You Were Made for This

“Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded, and they were created. He set them in place forever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away.

So praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on the earth, young men and maidens, old men and children; let them all praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted.

His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. And he has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in their maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their king. Let them praise his name with dancing; make music to him with tambourine and harp. For [listen to this] the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.

Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them—this is the glory of all the saints. Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet; praise him with the harp and lyre. Praise him with tambourine and dancing; praise him with the strings and flute. Praise him with the clash of cymbals; praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

Praise the Lord you have breath this morning.

Have you ever thought about what it would be like if that last phrase in the book of Psalms were switched around? Instead of saying, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord,” it said, “Let everything that praises the Lord have breath”? How many of you would be alive right now if your every breath were dependent on it being lifted in praise to God?

I submit to you that the God whom we’ve gathered together to worship in these places is worthy of nothing less than every single breath. You were made for this. You were made to praise the Lord and find life in doing so. And I want to show you this today in a way that I am convinced most Christians are completely missing. And I know that’s a strong statement, but I believe this: that most Christians are completely missing—meaning, they get part of what we’re about to see in God’s Word, but not the complete picture.

And the results are devastating in our lives and in the world around us.

Let me show you Psalm 67. If you have a Bible—and I hope you or somebody around you does—you could look on with, I invite you to just open up the middle of the Bible and find Psalm 67. So Pastor Bruce—who, let me just say how thankful I am for your pastor—I’m so thankful over many years for specifically his encouragement to me and example to me in ways he doesn’t even realize. But he asked me to preach as part of this series, which I would say I am honored to be a friend of this church family. And he asked me to preach on my favorite text of Scripture, which is impossible to choose.

But this text, maybe more than any other, has shaped my life. It’s the passage of Scripture that I’ve prayed over my kids for years when I’ve put them to bed when they were younger. And part of me wants to apologize for choosing a psalm, because I know you all just finished a series through the psalms. But you didn’t cover this one, and I’m glad you didn’t. Although I really think you should have. But anyway, I can talk with Pastor Bruce about that.

But the first two verses of this psalm summarize the whole reason you and I exist, the reason you and I have breath. But again, in a way, I believe most Christians are missing completely. They get part of it, but not the complete picture.

I remember, like it was yesterday, the first time someone walked through this text and this truth with me in the Bible. And I sat there—I’d been a Christian for many years—but I sat there with my jaw on the ground, because I knew if this is true, it changes everything about my life. And it did. I’d been a Christian for years, but once I heard this, the trajectory of my life totally shifted.

So let’s read these two verses, Psalm 67:1–2. If you’re taking notes, I want to show you the twofold reason you exist—the twofold reason you and I have breath right now. So let’s start with the text, Psalm 67:1:

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.”

Let’s read it one more time. And can we read it together? I think it’s up on the screen. Let’s read it all out loud together:

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.”

All right, let’s hear what God is saying to us right now through this text.

Well, one, you exist to enjoy God’s grace in a relationship with him. This is the first part of the reason you exist.

I’m not talking to the person beside you, in front of you, or behind you—like you, right where you’re sitting. You exist to enjoy God’s grace in a relationship with him. This is verse 1: “May God be gracious to us, bless us, make his face to shine upon us.” If you’ll notice in your Bible, there’s a word after that, “Selah,” this musical term that signifies a pause, as if to say, okay, don’t move on too quickly here. Just let this soak in.

May God—we’re talking about the holy Creator of the universe, the one who spoke; he said a word, and all the mountains in western North Carolina came into being. The one who spoke, and all the stars in the sky came into being. He calls the stars by name—the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Lord over all nature, all nations. He holds them in the palm of his hand. The righteous judge before whom every single person in the world, in history—including you and me—will one day stand. The one who formed you and billions of other people in the world in a womb. The one who’s causing your heart to beat right now, your lungs to breathe.

May God—this holy, righteous judge, Creator over all—may he be gracious to us, which we need, because we are sinners who have rebelled against this God. Every one of us has turned aside from God and his ways to ourselves and our own ways. And as a result of his holy justice, we deserve eternal judgment for our sin. Amen.

So may God not only not give us what we deserve—eternal judgment—but may he give us what we don’t deserve: mercy. And bless us, not curse us, which is what we’re due in our sin.

Lord, may he bless us with his kindness and his love. And then hear this: may God make his face to shine upon us. How do you like that? May the light of God’s face shine. May the smile of the God of the universe be upon you. Oh, praise God that this is even possible for us. We deserve to be in hell right now.

Here we are saying, “May God be gracious to us, bless us, make his face to shine upon us.” This is the gospel. This is what brings us together, what we’ve just sung about.

The greatest news in all the world that’s different from every other religion in the world. Every other religion in the world is all about how you can make your way to God or the gods, appease God or the gods. This is totally different. I remember sitting outside a temple in Southeast Asia with two other guys from two different religions.

And they were talking with me about how our religions were just—we use different terms and have different customs and routines—but fundamentally we’re the same, just kind of superficially different.

I was just listening on and on and on. And finally I said, “It’s almost like you guys picture God, or whatever you want to call God or the gods, at the top of a mountain. And we’re all at the bottom of a mountain. And I’ll make this way up, and you may make that way up. But in the end, we’ll find ourselves in the same place.” And they smiled. They said, “Exactly. You understand.”

I said, “Well, let me ask you a question. What would you think if I told you that the God at the top of the mountain didn’t wait for us to find our way up to him, but actually came down the mountain to where we are and brought us to himself?” And they said, “Well, that would be great.” I said, “That is the difference.”

This is the greatest news in all the world. God has not left us alone in our sin. God has come to us in the person of Jesus—God in the flesh. He’s lived a life we could not live, a life of no sin. Then, even though he had no sin for which to die, he chose to die on a cross to pay the price for our sin.

He died in our place for our sin, experienced our judgment, and then the good news keeps getting better, because he didn’t stay dead for long. Three days later, he rose from the grave in victory over sin and death, so that anyone, anywhere in all of history who turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus will be forgiven of all their sin and restored to relationship with God forever and ever.

This is the gospel—the grace of God. And we’re made to enjoy it.

You were made—if you have never put your faith in Jesus, hear this invitation from God himself today—he wants you to know and enjoy him.

He wants his blessing, his grace, his favor to shine upon you. And for all those who have trusted in Jesus, remember today that this is not just grace that God showed you in the past. It’s grace that God wakes you up with every single morning.

I just think about this morning. Before I came here, I was meeting with God. I was talking to God, the Creator of the world. I was talking to him. I was pouring out my heart to him, sharing my burdens with him, and God was listening to me. And not just listening to me—he was speaking to me. He was comforting me. He was helping me.

And I didn’t just leave that time alone. I’ve been walking with him since then. And not just me—this is for anyone. If you didn’t have that time this morning, you missed out on meeting with God. You’re made for this: to enjoy God, to be in his Word, to love his Word. Not just to read it and check off a box. No, you’re made to enjoy God and his Word.

I think about my wife, who’s sitting over here. When we were dating—this was many years ago, before cell phones and stuff—she would write me letters on this thing called paper, and she would use a thing called a pen, and she’d write me a letter. She’s the only girl I ever dated, which may sound noble. I was just very socially awkward, and she was somehow attracted to my social awkwardness. And so I’d never gotten a letter from a girl. She writes me a letter, and I’m like, wow. I open it up: “Dear David.” Dear.

Wow, she said “dear” to me.

And then I’d read a sentence. I would just think, what does she mean by this? She’d put a smiley face. I’d be like, why a smiley face right there?

Then she’d say, like, “I’m praying for you.” And I’d be like, I wonder what that means. Like, you’re praying for me like you pray for anybody? Or like, when she prays for a future husband, is she praying for me? And so I’m just devouring. And you might say, well, you were obsessed. And, well, I was. I was in love. And that’s kind of the point. When you’re in a love relationship with someone, you love their words.

You soak it in. What does this mean? Why this here, there? It’s not just religious routines. It’s not just gather together, come to church, the kind of thing we do. No. We’re here to enjoy God’s grace in relationship with him, even this morning.

I had to come in here, and I had nothing to do with songs that were planned this morning. A little background: my family’s sitting over here, my wife and I. After we got married, we desired to have children, but we walked through many years of infertility, and parent commissioning days were really hard.

Because you long for kids, and you’re wondering why God’s not providing. I’m sure in a room this size—and think about other locations—there are others who have walked or are walking through that journey right now. The Lord used that to lead us down a road of adoption. And I would have said kind of at that point, oh, this is kind of second best; since we can’t have children this way, we’ll adopt. We learned real quickly that adoption was just as best.

And we adopted our first son from Kazakhstan. And then we got back. And two weeks later, Heather was pregnant. So apparently what happens in Kazakhstan doesn’t stay in Kazakhstan. Anyway, sorry. Sorry. We’re not that close a family yet. I apologize.

Anyway, nine months later, our second son came along. And we knew at that point, okay, we’re able to have children biologically. We also knew we wanted to adopt again. So we started another adoption process. We adopted our first daughter from China about three years later. And then we got back home with her. And three months later, Heather was pregnant again. And her doctor was like, well, if you adopt four, you’ll have eight. We’re like, I don’t think so.

So we were joyfully content with our four children until just a few years ago. We were on a date night, and we hadn’t even planned on talking about adoption. And the subject of adoption came up. The only way I can describe it is God just met us there at the table and spoke to us. And we walked out, and the next morning we started an adoption process from China.

And we fast-forward to January 2020. We were three days away from going to pick up our son—who’s three years old now—that we’d been matched with. Three days away from going to pick him up, and we got a call that there was a strange virus and we would be delayed for a couple of weeks.

Well, we obviously had no idea the world was about to turn upside down. And that couple of weeks turned into months, turned into years of waiting. And I remember January 2020, I was speaking at a conference right before we got this news. And Phil Wickham, who wrote that song “Battle Belongs,” he said, “I have written this new song. It’s about to come out. I just want to lead it.” And it’s the first time I ever heard that song. And that stuck with me.

Over those years, like in the waiting: battle belongs to the Lord. When all I see are the ashes, you see there’s beauty here. I’m trusting you.

And then, so in the middle of the waiting, the Lord put it on Heather’s and my heart to start a parallel adoption process domestically.

About six months after that, we get a call about a birth mom who’s about to give birth to a baby girl in about a month. And they said the only unique thing—one of the unique things here—is she’s already got a name picked out for her daughter. Which Heather and I were like, ah, it’s kind of a bummer. We had always said if we ever had another little girl, we’d love to name her Mercy. It’s not the most common name.

We were like, of course, that’s not a deal breaker. So we said, yes, we would love to find out about this birth mom. So they sent us that information, and we read all the way down to the end, and this birth mom has written out, “I really want my little girl’s name to be Mercy.”

And so a month later, Mercy is born, comes into our home. I won’t go into the details, but the next six months were an emotional roller coaster with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of uncertainty. And the song that was constantly on our playlist that we sang and cried through was “Firm Foundation (He Will Not Fail).”

So fast-forward to three months ago. We finally got the call from China. And they said, “You can now come pick up your son.” After three and a half years of praying and waiting: battle belongs to the Lord.

And so two months ago, we picked up our son. He’s sitting over here with about two months’ worth of English under his belt. He’s not sure all that I’m saying, but he’s catching some of it.

So to come in here this morning—now, what I won’t share is some of the things going on in our family now that have led to just this week being a really hard, heavy, tearful week in our house. But it’s been really good to come in to worship with God’s people and to be reminded: the battle belongs to the Lord. You can stand on him. He will not fail you. Trust in him.

We are made to enjoy God’s grace on a daily basis. And I just want to speak that word over anybody who’s walking through some challenges right now. It’s not just grace at the cross two thousand years ago. It’s new mercy today for you. You’re made to enjoy him.

But that’s not all.

So yes, I mean, at that point, it’s like, yeah, I think we’ve caught that, like this Christianity. No, there’s more. Look at verse 1: “to shine upon us,” comma. It’s not a period there. It’s not where the story of Christianity stops. It’s not where the story of your life stops.

You’re made to enjoy God’s grace in relationship with him so that—that’s a purpose clause—verse 2, “that.” There’s a purpose that’s deeper than just you enjoying God’s grace in relationship with him—”so that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.

Then you’ve got a period. So that’s the end of the story.

So here’s the twofold reason you exist: one, you exist to enjoy God’s grace in relationship with him; and two, to spread God’s glory to all the nations of the earth. You’re made for this.

To spread God’s glory, his saving power, his ways, on all the earth among all the nations. And you keep going in the chapter. That’s what this is all about: “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.” And it just goes on.

Apparently God’s grace is not designed to stop with you. Apparently God’s grace is designed to spread through you. And not just generally through you to the people around you, but through you to all the nations. That’s what the text says.

And this text is not isolated. This is the whole story of the entire Bible. We don’t have time to turn to all these places, but just take a quick tour with me. What we’re seeing here in the middle of the Bible is a summary from the beginning to the end of the Bible.

Like, beginning—Genesis 1:26–28—God creates man and woman in his image to know him, be in relationship with him. And then he says, “Go and multiply my glory all over the earth.” Enjoy my grace; spread my glory. Genesis 1.

Genesis 12: God calls Abraham, the father of the people of Israel. Says, “I’m going to bless you, Abraham. I’m going to bless those who bless you. Whoever curses you, I will curse.” You’re going to enjoy my grace in relationship with me, and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

You’re going to spread my glory to all the nations. That’s the language: all the families of the earth.

Then God says the same thing to Abraham’s son Isaac in Genesis 26:4; Isaac’s son Jacob in Genesis 28:14. Your descendants are going to be the dust of the earth. They’re going to spread out to the west and the east and the north and the south. All peoples on earth—all the nations—will be blessed through you. Enjoy my grace; spread my glory to all the nations.

And that becomes the foundation for why God does what he does in stories throughout the Old Testament. Think about God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt. Brings them to the edge of the Red Sea. Splits that sea in half. Brings them through in the middle of dry ground. That water comes crashing down on the Egyptians. Why did he do that? Exodus 14:4 says, “I’m going to gain glory for myself among the Egyptians. I’m going to show my glory to the Egyptians in this way.”

Joshua 5 and 6: they’re about to enter into the promised land. Joshua’s on the outskirts looking over the city of Jericho, first major city in the promised land, these huge walls. He’s got five military options available to him. They can go over the walls, under the walls, through the walls. They can send a decoy in, kind of like a Trojan horse type thing. Or they can starve the people inside the walls, make them come out. Five options. That’s what Joshua’s mulling through.

God says, here are the battle plans. Joshua’s thinking: over, under, through, decoy, starve them out. God says, get your trumpet players and pull out some sheet music and play some tunes for a few days and then shout. And then you’ll take the whole city.

Like if you’re Joshua, you’re wanting a second opinion at that point. You’re about to go back to this army that’s trained a generation for battle. You’d be like, hey, guys, we’re going to turn this over to the musicians today.

And nothing against the musicians. I just don’t think that was the plan.

So why? Why did God do this? God is doing what he does all throughout the history of his people. He’s orchestrating the events of his people so that in the end he gets glory alone. He alone gets glory for what happens.

Let me tell you what you don’t see when you get into Joshua, chapter 6, and you see them take this city just like God said. You don’t see them going up to the trumpet players telling them what an incredible job they did that day. “Harry, I’ve never heard you play that well. Ralph, you hit the high C. It was awesome. We went running in.” No. You see the people on their faces saying, “The Lord is God.”

God is showing his glory, not just to his people but among the nations as they go into this land.

That’s story after story. It’s Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel, chapter 3. As God brings them out of a fiery furnace, you get to the point—Daniel 3:28–29—a pagan king declares the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is worthy of glory among all the nations.

Daniel 6:25–26: God brings Daniel out of a lion’s den, and another pagan king declares the God of Daniel is worthy of worship among all the nations.

God’s showing extravagant grace to his people for the spread of his extravagant glory among all the peoples.

This is the whole point of the book of Psalms, like this hymn book. Can you imagine? Heather and I—we’re coming up on our anniversary this next month. Let me tell you what I’m not going to get her for our anniversary. I’m not going to say, “Hey, babe, here is a book of 150 poems that I’ve written about how great I am.

And I want to give them to you as a gift. And I want to invite you just to read them to me. And maybe even put them to music. Sing them to me. It’ll bring such joy to your heart.”

There are a million reasons I’m not doing that for my wife. But this is what God has given us.

Because it actually does bring joy to our hearts to bring glory to his name. And not just us, but all the nations. That’s Psalm 67.

Then you keep going. This is the prophets, Ezekiel 36:22. God says to his people, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to do these things among you.” And he’s talking about showing his grace. “It is for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, the name you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”

God literally tells his people, when I work among you, it is not ultimately for your sake. It is for the sake of my name among the nations.

Which is why, when you turn the pages in the New Testament, Jesus dies on the cross, rises from the grave, and then what does he say? “Go make disciples.” Where? Of all the nations. Of the people around you? No. Of all the nations. “Preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16. Luke 24:47–49: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins must be proclaimed among all the nations.” Acts, chapter 1: “I am going to give you my Holy Spirit. My Holy Spirit is going to live inside of you so that you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” Romans 15: we have got to keep pressing on where Christ has not been named among all the nations.

Then you get to the very end, Revelation 7:9–10: a great multitude that no one could number from every what? Nation, every tribe, every people, every language gathered around the throne of God, giving him glory for his salvation.

That is where God has designed all of history to land, with him getting glory among all the nations. Do you see it? We are made to spread the glory of God to all the nations of the earth. This is why God has given us grace.

Now, some of you might be thinking, wait a minute. Are you saying that God has an ulterior motive in blessing me? That God shows grace to me and has an ulterior motive, an ultimate motive beyond just me in that? And I want to be clear: that is not what I am saying. That is what God is saying. You are not at the center of God’s universe. He is at the center of his universe.

Some of you are thinking, wait a minute. God does all these things for his own glory. Is that not self-centered of God? Are you saying God is self-centered? And I want to be clear: that is not what I am saying. It is what God is saying. Of course he centers around himself. If it rubs you wrong that God lives to exalt himself, I would just ask the follow-up question: who else would you rather him exalt? You? You? This? That?

At any point God were to exalt someone or something else, he would no longer be the God who is worthy of all exaltation. It is what it means to be God. He is worthy. He alone is worthy of all exaltation.

And the beauty is—put it together with the first part of why we exist—how has God chosen to glorify himself? By sending his Son as a sacrifice for sinners so that you and I could know and enjoy him.

Think about it. If God is perfectly loving, all-loving, all that is love is summed up in God, if he loves us, what is the greatest gift he could give us? Himself. Enjoyment of himself. How is God glorifying himself? By showing grace to you and me.

And not just you and me, but people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. All the nations. That is the word all, and it is what we see all throughout the Bible. Every nation, every tribe, every tongue.

And here is where we are missing it. Put a map up here on the screen. I do not know if you are familiar with it. If you are not familiar with it, I would encourage you to get familiar with it. Take a picture of it. Etch it in your mind.

Three colors on this map. The green areas of this map represent regions of the world where the gospel has spread, where Christians and churches exist in such a way that, if you live in a green area, for the most part you have access to Christians who can share the gospel with you. Obviously, it does not mean that everybody is a follower of Jesus in those places, but it does mean there are Christians and churches in those places who can share the gospel there.

Yellow areas of this map represent areas that are less reached by the gospel. So it is usually in one of two directions. Either the church used to be more prevalent—there used to be more Christians there—but now there are a lot fewer, and so you may not interact with Christians. You think about different parts of Europe. Or it is going the other direction. Christians, the gospel has begun to spread there; there are more Christians and churches there, but it is still a fledgling church presence.

And then you have the red. The red areas of this map represent areas that are unreached by the gospel. Practically what that means is, if you live in a red area, you will be born, you will live, and you will die, and the likelihood is you will never meet a Christian who can share the gospel with you.

You will never even hear the good news of God’s love for you in Jesus.

And in those red areas, there are about 3.2 billion people today. Over 3 billion men and women, kids and students, just like us, are being born and living and dying today without ever even hearing the gospel.

Now, with that reality in the world, we just gently, humbly ask a question. You do not need to respond, but just rhetorically: how many of you are praying regularly for those unreached people?

Your prayer life this last week—how much of it was devoted to interceding for billions of people among the nations who have never even heard? Or maybe Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” How much of your treasure are you putting toward getting the gospel to 3 billion people who have never heard?

The likelihood is we spend most of our money on ourselves. We give a small percentage of our money to churches and ministries. Usually that money we then spend on making church as comfortable as possible for ourselves. And then we give a small portion of that money to what we call missions, like work around the world.

And this is speaking—got the data—generally in the church. I have not looked at Biltmore’s budget; this is not commentary on this church. But as the church of Jesus Christ, the small percentage we spend on missions, approximately 98 to 99 percent of that small percentage actually goes to green parts of that map—Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia where the gospel has already gone.

And I am not saying it is bad to come alongside our brothers and sisters in those places. But at some point we need to open our eyes and realize we are throwing relative pennies to 3 billion people who have no access to the gospel right now.

And you know what we have said? We have said, oh, okay, this is a missions sermon. Some of you are like, oh, now I am getting it. This is a missions sermon. This is all about sending missionaries.

I am not saying there is not a place, yes, for missionaries to go. But that is the problem. There are 3 billion people in the world because we keep thinking that is for other people to care about. We have taken the reason we exist—the reason we have breath—for the spread of God’s glory among all the nations. We have taken the purpose of our lives and turned it into a program in the church for a couple of people who really care about that.

This is not a missions problem. This is a discipleship problem.

There are 3 billion people in the world not because we do not have enough missionaries, but because we are not following Jesus. Because we do not realize why we are here. Because we have bought into a brand of Christianity that is content to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear, throw a check with a few pennies every once in a while to those people, while we continue living on with a nice, comfortable Christian spin on the American dream until we get to heaven.

And I want to urge you today to leave behind that unbiblical brand of Christianity and realize this is the reason for which you were made: to enjoy God.

Not just you, though. There are 3 billion people who cannot. It is not that they have heard the gospel and rejected him. They have never even heard.

And you and I—so get this—that is more people alive today who have never heard the gospel than ever before in history, because the number of unreached people in those red areas, the population, is increasing. We are not anywhere close to keeping up with that. That means, on our watch today, there are more people dying and going to an eternal hell who have never even heard the good news of God’s grace in Jesus. That is happening today on our watch.

And at the same time—so follow this—there are also more opportunities to reach them with the gospel than ever before in history that we have on our watch.

If you think about it, Paul, when he is writing letters in the New Testament, traveling from city to city, how long it took him to travel from this place to that place, to sail from this place to that place, and it did not always work out very well. He never could have fathomed a machine that can pick you up in the air, take you anywhere in the world in a day, land you there, and you can now do whatever you want to do.

He is like, this is amazing. Flight.

Or how long did it take him to write that letter, have it sent for weeks, delivered, and then weeks to get a message back? You and I can communicate with people around the world in real time in multiple languages through a device we carry in our pocket. This is amazing.

Then you think about globalization of the marketplace, the opportunities to be a part of the spread of the gospel among the nations, the ways even God is bringing the nations to us.

You realize there are people from red areas of the world that God is bringing to our neighborhoods and our doorsteps. And what I am about to say, I do not intend to be a politically charged statement, but it is interesting, is it not? The stats are there: evangelical Christians are the most resistant to people moving from red areas to here.

What do we want more: the preservation of our nation or the proclamation of the glory of our God among all the nations?

This is not a commentary on political immigration. This is a commentary on the purpose for which we are made. God is bringing them here, and we have opportunities to go there.

I think about a family in our church whom we are about to send out, who just took a job in the Middle East. The opportunities to go short-term on a flight, mid-term for a month or two or a year or two, or long-term to go.

I think about a student who just graduated with a nursing degree. Instead of looking for jobs in the green, she looks for jobs in the red. She finds a job in the heart of the Middle East. She is now working in a significant hospital in the Middle East. She is now head of nursing in that hospital. She has a Bible study every week in her office with Muslims. Nobody stops her. You know why? Because she is really good at nursing. And she has opened her eyes to the opportunity she has to spread the gospel to people who have never heard it.

Like, do you realize nations in the red will pay you to spread the gospel in the red? They do not realize that. That is kind of the point. Do we realize it? Do we realize what if God has designed the globalization of today’s marketplace for the spread of his saving power among all the nations? It is exactly what he has done, if his church will open our eyes and see it.

From retirees down to students. Retirees, did you realize Malaysia, for example, has a whole financial incentive program to get retirees from the West to come retire there? They will spice up retirement for you.

Like, retirees, go live it up in Malaysia. There are some of the most unreached people in the world there. What do you want to do in your last days before you see your Savior’s face? Improve your golf score or spread the gospel to people who have never heard it?

What are we living for?

All the way down to students. I think about—I saw a video on social media—a seventeen-year-old girl. She is shaking as she holds a piece of paper. She is Mormon.

And the leaders of Mormonism have sent her a letter about where she is about to go for the next two years after she graduates on mission. And she is so excited. She gets to the part where she reads where she has been assigned to go. And as she says it, the camera—it is just an iPhone video—kind of pans out. And all her friends and her family are gathered together there.

And they all start jumping up and down. You are going to go here for the next two years. They are celebrating. She is about to leave to go and spread a false gospel that condemns. And there is a whole culture that is fueling that.

I look at those of us who have the true gospel that saves, and we spend our time raising up kids to live nice, comfortable Christian spins on the American dream.

Where are the families that are raising up kids whose dreams are the spread of God’s glory among all the nations? Who have bought into a brand of Christianity, biblically, that is saying, this is what I am made for.

When I go to college campuses and I talk to college students, most often they will say to me, I want to go. My challenge is my Christian parents are not encouraging me to go. We have missed the whole point.

At every age and stage.

And I do not presume to know what this will mean in your life. But I just want to encourage you to realize this means something for your life. This is not just for somebody else.

This changes the way you pray. You can be a part of what God is doing in Somalia tomorrow from your knees before you even get out of bed in the morning.

It changes the way you spend your money. It changes the way you spend your time, your perspective on your life and your plans and your marriage and your family. I want to enjoy your grace in relationship with you, and I want to spread your glory to all the nations. How do you want me to do that?

I was thinking this morning as I was praying over this text about a video I did this last week for three guys who, fifteen years ago, we walked through this text together, and it rocked them. They had all grown up in church, all businessmen. They had all grown up in church, known Jesus for a long time, had not made this connection. This is what I am made for.

And together they started to use their network to start an initiative that would get red areas in the world clean water, where there was no access to clean water, and the gospel alongside that.

And fifteen years later—that is the video I was doing for them—22,000 families have been mobilized to reach over 1.3 million people with clean water and access to the gospel who did not have it before. Because three guys got Psalm 67:1–2.

And I just pray, as I look across this room, even in just this moment—if I could be so bold—the ripple effects of what might happen with followers of Jesus who realize this is what I am made for, and I want to step fully into this.

I will close with this picture.

Go to one of those red areas high up in the Himalayas, a place that is totally unreached by the gospel.

Wait a second before we get to the picture. Totally unreached by the gospel—which, by the way, people say, I do not know why we talk about unreached people around the world. I mean, there are unreached people in my office. There are unreached people in my neighborhood.

Those people are not unreached. You say, how do you know? Because they are in your office. They are in your neighborhood. They have access to Christians who can share the gospel with them. We are talking about people who do not.

I walk along those trails in the Himalayas and, through a translator, say, “What do you know about Jesus?” to someone I meet. And they say, “Who is that?” They have never even heard his name.

And they are living in extreme physical poverty. They did some research in those villages and found that half the kids were not making it to their eighth birthday. I cannot imagine that with my six kids.

So walking through those villages, sharing the gospel, we come to this one particular place. One of the effects of poverty in those villages is trafficking. It does not take much for a trafficker to come through and say to a family who is starving, “Hey, if we take your daughter down to the city, we will get her a good education, a good job, and she will be able to send money back up to help her family.”

And so they send them down, and those girls never get any education, and it is not a good job. It is a living hell. And they have never heard the gospel.

So we got to this one place where brothers and sisters are working to rescue those girls with the gospel. And some of these girls had been rescued out of that and had come to know the hope and the healing that are found in Jesus alone.

And I walked into a room, and they were painting something. So now I will show that picture. This does not show their faces, but it does show this painting they were doing together.

And I learned more about their stories—God’s grace through somebody who realized this grace is not intended to stop with me. It is intended to spread through me.

And then they showed me, a couple of days later, the finished product of what they were painting. And it is this picture here.

And if you will notice the verse, it is Psalm 67:3: “May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.”

And I just want to put before you today, with this picture in God’s Word, this picture from the world, you were made for this. You were made for this.

For more than a nice, casual, comfortable Christian spin on the American dream. You were made to enjoy God and all of his grace in relationship with him, and you were made to spread the glory of God among all the nations.

Do not settle for anything less than this.

Will you bow your heads with me? All across this room, on other campuses, online—just your heads bowed, eyes closed, just you before God.

I just ask every person within the sound of my voice, are you enjoying God’s grace in a relationship with him? Have you put your faith in Jesus in such a way that you are in relationship with God?

If the answer to that question is not a resounding yes in your heart, I invite you right now just to pray and say, “God, I want to experience your grace in relationship with you today.” If you have never prayed this, to say, “Today I trust in your love for me, that you have been gracious to me, that you have sent Jesus to die on a cross for my sins, that he is risen from the grave. Today I trust in Jesus as my Savior, as Lord of my life. I want to be in relationship with you.

“And I want to be an instrument in your hand for the spread of your grace among all the nations of the world.”

And for all who do know Jesus, for all who are in relationship with God like this, is this what you are living for? Are you living to spread the glory of God among all the nations?

I am not assuming I know what that means in each one of your lives. But I do want to call you today, based on the authority of God’s Word, to say, whatever that means, “Lord, the answer is yes. I want to pray for the spread of your glory among all the nations. I want to give toward that. And I want to go toward that end right here and wherever you might lead me, however you might lead me.”

So I am going to pray in a moment, and I just want to open up the front of this room as a place for people all across this room to come. And for anyone who would say, “I have not been living for this purpose, or I want to step fully into this purpose,” just to come, to kneel before God and say, “Lord, here is my life. No strings attached. Use me to spread your glory among all the nations, whatever that means.”

Maybe even just to come and kneel and start praying right now for nations, for people groups who have never heard the gospel.

God, we pray that you would help us to experience the purpose for which we have breath, the reason why we are here. And I pray right now you would give courage all across this room.

A spirit of surrender to say “Yes, no matter what this means. Yes, O God, change the trajectory of my life. Spend me for your glory among all the nations.”

And I promise, when you say that, you will find yourself drawn into deeper enjoyment of his grace in relationship with him. Because this is what you are made for.

O God, please lead this time now by your Spirit. Help us to respond to your Spirit. In Jesus’s name. Amen.