Nate Saint
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Bring Me A
Bring Me A
First team captain to bring me something that I ask for.
Intro
Intro
Last week you heard from a missionary that grew up right in this same youth group, and is still a member of this church, and yet is doing amazing work over seas in africa.
Today we are going to hear about another missionary. This missionary is one that gave his life for the Gospel of Christ, and its truly a remarkable story. This video will show native people in their dress, so you will see people basically wearing a loin cloth. Lets try to be mature about what we see in the video, because this is truly how these people lived at the time. Also there is one scene that shows the body of Nate Saint, and his aircraft destroyed.
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There were a few things that stood out to me in this video, but to really understand what was going on you have to truly know the story of Nate Saint and the Auca indians now known as Waodani.
Nate saint and his team of 4 other men went to reach this people group that was known for their brutality and would murder any outsiders that came into their camp. They devised a plan to reach the Auca Indians by lowering gifts from an airplane and yelling phrases such as we are friends, through a mega phone down to them as they would retrieve the gifts.
Slowly they actually gained the trust of the Auca Indians and then finally got to meet them after months of flying over them and giving gifts. Unfortunately one day something changed and the Indians came and found their tree house and base camp along the river where Nate Saint and his team were living, and they killed all of them, and destroyed their airplane.
Now that would be a very sad way to end the story, however it doesnt end there. The wives of the men that originally went, decided to go themselves and forgive them. Because the wives went back the entire tribe found Jesus, and not only changed their ways but also changed the name of their tribe.
I feel like this story is the perfect description of Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
To me it makes no sense to go back into that village and share the love of Jesus with them.
So that brings me to a few things that stuck out in this video.
We are called to share the Gospel with people we don’t like
We are called to share the Gospel with people we don’t like
As we spoke a few weeks ago we are called by the great commission to share the Gospel.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Nowhere in the great commission does it mention that we have a choice on who we share the Gospel with. We are commanded to share the Gospel with everyone regardless if we like that person. No matter what the color of their skin is, the types of clothes that they where, or even how they treat other people. We are called to share the love of God with them.
Following God’s will won’t be easy.
Following God’s will won’t be easy.
Next I see that no matter what we are called by God to do, if you are following His will and doing what He calls you to do, it wont be easy.
Some of you know a good friend of mine passed away in a plane crash this time last year. He was a pastor and a church planter, helped plant approximately 15 churches in about 15 years. One of the things that his partner in ministry said about him was that We did hard things, and we had fun doing them.
If you are in the middle of doing what God calls you to do, things will get difficult. However even when things get hard we can have the Joy given to us from God knowing that what we are doing will not end with us, but we are doing something that will far outlive us, because doing God’s will and following His plan for your life will have eternal consequences and results.
We have to be willing to make a sacrifice
We have to be willing to make a sacrifice
If we are going to be a follower of Christ we must be willing to make sacrifices. Now you may not be called to physically give up your life like Nate Saint and his team, but we will have to give things up, and make decisions that the world may not understand.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
For each of us picking up our own cross will look differently, and for us it may even look differently through different times of our lives. There are things that we are going to have to give up to follow Jesus. Some things that we have to give up may seem trivial such as talking back, or being kind to everyone. Other times what we have to give up may seem like it has a lot more meaning like potentially changing jobs, moving, or in the case of this mission team, even giving up their own life.
I dont know what a lesson like this may be speaking to each of you, but I do hope that this sparks interest in learning more about our missionaries and people that have given their lives for the cause of Christ. If you are interested in learning more there is a great book called Jesus Freaks, that details many stories of missionaries and different people who have given their lives for the sake of Jesus.