce that we're having a missionary come and present a new area of need in our adult class?

29:08 What will our response be? Anyone? All right, George?

29:33 Amen. The disposition of an enlarged heart, ready to receive new responsibilities, new burdens. And the opposite of that course is the narrow spirit that says, oh no, another missionary? I mean, we've heard enough.

29:50 I mean, we've had missions here for 13... My friend, listen to me.

29:55 If that ever begins to be your attitude, you better ask whether or not you really know the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. Because that is the attitude that brought the curse of God upon the Jewish nation. They forgot that they were favored in order to be used of God as a light to the Gentiles. And when they began to think that being favored, they were God's favorites, to heap up His blessing, God's curse came upon them.

30:32 And though at any given point, through weariness, through backsliddenness, that might be our disposition for a brief period of time, if that ever begins to be the settled disposition of your heart, I wonder if you really have taken your posture as a hell-deserving sinner, rescued by sovereign grace, because in the case of most of us in this room, there is a trail of people who had this vision to take the gospel to the ends of the earth at any cost. Remember, it's only a few centuries ago that your forefathers and mine were pagans to the core. And somebody was willing to pay the price to bring the gospel that we might sit here today basking in gospel light. All right? Now, as we move to the next aspect of our strategy, I'm going to ask the question first, then read the passages and seek to see if you can articulate the principles.

Introduction to Strategic Factors in Missionary Labor

31:47 Here's the question. In taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, what factors were operating in guiding the servants of God to their specific spheres of labor? Assuming now that the Lord furnished them with this worldwide vision, Matthew 28, make disciples of all the nations. He says to Paul at his conversion and commissioning, you will be a chosen vessel to bear my name before the Gentiles.

32:22 Assuming we have that general concern for the nations, here's the question. In actually taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, what factors were operative in guiding the servants of God to their specific spheres of labor? Did they make a rough map of the world as they understood it at that time? Take a handful of rocks and throw them up with the prayer, Lord, wherever they land, that's where we're going to go?

32:53 And then look where the rocks landed on their rough map and say, oops, you'll go there, you'll go there. Is there anything in the scriptures to indicate that there are at least some principles by which they were guided into their specific spheres of labor? Now, it's that question that we're going to wrestle with for the rest of today and on, God willing, into next week. Now, the first category of passages are all taken from the Bible and all taken from the book of Acts, and all taken from what we commonly call Paul's first missionary journey.

Analyzing Paul's First Missionary Journey: Geographical Strategy

33:34 It is the studied judgment of most careful Bible students that the apostle Paul engaged in three major missionary journeys, and this first missionary journey has some helpful principles or some texts from which we can extract some helpful principles. Follow now as I read these passages and see if you can see in them some of the principles by which the apostle and his companions were guided as to the specific sphere of their labor. Acts chapter 13, verses 4 through 6a. Can you all see the map now? And I made a makeshift pointer of a white coat hanger. That's what I was doing back there when you were singing your opening hymn.

34:42 All right. Where there's a will, there's a way. All right. First category, Acts 13, 4 through 6a.

34:51 Speaking with reference to what happened in the church at Antioch. And now we've got to find Antioch. Here we are. So you all can see it.

35:01 Here's Antioch right up here. And Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine down in here. All right. So here's Antioch.

35:10 All right. Now, after the Holy Spirit has spoken, we read in verse 4, So they being sent forth by the Holy Spirit went down to Seleucia. And here's Seleucia right on the coast. So from Antioch, they go down to Seleucia.

35:31 And from thence they sailed to the island of Cyprus. And when they were at Solomus, here's Solomus, on the eastern coast of Cyprus. And when they were at Solomus, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews. And they had John Mark as their attendant.

35:52 And when they had gone through the whole island unto Paphos, over on the western part of the island of Cyprus, they found a certain sorcerer. And the rest of the paragraph tells us about what happened in conjunction with that event. Now verse 13, Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. Now, they set sail from here and they land here in Pamphylia.

36:26 And here's Perga almost on the coast. And John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem. John perhaps took the overland route and went back home to Mama. But they passing through from Perga came to Antioch of Pisidia.

36:46 And here they come to the other Antioch. Trying to find this now on our map. Here it is, up here. Here's the other Antioch, right up here in this area.

36:59 And what did they do? Well, the scripture tells us they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent it to them saying, Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation, say on. And Paul stood up.

37:18 And then we have a record of Paul preaching. Now verse 44, And the next Sabbath almost all the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitude, the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy and contradicted the things that were spoken by Paul and blasphemed. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you.

37:49 But seeing you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn unto the Gentiles. And then he quotes a passage from Isaiah, which was one of the ones I was going to quote earlier, which indicates his consciousness that this was in keeping with God's own prophetic word. And then we conclude our reading of this first section with verse 51 and 2. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came to Iconium.

38:21 So they come down from Antioch to Iconium. And they entered into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude, both of Jews and of Greeks, believed. And then we read of the division that came and what did they do. Verse 6.

38:40 They became aware of it, that is a plot to stone them, to kill them, and fled to the cities of Lyconia, Lystra and Derbe and the region round about and they preached the gospel. So here's the region, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and they preached the gospel in that whole region. Now, from this sketchy account of Paul's first missionary journey, what are the main factors that were operative in their strategy, particularly with reference to the question, where should we go to preach the gospel? Now, do you see any principles, do you see any general patterns emerging in this first missionary journey? For remember, the will of God is revealed to us not only by precepts and principle but by precedent, by apostolic example and pattern. Anyone want to venture a guess or an assertion? All right.

Principles of Geographical Strategy: Populated Areas, Jewish First, and Rejection

39:48 All right. Once they got to the city they were going to, the place they first went was the synagogue. Can you hold off on that till we come to another question? How did they decide what city they should go to?

40:06 All right, Tim. All right. It seems that they went to major populated areas that seemed to be on the trade routes. All right.

40:26 Someone else think you see something that's an organizing principle? And if you raise your hand don't get discouraged because with these spotlights it constricts the pupils and sometimes it's hard to see. Anyone else? All right, Chuck.

40:44 All right. It seemed to be rather limited in scope. They just didn't keep going and going and going till they ended up over here in Greece and then eventually over here here's the heel of the boot of Italy and Rome up here off the map. All right.

41:07 Any other observations? I think you're coming on to a good principle. Anyone else? All right.

41:30 Ordinarily they seem to preach to the Jews first and only when the Jews reject it did they go to the Gentiles or concentrate upon the Gentiles. All right. Anything else that seemed to be any common threads running through that help us to answer this question? What are the main factors that were operative in their strategy particularly with reference to where they went?

41:59 Anything else? Norman? All right. All right.

42:20 They went throughout Cyprus. All right. That rather than simply doing a whistle stop in Salamis and taking the bullet train across to Paphos it indicates that they preached the gospel across the island on their way to Paphos. And when they came up it says they preached the gospel in that region.

42:41 All right. Jonathan? All right. If they found people who didn't appreciate their message they went on and preached to someone else.

42:56 Would you want to let me answer with a question. Does anyone natively appreciate the message? All right. So how should we state it?

43:09 When they found people who not merely did not appreciate the message but did what? Rejected it with great intensity to the point of what term is used? They blasphemed. In other words when they showed an obdurate stiff-necked hardness in the face of all efforts to win them over from their natural prejudice their natural blindness which all of us have then in the blazing light of the gospel being rejected and resisted they then shook the dust off their feet and they went to other towns.

43:45 All right. Because we've just got two minutes let me try to state what I think is at least part of the principle that we see particularly in this first missionary journey. I stated it this way and this is not pontifical this is not ex cathedra. You've all stated it in one way or another.

44:06 They went from one city to another in a distance economizing way teaching and planting churches as long as the door was opened to them. This seems to be at least one of the principles it doesn't include all of them. They went from one city to another in a distance economizing way. From Antioch they had to get a ship over to Cyprus so when they come to Seleucia they preach the word of God and they did not take a route that brought them around to Paphos and then preach going west to east and then take a boat back to Paphos and go up here. There was a distance economizing measure that seemed to be woven into the texture of their ordinary method. And when they take their boat and land over here in Seleucia they immediately preach. They don't go up to Antioch and then preach there and a lot of other places come back to Seleucia and then to Lystra.

45:13 You don't find a criss-cross hopping around. And several of you express that in various ways that they seem to be guided by what we would call what? Anyone? Parcents.

45:36 It just seems to make good sense. Not only saving cents S-E-N-T-S and dollars and pounds and shekels and brachma and whatever other things were part of the currency of that day that they would adopt such a method. And though we'll see as we examine some of the principles of the other missionary journeys they were not woodenly tied to this. This seems to be one of the principles that when they were taken from one place to another they seized the opportunity in distance economizing to spend as little amount of time in travel as necessary maximum amount of time in preaching to get maximum saturation of the word of God in a given area. Now, God willing, when we try to pull all of this together next week or it may just run on into another week we didn't get anywhere near as far as I'd hope we get today. I had notes down through category three. We only got to category one.

Concluding Prayer for Light and Obedience

46:36 But I hope you're at least thinking along these lines and if you'd like to do a little homework let me urge you to re-read Acts chapter 16 through 19 sometime throughout the week looking for some of the principles that seem to be operative in the establishment of a missionary strategy particularly with reference to the question by what principles did they choose where to preach at any given time in the missionary endeavor. Well, our time is gone. Let's pray and ask God to continue to give us light as we seek to obey him. Our Father, we do thank you for the scriptures which are a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. We thank you for the conviction you have wrought in our hearts that all that we need to know to do your work is set forth in the scriptures. But, oh Lord, while we make that confession without reservation we acknowledge our darkness our ignorance our slowness to understand, to see. Give us light.

47:48 Give us hearts then to be obedient to the light and to know that you are the light and that you are the light. And, oh God, give us a spirit that desires ever to have that enlargement of heart that we will have in the scope of our missionary strategy. A heart as wide as the purposes of your own electing grace and as wide as the redemption purchased by the Lord Jesus. Deliver us from prejudice.

48:18 Deliver us from unbelief that would run from obstacles. Deliver us from narrowness of heart. Oh God, work in us by your grace to the end that through us according to your purpose we may in our generation see the gospel extend to new areas of the world. Bless the whole church universal in its fulfillment of the commission of our risen head even the Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we draw near to you.

48:52 Amen.