We are bound in the Spirit to take the Gospel to the world. God is found by those who go to further His mission. It is amazing how the Lord meets on the field. (Acts 20:22-24)

Speaker(s): Pastor Steven Scibelli, Gary and Kathy Groenewold, Martin and Katie Rodriquez
Sermon 11835
6:30 PM on 2/9/2020

P. Schaller –

I’m excited about tonight. I love the flags and the people behind them and the team of people over here. This is
missions night. It’s a different kind of service. After the service, there is special food in
classrooms 1, 2, and the café. Wasn’t that beautiful singing. I want to hear about missions
tonight. This morning was awesome. Today we had an amazing day in the Lord. It was
awesome. James Kirby’s face to face service was a joy.

I’m thinking of God ministering to us and what it means. There is a verse in Ephesians 4 where it says we are fitly framed together. GGWO is not only Baltimore and the work we do but Baltimore and this work in Moscow, India, Africa and all these places. We are fitly framed. The pieces are amazingly fitted together. We are a
Body and we meet in Eurocon in March in Budapest. We assemble together and we hear what
the Spirit says to us. The Spirit little by little is guiding us.

I want to ask you to think and I know you do and pray these months in the spring for God to raise up people from us, Bible college students, pastors, families and we would be part of the team that would be targeting a new
country where they need to hear the gospel and the finished work and people need a healthy
church and ministry of grace and healing and guidance. That’s a throne ministry. That’s what
God does. Where should we go this summer? Where would God want to send us this summer?
Have little teams of people and go and minister.

You might say when has that ever worked, pastor? A couple years ago, P. Gary and Liz and Mica and a group of people went to Cambodia. They prayed and evangelized and Doug Pearson and Beth and today our church in Cambodia meets on a river boat. They rent a river boat and they sit and sing and preach on a river boat in
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. You might say how did that happen? I don’t know. In our life of faith,
we had a meeting like this and had a Cambodian sign.

Then anyone interested in Cambodia meet over there. They started praying and today there is a church by God’s grace. Glory to God for Ryan Raina and Doug and Bethany Pearson. Turn to your neighbor and give them the names of three, five, ten people out on the mission field today somewhere in the world. P. Scibelli said
the Arman family has ten! And many others. The Post’s, Sliva’s, Timofte’s amazing people out
there. I’m excited about tonight. Pray to the Lord of the harvest. Is there a harvest? Yes. Is there
a Lord of the harvest? Yes. What would he do? Send. Send. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to
send laborers in the field. You have the freedom to say amen and shout it out. Christ is alive. He
overcame death. Amen!

P. Scibelli –

(Acts 20) Great night, isn’t it! Thank you P. Renaldo. Thank you P. Schaller for
leading us and thank you, elders of the church. We are in a blessed place. Acts 20:22, say that,
bound in the Spirit. I’m a willing prisoner of the Holy Spirit. Vs. 23. That’s a great promise, isn’t
it! Vs. 24. From this ministry as God called a man in Maine many years ago and the ministry
moves from Maine to Massachusetts to Maryland, it’s incredible to think what God has done.
What who has done? What God has done.

Psalm 126 the Lord has done great things. He delivered us from captivity. We were lost and then delivered. Another captivity is to have nothing to do with the gospel. Not very interested in the propagation of the gospel. This can happen. It can happen in anyone of our lives. One point this country – and I think it’s still the greatest missionary country on the face of the earth – 90% of all missionaries came from the United
States. 91% of all missions money came from this country.

This country was raised up by God and blessed by God and given a missionary message and mission to the whole world. I was looking at what God is doing through our ministry and others. 744 churches in 77 countries.
This ministry is planting churches at a rate of 30 a year. 457 churches have been planted since
2005, the whole ministry worldwide. That makes me want to smile, say Halleluiah! I love
watching P. Shibley’s face when his daughter is singing. It’s beaming.

Yes, that’s my daughter. What God has given and what God is doing is remarkable. As we heard a great message on the throne this morning, I had another message but sitting up there I thought about the throne of
God as P. Schaller described what Stephen saw. He saw the throne of God. In the middle of
being surrounded by the enemy and stones flying at him, he was totally occupied with the
throne. That is how it could be with us. There are so many things going on in my life and so
many things going on in the world, it’s very easy to be occupied with what is going on in my life
and in the world instead of looking.

I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. And what comes out of that. Lay not this sin to their charge. He saw the throne of God. We have on the throne the Father who has a purpose. This ministry has a purpose that comes from the throne. Purpose is where I’ve been placed. I thank God I’ve been placed in a ministry that has
purpose, not one playing games, not one that is playing churchianity. Let’s play church. That can
take place. There are a lot of people that play church and never get to know God. Our ministry
has a throne purpose.

A purpose comes from the throne of God. The throne means the authority of God, the power of God, the majesty of God, the person of God, the rule of God, the reign of God. This is the throne. We have a throne purpose that comes from our Father. Amen! You can say amen once in a while. Nothing wrong with that. I know you might be a little tired,
but I don’t think so. On that throne is the Son of God. The throne, the Son of God. Then the
Holy Spirit. Think of that throne:

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He who makes the plan and has a purpose, he who is the performer and the person of the plan and the one who empowers the Spirit leads and guides us in the plan. If I am looking at man and man’s ability and provision, and man’s ideas on how to reach the world, I will only get so far. I’m going to get
weary, faint and tired. If I’m focusing on the throne of God, it’s incredible what can happen. I’m
going to hear Throne Words. Remember the message? I’m going to hear Throne Words as P.
Renaldo heard on the bus on the way to Botswana.

Those words will motivate me with a throne ministry and a throne life. If I’m just listening and think about – I like those amazing examples people said about missions. If I’m looking at the situation and inwardly and outwardly and
evaluating a checkbook and how to figure out how missions is going to take place, I’m looking
at the wrong place. I need to look at the throne of God, the person on the throne. This will give
me motivation for the mission God has called us to.

I was reading about the Student Volunteer Movement. I love the story. You probably heard me talk about it. I don’t have a problem in my brain and don’t plan to. In 42 years, sent out 20,500 missionaries. 410 a year. More than one a day were going. People like C. T. Stud, Hudson Taylor, young people like me and young people
like you! Just say I am going to go for this. There motto was no more career ambitions. It’s all
about foreign missions. Is it career ambitions? I’m not against career ambition but am I on a mission? We are all on a mission.

We have Christ, a world that is lost, we have people in our city and neighborhoods. I’m not playing that down. I’m saying we have an incredible purpose and vision God has given us. So incredible to think the words of the gospel in our hearts can be spoken to people and they can make decisions and lives can be changed. Can you imagine
20,500 missionaries from the Student Volunteer Movement. Another group called the Mt.
Hermon 100. These were young people. That doesn’t negate any of us. I have some people 70
years old thinking of missions in Africa.

They say I may as well die on the field. Much better. I said whatever. Pray to God and see what God says. Don’t ever think you are too old to go to Bible school. We need to be trained in our calling and be part of our local ministry. I believe every person has five calls. You are called to salvation, called to the church, called to be
disciples, called to be discipled and called to win the lost. As these calls are being developed,
heaven opens up and God speaks to me. Before you know it, I’m standing in a place and can’t
believe I’m there.

We have 75 Bible college students in Pakistan and on their way to Afghanistan. Some of them have a mission to Afghanistan. That comes from the throne of God. The Father’s throne, the Son’s throne and the Spirit’s throne. They hear throne words with a throne life and a throne gospel. A church that comes from the throne of God has that power, that authority, and that glory. It’s personal. It’s got majesty to it. It’s incredible. It’s not just a
church. It’s a church on a mission.

I’m so glad that God found me and placed me here. I was thinking of Acts 20:22, I go bound in the Spirit. It means I’m a prisoner of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit and my human spirit. They are together. I don’t know what will happen. So many people have to try and figure it out. How much is it going to cost. What am I going to eat. What is the
visa going to be like? I went to places and a man said by the way, you don’t have a visa. I said do
I need one? He said you can be here 30 days and have to leave.

No visa granted to you. He said I don’t like Christians or Americans. I’m not going to say where the country was. I went to the bathroom and prayed. I said God I’ll give you three options. Convert him, move him to another
country or kill him. I don’t think your plan is to kill him, but I think he should be converted. I
went back and he was gone. They transferred him to England. That was 1986. Still there in that
place. Visa? I got words from the throne.

God is able. I’m not going to get occupied with all of these things. I could get occupied with my health. I was evangelizing in the Northeast Market and the street started going 360 on me. I grabbed the mailbox and hung onto it. I was looking for help and then P. Eugene and Oliver came. They put me in the car. I went home and I said
God, this can’t be going on. Get rid of this. I have a schedule Saturday and Sunday. And a little
bit of sleep and I don’t even know what happened. Maybe it was a demonic attack of some
type. We have a God that is on a throne.

He has power and ability. I go bound in the Spirit not knowing what will happen. The Holy Spirit witnesses in every city bonds and afflictions await me. I’m not going to be moved. I’m bound by God. I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord. I don’t want to be captive to something else. He was bound. We are bound in the Spirit. God has given us a
church and a ministry. No matter what part we play, we are faithful and loyal to attend church
and speak to people and give them a message.

We give and we help, and missions goes forward. 744 churches is because people give. The Spirit has bound me to this vision, to this ministry. It’s incredible what can take place. It’s amazing to me. I see men and women trained all over the globe because people were willing to say yes to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and
hear from the throne. You know what? I’m not concerned about the stones you are throwing or
what you think is the end of my life. I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Lord,
receive my spirit.

Forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing. Let’s not get occupied
with so many things in life. Who knows who could be sitting here and where they could go. Or
who could hear the Word of God and be transformed and changed and find themselves in a
place they can’t even believe. What am I doing here? My wife said what are we doing here? We
look at each other and say, we are here because God sent us.

God spoke. The throne words came. Don’t limit the Holy One of Israel. Don’t say I’m too old. What does that mean anyway? John Wesley was still preaching at 90 something, riding horseback. Thank God we have
airplanes. David Livingstone walked 37,000 miles in Africa on foot. Why did he do that? Why did
Alexander McKay keep going in East Africa when 7 of his team of 8 died and he was the only
one left. How could Judson lose one wife and another wife and two of his children die and he
writes the Bible for the people of Burma. What is it about them?

There is no difference in our lives. I go bound to the Word of God; I go bound to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I go bound. How important it is. There will be things that try to move us. Anybody ever try to move you?
The old sin nature, the world. Still doing that Christian thing? I hear that when I go north
sometimes. You still doing that Christian thing? I go bound. What are you going to do? When
are you going to retire? What about your health? I go bound.

What about what the doctor says? I go bound. What about the finances and the check book? I go bound. Not knowing but I know God and you know God and we know God. It’s amazing. We think about where it started
and where we come to. Men of God were bound. Churches were bound to the mission God
gave them. Here we are today and who knows? 1,000 churches. Is that out of our reach? No,
it’s not at all. Let’s pray and believe God. Maybe you or I God is speaking to. What is the next
step that someone takes?

Is it to learn the Bible, is it to get to know God, take a summer harvest, signing up for Bible school, getting involved in reaching out in Baltimore. Is it to visit some place. I was talking to someone in a certain country where nobody can leave their room because of a virus. Imagine in a room for two months and food has to be delivered to you. I said
what is going on? Halleluiah! This is in the hand of God. Amen! I’m bound to the Spirit. I want to
be bound to God’s plan not people’s evaluation or self-analysis. I go bound. Let’s continue to be
people who are bound by the Spirit.

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