1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,050 . 2 00:00:01,950 --> 00:00:05,650 When I tell people I’m a missionary, I get all kinds of questions. 3 00:00:05,650 --> 00:00:09,113 People ask, “What kind of missionary are you?” 4 00:00:09,113 --> 00:00:13,242 Or they want to know exactly what it is a missionary does. 5 00:00:13,242 --> 00:00:16,537 Or a lot of times, people will say, “A missionary? 6 00:00:16,537 --> 00:00:18,330 Here? You mean, that’s really a thing?” 7 00:00:18,330 --> 00:00:22,950 Well, there’s 281-million lost people in the U-S and Canada. 8 00:00:22,950 --> 00:00:25,212 So yeah. It’s a thing. 9 00:00:25,212 --> 00:00:27,715 But there’s one question no one’s ever asked me. 10 00:00:27,715 --> 00:00:28,924 And I wish they would. 11 00:00:28,924 --> 00:00:32,094 No one’s ever asked, “Where’s the finish line?” 12 00:00:32,094 --> 00:00:33,971 That’s the question I want to hear: 13 00:00:33,971 --> 00:00:36,682 “What does ‘mission accomplished’ look like?” 14 00:00:36,682 --> 00:00:40,686 You can watch videos about North American missionaries like me. 15 00:00:40,686 --> 00:00:43,500 You can read stories about us. And you can pray for us. 16 00:00:43,500 --> 00:00:46,650 But don’t get so caught up in the methods and minutiae of what we do 17 00:00:46,650 --> 00:00:48,652 that you miss the main thing. 18 00:00:48,652 --> 00:00:51,197 Everything you see and hear and read about us 19 00:00:51,197 --> 00:00:53,074 is really just a means to an end. 20 00:00:53,074 --> 00:00:57,000 We start churches to make Jesus known. 21 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,747 We meet needs to make Jesus known. 22 00:00:59,747 --> 00:01:03,209 We move to unfamiliar places, we meet unreached people, 23 00:01:03,209 --> 00:01:08,255 and we attempt unrealistic things… just to make Jesus known. 24 00:01:08,255 --> 00:01:11,217 There’s nothing more important than that. 25 00:01:11,217 --> 00:01:12,927 Nada. 26 00:01:12,927 --> 00:01:14,804 Nothing at all. 27 00:01:14,804 --> 00:01:17,014 Jesus said, “Go into all the world 28 00:01:17,014 --> 00:01:20,643 and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” 29 00:01:20,643 --> 00:01:24,522 And so that’s what our finish line looks like. 30 00:01:24,522 --> 00:01:28,609 It looks like obedience. Same as your finish line. 31 00:01:28,609 --> 00:01:31,946 God speaks. You give. We go. 32 00:01:31,946 --> 00:01:36,242 Everything starts with your gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. 33 00:01:36,242 --> 00:01:40,621 Those gifts enable us to go to places where the gospel’s never been. 34 00:01:40,621 --> 00:01:43,290 And this is where we cross our finish line. 35 00:01:43,290 --> 00:01:47,461 This is where, together, we make Jesus known.