- Chapters: [[Acts 20]]:22-24 # Cost of mission - [[David Ro]] was once invited to speak in [[Hong Kong]] right in the middle of all the protests - Saw many young people -- 14-20somethings, weathering acid and willing to risk their lives for a political cause - His sermon that evening was on giving life to mission - [[Gen Z]] can be very idealistic, but can give them a cause to die for that they're willing to live for - Looking to other places like [[Nepal]] or [[Bangladesh]] with young people overthrowing governments, we can take a note - Mission has a cost and we should think too that we are willing to lay down our lives - Hence the reading: > 22 And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to [[Jerusalem]], not knowing what will happen to me there. > 23 I only know that in every city the [[Holy Spirit]] warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. > 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord [[Jesus]] has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. - "To the ends of the earth" -- [[God]]'s plan goes across the entire world, not just our local cities - No doubt in international cities like [[New York]] or [[London]] there are many nationalities. But also, there are nations without any [[Gospel]], and to get to those places requires a cost - [[David Ro]] once went to [[Ephesus]] in [[Turkey]] -- many great [[Greco-Roman]] wonders, but also Christians - There they were persecuted not only by [[Pagan]]s but also by [[Jew]]s - [[Paul]] and the [[Apostle]]s lived there and witnessed even when there was a cost - At the end of [[Roman]]s, [[Paul]] wanted to go to [[Spain]], because that's where all the unreached people are - Youths in [[Myanmar]] even partook in [[Arise Asia]], despite great cost with threat of military action or forced draftings, etc. - The local pastors thought it would be the right thing (one should trust your local partners) - In the 1940s in [[China]], there was a group of 9 people who caught a vision to bring the gospel westwards - They arrive in [[Xinjiang]] and get arrested and put in prison - 7/9 of them die in prison there -- seems like the cost of mission was too great, with not much purpose to this endeavour - But 1 of them survives 31 years in prison, and gets released in 1991 with liberalizing in [[China]] - Even after that, his first words out were about bringing the [[Gospel]] westwards, inspiring many others - Much like how [[Paul]] never made it [[Spain]], the plans of [[God]] go greater than one life and one area - The suffering of some can be a part of [[God]]'s plans for reviving or increasing the [[Gospel]] in these nations