Speaker 1: Because we see Christianity under attack in the West, we
Speaker 1: don't realize the revival that's going on and so many
Speaker 1: other places around the world, that Christianity is growing in
Speaker 1: so many places because we only see the problems we're having.
Speaker 1: Not everybody's a Christian of my brand or your brand,
Speaker 1: but they are Christians. Yeah, okay, I think I said
Speaker 1: this before that there are six hundred million Buddhists in
Speaker 1: the world. There are eight hundred million Hindus in the world.
Speaker 1: There are about one and a half billion Muslims in
Speaker 1: the world. There are only fifteen million million Jews in
Speaker 1: the world because three or four generations were lost because
Speaker 1: of the Holocaust. There should be five times that number
Speaker 1: of Jews in the world right now, but there are
Speaker 1: two point three billion Christians. That means one out of
Speaker 1: every three people on the planet would say I believe
Speaker 1: Jesus is the Son of God. Now again, they're not
Speaker 1: all our our brand, okay. But if you were to say,
Speaker 1: do you believe in the Father, the Son, and the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. Do you believe in the Trinity? Yes? Do
Speaker 1: you believe the Bible is the Word of God? Yes?
Speaker 1: Do you believe Jesus Christ died on the Cross for
Speaker 1: our sins. Yes. Do you believe he rose again? Yes?
Speaker 1: Do you believe the Holy Spirit fills us? Yes? Do
Speaker 1: you believe that one day Christ is coming back? Yes?
Speaker 1: Then we're on the same team. We may not agree
Speaker 1: on this or that much after that, yeah, exactly. Okay,
Speaker 1: But if that's true, then there are two point three
Speaker 1: billion of those. That means one out of every three
Speaker 1: people on the planet. The church is the largest organization
Speaker 1: on the planet. Let me put this perspective. The Church
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ is bigger than China. The Church is
Speaker 1: bigger than than China, the United States and the Europe
Speaker 1: and Europe put together, we have nothing to apologize for. Okay,
Speaker 1: we don't. We're not because we see Christianity under attack
Speaker 1: in the West. We don't realize the revival that's going
Speaker 1: on in so many other places around the world, that
Speaker 1: Christianity is growing in so many places, because we only
Speaker 1: see the problems we're having in finishing the task. My
Speaker 1: goal is to get people out to the field, and
Speaker 1: that is to get them to experience it in some way.
Speaker 1: When we started a thing at Saddleback called the Peace
Speaker 1: Plan years ago, plant Churches, Peace Plant churches, equip leaders,
Speaker 1: assist the poor, care for the sick, educate the next generation.
Speaker 1: I turned mission education upside down growing up in a
Speaker 1: little evangelical church. Here's how I was taught about missions.
Speaker 1: You pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray.
Speaker 1: For missionaries, you study, study, study, study, study, study, study,
Speaker 1: listen to missionary testimonies. Here have mission Vacistally, you give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give,
Speaker 1: and maybe someday you might go. But really it's more
Speaker 1: about pray and study and give and maybe go. When
Speaker 1: I started saddleback, we flipped it and I said, don't pray,
Speaker 1: don't study, don't don't give, Just go. Okay, just go,
Speaker 1: because I knew that if they went, when they come back,
Speaker 1: they want to pray, they want to study, they want
Speaker 1: to give, Their lives are changed.
Speaker 2: I've got to jump in and just say, you're making
Speaker 2: a point that's super important right now, because anybody that
Speaker 2: knows you, and anybody that lives in southern California with you,
Speaker 2: knows that you are not about sitting at a boardroom
Speaker 2: and navel gazing. Okay, So I was about to ask
Speaker 2: you how are you turning this project upside down like
Speaker 2: you do most everything else.
Speaker 1: Well, I really think that the peace plan which we
Speaker 1: started at saddle Back was kind of.
Speaker 2: Like preview to coming attract.
Speaker 1: Exactly, Matt. It was our guinea pig was it was
Speaker 1: our test case. It was our skunk works. And we
Speaker 1: at Saddleback Church we have goals for a year's and
Speaker 1: for months and for you know, three year periods, and
Speaker 1: then we have a decatal goal each of the four
Speaker 1: decades I've been there, the decade goal between two thousand
Speaker 1: and twenty ten was this to send our members, saddle
Speaker 1: Back members to every nation by the end of twenty ten. Now,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know how many nations there were, so
Speaker 1: I had to look it up. There are one hundred
Speaker 1: and ninety seven nations in the world. There are one
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety five that are part of the United Nations.
Speaker 1: The only two nations not in the United Nations are
Speaker 1: Serbia for war crimes and Taiwan because China won't let
Speaker 1: them in even North Korea visitor status. So we said
Speaker 1: we will be in every nation, one hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: seven nations by the end of the decade. Now, when
Speaker 1: Jesus told the disciples to go to every nation. It
Speaker 1: was physically impossible. They couldn't go to Australia, they couldn't
Speaker 1: go to Latin America. They couldn't go there were no
Speaker 1: ocean bearing vessels. You either walked or rode a donkey
Speaker 1: or a horse. Jesus often asks us to do the impossible,
Speaker 1: and then he'll make it possible. Today you can go
Speaker 1: anywhere in the world in twenty four hours. You don't
Speaker 1: believe that, Ask a travel agent. I want to be
Speaker 1: at the top of the Himalayas and me and mar
Speaker 1: or Burma whatever by the end of this By tomorrow,
Speaker 1: they'll have me there. And so we are the first
Speaker 1: generation that literally can be world class Christians can go
Speaker 1: to every nation. Between two and twenty ten, I sent
Speaker 1: out thirteen thousand, eight hundred and sixty nine members of
Speaker 1: Saddleback by just saying go just go to plant churches,
Speaker 1: equip leaders, assist the poor, care of the sick, educate
Speaker 1: the next entry. We're now over thirty thousand of those.
Speaker 1: But in that decade we sent out thirteen thousand and
Speaker 1: eight or sixty nine. We said we will be in
Speaker 1: every nation by the end of twenty ten. And on
Speaker 1: October eighteenth, twenty ten, we went to Nation one ninety seven.
Speaker 1: It was a little island in the Caribbean called Saint Kitts,
Speaker 1: only thirty five thousand, only five thirty five thousand people,
Speaker 1: but we went there to plant a church, equipped leaders,
Speaker 1: assistant power, canvastation there. So we said, okay, I've proven
Speaker 1: that normal people can fulfill the great commission out of
Speaker 1: just one church. What if every church had a vision
Speaker 1: to say, we're going to send our members and when
Speaker 1: they come back, you know what happens. They're not so
Speaker 1: materialistic as they were before. Wow, you know what, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, when you've seen poverty around the world,
Speaker 1: you care. Okay, it changes your heart, you know. But
Speaker 1: so many people think, well, I have to go to
Speaker 1: Bible school first, or I have to know more about
Speaker 1: and it's not that it's just sharing the love of
Speaker 1: Christ in your ting available. Yeah. Do you realize that
Speaker 1: when the first Christians, the fastest growth of Christianity was
Speaker 1: in the first three hundred years of the church. Okay.
Speaker 1: Christianity went from being one hundred and twenty in upper room, Okay,
Speaker 1: to being the state religion of the Roman Empire in
Speaker 1: three hundred years. What was going on during that time?
Speaker 1: Two things. One intense persecution, yeah, my goodness, okay, you
Speaker 1: were more likely to be fed to lions or hung
Speaker 1: on a cross, and so it was illegal to be
Speaker 1: a Christian much of that time. And second thing, there
Speaker 1: were no church buildings for the first three hundred years
Speaker 1: of the church. Everybody met in small groups. I've been
Speaker 1: into the oldest standing church building in Malula, Syria, which
Speaker 1: is built in three twelve AD. It's now full of
Speaker 1: bullet holes because of ISIS and all of that and
Speaker 1: the civil war there. But the fact is, you don't
Speaker 1: need a building, and you don't need Bible school. You
Speaker 1: just need to go. You can't spell God without go,
Speaker 1: you can't spell Gospel without go, you can't spell good
Speaker 1: News without go. We are unlike Buddhism, which is a
Speaker 1: sit still religion. Our faith is go, go, go, make disciples.
Speaker 1: And so it's part of our DNA. And my goal
Speaker 1: is knowing that if we mobilize the church for this
Speaker 1: one of the five purposes worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism.
Speaker 1: If we mobilize for this, you know what, it makes
Speaker 1: them hungry for the other four here it is you
Speaker 1: want to worship, you want to grow in Christ. Okay,
Speaker 1: you want to serve the people around you. Come back
Speaker 1: and go, I help those people. What am I doing
Speaker 1: about my neighbors? It just flips everything upside down.
Speaker 3: Friends, we here at TVN want to thank you for
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Speaker 3: Jesus around the world. So for your gift of support
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Speaker 3: Morris's Seven Words of Christmas, please go to TVN dot
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