Can you encourage someone on the other side of the ocean? Can you celebrate a new building you may never go to? Does it seem impossible? And then you see it happen. This is what Jesus is doing. He is on the move in Uganda, in Japan, and in India. He is blessing his families with children. He is moving his people from the third floor to the ground floor. Jesus is building his church.
“I'm greatly encouraged and, at times, very moved when I think about the support that we have received.”
“I'm Rosie. I was sent from Compass HB to Tokyo. Do you guys remember me? We have one big update, our first-born son, Barnabas, yeah, may the Gospel ring out in Tokyo.”
“I really feel like him as a father, because he is like very humble and full of Word of God. And whenever we listen from him, and we really grow spiritually. Also, we were gathering on the third floor, and that was very difficult for so many people to come up and have fellowship with us, but when we shared this to Pastor Bobby and he said, ‘No, that's not right. We have to come down and everybody have to come and worship the Lord.’ That was impossible for us.”
From the most populated city area on the planet to the most populated country in the world, these are our brothers and sisters, and we love them in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have been helped, and it all started here in Huntington Beach. This is the full send! Hey, well, I want to thank all of you who prayed for me on my trip. When I reflect on it here today, there's no way that trip could have gone that well if it wasn't for God working and you praying.
And I actually want you to open your Bible with me to the book of 3 John. And I want to look at what John says to this man, Gaius, here in 3 John. As I give you a report from foreign lands from my trip, I want to really study this passage with you. So, if everybody could open up your Bible to the book of 3 John, if you could find it there right before Jude and Revelation. I don't know what comes to your mind when you hear about the book of 3 John, but I want to read it and explain it with you here today. And so, out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture, and I have asked that you would give 3 John your full and undivided attention here this morning, because this is the Word of God. I'm going to read the first eight verses. 3 John 1-8. Please follow along as I read.
The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers[a] came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead, have your seat. And in your bulletin, there is a handout with some of those verses on it, if you want to take notes as we'll work our way through them. John writes this letter. It's unique because it's written to this man named Gaius. Now, if you do a study in the Greek New Testament on Gaius, you will find different men named Gaius in different situations. Apparently, it was a common name in the first century. But I don't know if this Gaius is the same as one of the other men named Gaius mentioned in the Scriptures. It's kind of like the two-Steve rule, if you've heard of that rule before. Just because you're talking to Steve doesn't mean you're talking to the right Steve; there could be more than one Steve at any given time. I'm pretty sure at most services here, I can get two Mikes for the price of one. Here at our church, oftentimes I get a double-Chris bonus. So, there are times where it could be the same name, but a different person. But clearly this Gaius has a strong relationship with John.
Do you remember the brother of James? James and John, the sons of Zebedee, the sons of thunder. They were known as two of the twelve disciples that Jesus called, “Follow me.” And they left the nets. They left their father, Zebedee, and they followed Jesus. And John, as he matured, he went from one of the “sons of thunder” to “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” And John became a man known for talking about the love of Jesus, and he really cares about people walking in love and walking in truth. This is a real theme, if you study the writings of the apostle John, that there would be both grace and truth. And when he gets this report about Gaius… So, Gaius, I don't think was his physical, biological child, but I think he was his child in the faith. That's why he says, I have no greater joy than to hear my children. Now, if you disciple your children and they follow the way of Jesus, they will bring you great joy. But anyone you make a disciple of in this life, if you later hear that they are living for Jesus and walking in the truth, you will experience great joy. And that's what John has. That's what inspires him to write 3 John.
He has heard about Gaius walking in the truth, and the way he heard it was through these traveling, itinerant preachers. They were going through to different places, sharing the gospel, and they came to wherever Gaius is, and they stayed with him. And wow, he received them. He was hospitable to them. He treated them like brothers, even though they were strangers. And then he sent them on their way. And eventually they came to John, and they're like, John, wow, that guy, Gaius, he's so generous, he's so encouraging. And when John hears it, he has great joy in hearing about his disciple, Gaius, walking in the truth. So, he's inspired to write this letter to Gaius. And look at what he says in verse 5 as he gets now into what he really wants to say to him. After hearing the good report about Gaius and being filled with joy, John says in verse 5, “Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are.” Hey, the thing that you did, and really there, when it says “efforts,” I've seen it translated “accomplishments”. It's really the Greek verb for “work,” the work that you did when you supported these brothers. They were strangers to you. You didn't know them, but when they came through, you supported them. You let them stay with you, and then you sent them out with the resources they needed for their journey. Hey, that was a good thing that you did, Gaius, and here's John commending Gaius. Can you imagine somebody that's been an example to you, a mentor to you, they've discipled you in the faith, and then you got a letter from them saying you're doing a good job. This is not only joy for John, this is also now got to be joy for Gaius to receive this letter and to hear that the things that he is doing matter, that the work that he did is worth it.
So, if you're taking notes, let's get that down from point number one: “If the work is worth it.” And what John is saying is that the work is worth it, the work of supporting strangers as they go on their journey for the gospel. That was a good thing you did, Gaius. And we don't maybe fully relate to the context of these traveling preachers coming through like in the first century, but actually it's very similar to missionaries and how missionaries are on their way to somewhere else, but they need someone to receive them while they're traveling, and someone to send them on their way. And that is a good work. And I just want to say to our church, after going on this trip where I got to go visit Megumi Bible Church in Tokyo, Japan, the most populated city area on the planet, and then I got to go to India. And some of you might know the story, if you've seen the videos on our Scripture of the Day on YouTube. But I was rejected. I think we've got a little video here. I was rejected from going to India. My visa was not accepted. And so, me and this brother from our church, Min Han, who's really our connection to the church in India, we had to go to San Francisco, and we got the visa, and we were so excited, even though you can't tell men excited. He's thrilled, okay, even though he doesn't dance. And I had so many people say to me in India, I can't believe you're even here. We don't hear about people who get rejected because they know you're a pastor still being led into India.
And when I went to India, the greeting I received there was unlike anything I've experienced in my life. See how awkward that got for me, right there. Yeah, usually when the dancing starts, the pastor departs, you know what I mean? So, but this greeting, I mean, you are a part of their church, is what they think. They're so excited to welcome us in because they're like, the work that you did, the money that you gave, the prayers that you prayed, how you took us from the third floor to the ground floor. Like, I don't know if you've ever been to India, but to me, it's just pure chaos there, like on the roads, you know, everything's on the left side of the road, and lanes are like suggestions over there, you know. So, I don't know if you know about the cow situation in India. We'll talk more about that. But there are just cows walking around everywhere. There are stray dogs everywhere. There are homeless people walking around everywhere. And I'm just like, Pastor Febin Finney, you must be the greatest driver on planet Earth, because where I come from, it's defensive driving. I don't trust anyone else on the road. Everyone here trusts you with their life. They'll just walk right in front of your car expecting you to stop. I mean, I'm just white-knuckling it in the car the whole time. And you don't honk because somebody else is a bad driver. You honk because you're a bad driver. In India, you just basically honk like I'm coming through, you better watch out, right? I mean, honking is like a courtesy to everybody else you're about to get hit up in here, so you might want to move. You think the motorcycles are crazy here? Check them out in India. I mean, it's just chaos, and there's honking, and there's a loudness and then you go into this church, this church that you gave the money for here, this church with the thickest doors I've ever seen. It's like they soundproofed this whole church. If you showed up in India, they would say, hey, take your shoes off. Welcome home. Come in here in your socks, and they close the door behind you. You can't even hear the street. It's amazing. You don't even know you're in India. You're in this place. And they're so excited about the air conditioning. I had some of the people tell me how brutal it was. It wasn't just that. It was on the third floor. It was so hot, especially in the summer at their church, they would think to themselves, surely the pastor can't keep preaching any longer. Like I've sweat levels I didn't know my body could produce. Surely, he's done preaching, and then he keeps preaching, and they surely respect it, and it's miserable at the same time, like, when will he stop? And now, man, this place that they have, they are so overjoyed, they want you to sit down, take your shoes off. Here's a chai latte, whether you want it or not. Like, here, thank you. I've never been to a place where I'm a stranger and I'm a foreigner and I don't know everybody, and it's like, I'm a part of the team already. It's like, I'm already with them, because look at this place, look at how you did this. I'm like, you guys did the work. No, no, no, but you prayed for us. You gave the money. Look what God has done. I want to tell you that if you prayed at this church this year, if you gave this year, you did something worth doing. I want to commend you.
That's what John's doing here in this letter. And I think it's appropriate here at our church, because this church in Tokyo, the reason they still have their building in Tokyo is because you gave money here in Huntington Beach. And the reason they have a brand new church in India. And I want to also, even though I didn't go there, can we throw up the picture of this new church building in Uganda that you also helped pay for? Do you realize this picture is being taken from the balcony level of the church? So, they have an overwhelming amount of people showing up at their early services in this building and these things are happening because of what you did to give.
So, there's a work that is worth doing when it comes to giving money. In fact, I want you to see this work in Galatians 6:9-10. Can everybody turn with me to Galatians 6:9-10? Let me take you to a couple of cross references that also talk about the work. So, John is saying to Gaius, good work, all right. And here is the work that we're encouraged to do. Galatians 6:9-10. Very encouraging verses. It says, “Let us not grow weary of doing good.” When you are doing work, you can get tired. You can get overwhelmed by the amount of work there is to do. And so, Paul writes to this church, don't “grow weary in doing good, for in due season, we will reap if we do not give up.” So then, as we have opportunity, he says, let us do good, and that's the same word translated “effort” in 3 John 5, or “accomplishment”. Let us do work for everyone, and especially who should we do the work for? To “those who are of the household of faith,” to those who are the church of Jesus.
So let me talk to you for a second about what your expectation is in being a Christian, because we're here in Southern California, 2025. What do you understand about Christians doing work? The first thing we all want to understand is that we are not saved by any good works we do. No one will be justified before God by keeping the works of the law. The only one who can do the work to save us is the Lord Jesus, and that's what we're going to celebrate this Christmas. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? Okay, so Ephesians 2:8-9 make it very clear we are not saved by our works, but Ephesians 2:10 says that God does His work in us, and we are “created in Christ Jesus for” what everybody? “Good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Gaius is doing the good works that God has him to do. And John is delighted to hear about Gaius walking in the truth. So, do you understand this as a Christian here in Southern California, do you understand that we weren't just saved so we could get a free ticket to heaven? We weren't just saved so our sin could be forgiven. We weren't just saved so we could rack up God's benefits for the rest of our life. We were saved to do something with the rest of our life. We were saved because God has works he wants us to do. And Gaius is doing the work, and he's being commended, and Paul is encouraging the Galatians. It's work. It's you're going to get tired, you're going to get overwhelmed, you might even feel burnt out. Well, don't grow weary in it. Don't stop, because you're going to see the harvest if you don't give up. So, when you have a chance, when you have an opportunity, when you have time, a moment, you should do that work. You should do good to anybody you can do good to, especially you should be doing it for the people who have faith the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that how you think I've got work to do as a Christian? Because Gaius is being commended because he did something. And Paul here is encouraging the Galatians to keep doing something.
Go over to Ephesians, chapter 4, just a few pages to the right. Ephesians 4:28, here's a really important verse, everybody. If you're taking notes, please write down Ephesians 4:28 to help you think about work and money, the work that God wants us to do. Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor.” So, this is a classic sanctification two-step that we like to talk about at our church, where we put off the old way. Once you're in Christ, “you are a new creation. The old is gone. Behold the new has come.” So, we put off the old way of stealing, taking from others, for myself and I put on the new way of labor, of doing work. But look at what it says. That's not the full thought. Look at what it says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work.” Here's the same verb as 3 John 5, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. So, what is the opposite of the sin of stealing, where you take from others for yourself? It's not just to be a worker, it's to work in such a way that you would have more than what you need. So out of your work you can give to meet the needs of others. Now you are giving so that others can receive. That's the opposite of stealing. That's how we're supposed to be thinking about our work. I need to do hard, honest work with my own hands, and I need to pray that God will not only provide for me and my household and give my family all that we need, but that God will give us even more than we need, so then, I can meet the needs of others. That's how we're supposed to think. Okay?
So, let's get this down here, this quote, “To meet the needs of others, we must have more than what we need.” This is how it works. I can’t give to others and go broke myself. No, I have to work hard and have enough myself, but then, out of the abundance, when I have more than what I need, now I'm ready to meet the needs of others. And so, that's what we have done this year at our church. And this thing we called Project Pay It Forward, okay? And what we said is, we said, hey, we want to encourage everybody to give, and when our church's needs are met, we'll take whatever more we have, and we will send it to these other churches, and we sent it to plenty of places. But we focused on three places, primarily, which was helping the church building in Uganda, helping the church in Tokyo, and they lost a source of funding to keep going there, in their building in Tokyo, and then to help this church in India get from the third floor to the ground floor. And I want to just tell you, hey, this has been something worth doing. You gave in such a way that we had more than what we needed, and we were able to pay it forward. And I got to go and see and everybody there immediately, they're like, thank you, Compass Bible church.
Hey, in fact, can I talk a little bit about going to Tokyo? I don't know. I got to go with my family, which was like a dream come true for our family to go on a trip like this. And I don't know if you've ever been to Tokyo, it is a remarkable place, just how massive it is, and the train system is just something like, can you imagine public mass transportation being like this awesome and impressive way to get around? That's how it is in Tokyo. Everything is so efficient. You don't really see a lot of homelessness. You don't really see a lot of trash. I saw people leave their bike on the street like they expected it to be there when they came back later. Can you imagine such a thing just leaving your bike somewhere, like it's going to be fine there, and you can come back and get it later on? So, people, they approach their job in Tokyo, even they got McDonald's there. They’ve got 711. I mean, those things are run in such a more efficient way than they are here in the United States of America. There are a lot of really impressive things. So, when I got to go, I ended up being there on Pastor Ray's birthday. And this church, this little church, they think they're a big church because they're forty people. That's big in Japan, but when you have forty people, that's like, how many fit in one of the trains I rode in the subway. You know what I mean? But these people are so desperate for fellowship like that. This is like church is in the morning. Usually this is dinnertime. They're still there where they're like, how late do you usually stay at church? Are you usually there till 6pm at church on a Sunday? I'm like, no, I'm not usually there at 6pm. That's how they go in Tokyo. Because one of the things about this city is people think differently than we do, and one of their highest virtues is not bothering other people. So, everyone very much keeps to themselves to the point that it would come across to us as anti-social. Millions of people interacting, going past each other on the subway and in coffee shops and restaurants all day, every day, and nobody talks to anybody. Like, I remember two times on the subway where I saw people talking to each other, and I can still remember them. They stick out in my mind, because you rarely ever see that. And so how are you going to reach a culture that doesn't want to talk to you? I mean, it's a real interesting situation, but when I go to these churches, they're doing their service in their language, they're speaking Japanese, which is a hard language to master, or they're speaking Hindi in India. One thing I can always understand as I'm trying to listen to what they're saying is when they say Compass Bible Church, because it sounds the same in every language.
And they're talking about you in Japan; they're talking about you in India. And it's not like they have to explain to everybody who Compass Bible Church is because me and my family, or me and Min Han and my son are visiting. No, everybody already knows who Compass Bible Church is. Because Compass Bible Church people understand are the reason we're here in this church. And so, everybody immediately is so appreciative of the work that you did that mattered so much to them.
Now go back to 3 John, and look here at verse 6, because after giving this commendation, look at what John says next to Gaius in verse 6. He said that “the brothers, they were strangers to you, but they were brothers in Christ, and when they came and reported Gaius, how generous you were to receive them and send them, they testified to your love before the church.” So, notice what John is always paying attention to your love, and we're going to talk about that love in 1 John for the next few weeks, but he's always talking about they saw your love. You were walking in the truth. But then look at what he says here halfway through verse 6, “You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner they're worthy of God.” Notice how he's no longer saying, you did well to send them on their journey. Now he's using the future tense and saying, “You will do well to send them on their journey.” So, he's not just saying, hey, that was good, Gaius. He's saying, in fact, Gaius, if you get another chance to do something like that, it would go well for you to send them on their journey. and don't just ask them how much they need. Don't just be a little bit generous. No, send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, like think about how gracious God has been to you. Think about how much God has blessed you in your finances and your family. Think about the greatest gift that you ever received when God sent his one and only Son, Jesus, to come and pay the debt of your sin and send help people out in a manner that would bring glory to God, in a manner that would be worthy of how God has given to you. Wow. So, it's not just like, hey, good job. It's like, and keep doing this, Gaius. In fact, make sure when you give it's worthy of God's name.
So, let's get that down for point number two: If the work is worth it, well then “Let our giving be worthy of God.” So, we are saying this was a good thing, okay? Well, then you would do well to really send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. And the word here to send them on their journey, the Greek verb here is the same verb that we discovered in the book of Romans, chapter 15, verse 2. That is the verse that gave us this whole idea for Project Pay It Forward to begin with. So, everyone, will you please turn back to the book of Romans? Does anybody remember when we went through the book of Romans here at this church? We finished it up earlier this year, and we were in earlier this year it was we started this and because we got to Romans 15, verse 24 where it uses the same Greek verb as 3 John 6, “Send them out on their journey in a manner worthy of God.” Well, Paul tells the Romans that's what he wants them to do here in Romans 15:24. He says, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. So, if you remember the book of Romans, Paul said he really wanted to go see them. He wanted mutual encouragement with them. He wanted to preach the gospel in that great city with them, but he wasn't able to go, so he sent them his teaching. Well, now after 15 chapters and 23 verses of some of the most epic gospel teaching ever recorded, now Paul reveals his hidden motive, his secret agenda. Oh, by the way, I'm really on my way to Spain, and you guys are going to pay for it. That's what he says there in those verses. Okay, my friend Andrew Gutierrez is a pastor at Prescott, Arizona. He says that the book of Romans is the longest missionary letter in the history of the world. It took 15 chapters till Paul got what he really wanted to talk to them about was how they were going to give him money to go to Spain.
And so, that's what we found out. What was the help on the journey? What is the sending on the journey? It's this concept that, well, I need money to go on the journey, but not just that, when I go to Spain, there are not already Christians there. In fact, Paul wants to go to Spain because he doesn't think anybody's preached the gospel there yet. And so, there's not going to be people who are already ready to give to the church and support the ministry. You're not going to have a church that starts out self-supporting in Spain. And so, somebody needs to send the money. So, as the people are getting saved, and as they're growing up, and as they're learning how to give and meet one another's needs, well they could still have the support they need as the church is built up. And we saw that idea, and we said, hey, let's do this. Let's do this this year at our church. In fact, why don't you give right now? And when you give more than what we need, we'll pass it on to these other places. What I'm proposing to our church here today is that we stop calling this Project Pay It Forward, and we just start making this standard operating procedure at Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach, that will set the budget of what we know that we need for our church here. And let me just make sure that's very clear we're not sending money to other churches unless we have the money we need here at Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach, and the needs that we're actually most focused on meeting are the needs of our brothers and sisters here at our church.
And just to give you a report about that, as we're coming now, towards the end of 2025 we have met more needs this year at this church than we have ever had before. Money that has been collected, more of that has been given away, to the point that two years ago, the amount that we gave to our brothers and sisters to meet their needs. This year, we have already doubled the amount we gave to brothers and sisters in need just two years ago. So people who are a part of our church family and they're going through a financial difficulty, they lose a job, they have some kind of medical situation with bills they weren't expecting, whatever the case may be, where there's a legitimate need of one of our church family members, we immediately have the money to meet that need and to help them in their time of need, because people at this church give, but people at this church can be generous to give such an amount that not only do we have what we need, but we have more that we can pass on to other churches, and that's been awesome to do that project. Here's what I'm saying. Let's stop calling it a project, and let's just do church that way for the rest of our lives till Jesus comes. Okay? And so, what we can do that at the end of this year, we can see how much money is given, we'll set our budget for the next year, and if we have more than we need, we'll just keep supporting other churches in other places. Because it seems like this wasn't just a one time thing. No, we're starting to see that this is the way that they talked about. It wasn't just in this particular case with Paul going to Spain. It wasn't just in this particular case with Gaius. No. John is saying this is how it works. When you know somebody who's going to preach the gospel somewhere else, and they're passing through and they need help, they need to be sent, send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. Give them what they need out of the abundance of what God has given you. Pay it forward, pass it on.
And so, we want to really make this a part of how we think and how we operate as a church. And it gives us three reasons to do this in 3 John. Go back there with me, and look at verses 7 and 8. This gives three reasons to give more than we need. Okay? And we'll give you these three dashes. This is from verses 7 and 8 here.
And the first reason that we should give towards those who are going on their journey in a manner worthy of God himself is notice what it says in verse 7, “for they have gone out for the sake of the name.” Whose name are we talking about, everybody? Okay, so in 2 John, if you're familiar with 2 John, he talks about people who are going out in their own name, motivated by getting money for themselves, false teachers who are not really preaching the gospel that Jesus put on flesh and came to save us in his incarnation. No, they're preaching false things. Hey, if they're preaching false things, if they're in it for themselves, don't give them a dime. That's the idea of 2 John. But here in 3 John, he's giving the positive that when you know they're really about Jesus, when they're really doing it for his name to be made known, for his name to be lifted high, then that's a reason that you should give. Now, can I say what my real agenda on this trip was? It was to encourage the pastors of these churches to spend quality time with the pastors. And I want to put up this picture of my friend, Pastor Raymond Kwan, my friend who lives across the ocean from me, but this guy and I have been bonded together. And when I see pastor Ray say to me when I'm there, he acts like, wow, you're busy. There are so many people coming to the church in Huntington Beach. Your job must be so much harder. You must have so much more stress than me and after I sit with Pastor Ray, and I spend time with him there in Tokyo, I say to pastor Ray, no, Pastor Ray, your job here in Tokyo, Japan is much harder than what I'm doing in Huntington Beach, because the whole way that people think in Japan is different. It's different and they're not used to the gospel. They're not interested in the Gospel. In fact, Pastor Ray, he's got this church there in Tokyo, and he's got people that have come from all different nations of the world that are living there in Tokyo. And then he's got Japanese national people. And this goal of reaching the Japanese national people, I mean, a lot of churches in Japan, if you start researching it, they're like, twenty people is the average church size in Japan. That's why they think forty people is a large church there in Tokyo, it's like double size of many of the other churches that they know of. So, you can see how, with such few people, even if all those people were to give, how does that pay rent and pay for the things that are needed there for this church in Tokyo? And so, here's pastor Ray in the middle of these different cultures, in the middle of not having enough funds. And here he is bearing the burdens of this entire church. It is very clear to me that Pastor Ray is not doing this so he will get rich. Pastor Ray is not doing this so he will be well known. Pastor Ray, there's only one thing that could be motivating this man, and it's his love for the gospel of Jesus and his desire to see people in Japan really get saved. This guy, he's not benefiting from doing this. He's giving himself to doing this. I think he's worthy of our full support.
Can I talk a little bit about these pastors in India? Pastor Febin, and then there's Thomas and John and Mangal. Manoj wasn't there with me this weekend because he's having trouble with his health. Can I talk about how it is to be a pastor in India? The culture there, they don't expect churches. Don't pay their pastors. In India, they actually expect the pastors to pay for the things at church. Somebody needs money. It comes from the pastor. Problem at the church building, the pastor, he pays for it goes on his credit. Can you imagine? And then, you're supposed to somehow be the pastor of the church work. Another job that's also supposed to make enough so you can pay for all the things at the church. That's an enormous pressure being put on these men. And not to mention that, another thing I want to say about India is that the government of India is trying to shut down Christianity actively in the country, okay? The Conservative Party in in the government there in India, is pro kind of what you hear when you're there, Hindustan. They want Hinduism to be the one religion that is the culture of the Indian people. And so, this whole idea, from the moment they greet you, namaste, it's all tied into this idea of Hinduism, and so because they're trying to protect that idea, they're against Christianity coming in. So, what these pastors do is, when somebody gets saved at their church, they ask them to write out their testimony, and they ask them to say, when they write their testimony, that the pastors did not force them to come to the church, but they want to be there. They want to follow Jesus, and then they get that testimony notarized. Because at any moment, the government could come in and say, why are you forcing all these people to do this? And they want to have evidence that nobody's being forced to be here. That's the kind of pressure these pastors are living under. Financial pressure, government pressure. They're not getting famous. They're not getting rich. If anything, they're going to go into debt being a pastor in India. So, there's only one reason I can tell that these guys keep doing this, and these people are bearing heavy burdens in the name of Jesus. He is their purpose. Jesus is not the reason for the season. He's the reason that these guys are giving their entire lives away. So, I want to come back and I want to say, hey, as much as I can possibly tell, I have sat with them. I have seen their tears. They're trying to bear their burdens with them, and these men are motivated by the name of Jesus and his name alone, and that's what it's talking about here. That would be a reason.
Let's get that down for our first dash. Our first dash is: “Everyone needs to hear who Jesus is.” Everyone needs to hear this name. And that's why these guys are doing it. They really are preaching the word. That's why people are so desperate for fellowship in such an isolationist culture in Japan, that they come from hours on the train to get to this church. And I ask, Why do you come from so far away to come to Megumi Bible Church? Because this is the church I know that's preaching the Word. This is the church I know, where I can hear the Gospel clearly, where it's expository teaching, where they're having a literal interpretation, where they're saying what the author originally intended to say. I don't know where else I'm going to get that. That's why I come an hour away, an hour and a half. There aren't churches like this in these places. And these guys are preaching the name of Jesus, and they're not trying to get a following for themselves. They're trying to point the way to him.
And so, go with me to Romans, chapter 1, verse 5, and look at what Paul says about his purpose and why he was sent this idea of for the sake of the name. Paul echoes this in Romans. Chapter 1, verse 5. He says, “through whom we have received,” he's talking about Jesus. And remember, Paul was personally sent in a unique way by Jesus, when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and so he says in Romans, chapter 1, verse 5, “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among” what? Among “all the nations.” See, Paul was sent to the Jew, but also to the Gentile. And so, he says, we want everybody to believe. We want everybody to have obedience of faith. And so, I'm going out so the name of Jesus would be known among the nations.
Go over to the book of Acts, chapter 5, verse 28. Let's go back to the beginning of the church in Jerusalem. Remember how Peter and John had to come and appear before the same Jewish religious leaders that killed Jesus, the same Jerusalem Council that had Jesus falsely accused and crucified. Well, now they're going after Peter and John, and they say in Acts, chapter 5, verse 28, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. We told you to stop preaching Jesus, and you're telling everybody in Jerusalem the name of Jesus. That's what I'm seeing happen in these churches. And I'm seeing it happen among the Gentiles, among the nations, in places where Jesus is not known; they don't have a context of the Bible and church in Tokyo and India.
Go back to 3 John, and look here at verse 7. Look at the second reason that it gives us. One you want to support people like these because they're going out for the sake of the name of Jesus. Their reason is your reason. The second reason it says is they're accepting nothing from who there in verse seven, everybody? Accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Now, in the Jewish mindset, the Gentiles are the other nations. And so, Gentiles has this idea of the foreigners. It also has this idea that the Jews are the people who have the law of God. They're the chosen nation. They know about who God is. The Gentiles, they're the people who don't know God. So, when people go like Pastor Ray, who's a missionary from America, going to Tokyo, or even, I don't know if you know this, but Pastor Febin, he's from southern India, as a mission area to northern India. And there's a lot of difference between southern and northern India. And they're in northern India. The church we're helping goes from the third floor to the ground floor. They're in Punjab, which is right next to Pakistan. And so, he's a missionary there to northern India. And see, when you go to these nations, when you go to these Gentiles, I remember walking with Pastor Feb. And one of the things that I keep thinking about that happened is when we walked through the Delhi airport. After he came to Delhi, which is far away from where the church is, but he came there just to welcome us. And it was his birthday. He didn't even tell me it was his birthday. He claims he forgot because he was so excited we were coming. That's how big of a deal it is. And he stops; he just welcomed us. He's showing us the way. And he stops in his tracks, and he looks up, and there's a Christmas tree at the Delhi airport. And, you know, we're kind of used to Christmas trees. This man, he stops, he looks at the Christmas tree, and he's like, I've never seen that in India before. It's like, they're getting the Christmas trees, but they don't have Christ.
You see, you’ve got to understand, like, if you live in India, which is the most populated country in the world, you've heard about Hinduism from the very beginning. Can we talk about the cows now? Who's ever heard the phrase “holy cow”? Have you heard that before? This is where it comes from. There are cows everywhere doing whatever they want. Okay? And it comes from this idea of Hinduism, okay? And where cows are holy, and there are many gods, and there's this caste system. There is no idea of going to church. There is no idea of reading the Bible. I get overwhelmed here in Huntington Beach when I drive around and think to myself, how many of these people don't know Jesus, and how are we possibly going to tell them all? I can't even get my mind around it in India. Do you know that India passed China as the most populated country within the last couple of years? India and China have by far and away, more people there than anywhere else. India is close to four times the size of the United States of America, and they have this whole way of thinking, where cows roam the streets. Our cows are at In and Out Burger for lunch. You know what I'm talking about. And just as a foreigner, as an outside observer to India and its culture, I see people living in complete poverty. India is an infant, very interesting conflation of very poor people, and then this very modern development, like you'll go into one place, and it looks like super nice by anybody's standard, and then you'll see just people living in shacks on the dirt roads. And I see this person living in a shack on a dirt Street. Everything just seems poor and filthy, and then I see three cows sitting there eating the last few pieces of grass on their front lawn, and there's hundreds of dollars of beef right there, and there's this person living in poverty, and that's what they do every single day. It's a way of thinking. It's all they've ever known and no one has ever loved them, and come and sat down with them and said to them, there's a different way. His name is Jesus. And so, there's millions, hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people like that. And so it's like, wow, we're expecting people to come out of that culture and then just do church. They have to learn everything about how to do church because there's not examples, there's not enough people to go around to tell everybody. So, they're going to need help establishing the way to do church because they're not familiar with it. It's foreign to them. Even the idea of Christianity is not something they grew up hearing about.
See, we don't relate to this. If you've grown up like me, in the good old US of A and if your primary language is English, there are words like sin that everybody who speaks English understands. We have a reference point. Whether you grew up like me, going to church, or whether you didn't go to church, you know what church is. You have an idea of something that happened at Christmas. You understand Easter is kind of something they get excited about at church. You've heard about the Bible. You know a little bit about Jesus. You may not believe in it yourself, but there's a reference point in your frame of thinking. We're talking about cultures that have no reference point of Christianity, it's a foreign concept, and it even feels like, why are you going to bring your ways into our ways? It feels to them like a threat to their culture, rather than good news of great joy for their salvation.
And so, that's the second reason I think it's worthy of us giving more than we need to support these people is because not only does everyone need to hear who Jesus is, but not all nations are influenced by Christianity. These nations that I'm talking to you about the Japanese culture and language, the Hindi language and culture, they don't know about church. They don't know about Christianity. We're talking about millions of people. It's overwhelming to me when I fly from Tokyo to Delhi, how many people there are in that part of the world, and how few of them have ever even heard about our Savior. They don't know the good news, and now they're getting the Christmas trees, but there are so few people that tell him about Christ. And so, I was so encouraged. There's a missionary going to the church in India, and he came up to me, and you could tell he had made a point that he wanted to say something to me while I was there, and he pulled me aside on my last day being there, and he said, hey, I want you to know that whatever you are doing with these pastors, it is totally working, because they are preaching the Bible in such a clear way with so much faith. They're talking about Jesus in a way that's so clear that people can hear it and believe and be saved, and it's much different than how it was last year at this church. Like whatever you guys are doing, you should keep doing it, because we need the gospel to ring out. Here in India, there's such a need. In California, well, at least people in California have an idea of what Compass Bible Church is when they see it driving by. You don't even see signs for churches like that. In Japan, in India, there is no church down the street that you're familiar with. And so, I think it's worth supporting, as they're still trying to break through into these cultures and languages, and it's a lot of hard work.
And then go to verse 8. This is the main verse I want to leave you with 3 John, verse 8. John's conclusion. These people who are going out in the name of Jesus, they're going out to the Gentiles, to the nations, to where people don't really know about it, yet we ought to support people like these. Notice the “therefore”. Here's John's conclusion to Gaius, and let us take this to heart here today, “we ought to support people like these.” Why? “that we may be fellow workers for the truth.” He says, “fellow workers for the truth.” when you send them and you pray for them and you pay the money that they need, he doesn't act like, see how it says it here. It's not like you're sending them to do the work. No, the full send is the people who are sending them are workers too. You see, this is how the wrong way that I thought maybe you would think this wrong way too, the missionaries are the ones that go and do the work. And we hear passages like, “Here am I, send me,” or we sing a song like, “Send me, Lord.” And we think, well, most of us won't go, but a few will go, and they'll do the work. That's not what this verse says. This verse says that they'll go do the work. And whoever's sending them, you're their fellow worker. They can't do the work without you, sending them in a manner worthy of God.
And so, don't think that they're doing the work and you're staying here and doing nothing. No. When you're doing the work to give, when you have more than you need, and you give it forward and you send them, you are their fellow worker. And I promise you this, if you ever go to Zirakpur, India, which, let me tell you, it takes a long time to get there. If you ever make it all the way to Zirakpur, India, and you get off the chaos of the streets, and you get through those thick doors and they hand you that chai latte, all you would have to do to say to any person at that church, if you said, I came here from Compass Bible Church, their eyes would light up if they ever met you. You're from Compass? Please take your shoes off. Please come have a seat. We know you guys can't handle our curry. We de-spiced it a little bit here. This is for you. And they would sit you down. And this greeting that I received in India, it isn't like, oh, Pastor Bobby, we're glad to meet you. It's like, Pastor Bobby, you've already been here. You've already done the work. See, they would treat you not like they're on the front lines doing something. Thank you for your support. They would look at you like thank you for being in this with us. Thank you for striving side by side with us for the gospel. We could not do this without you.
This is the message they want me to communicate to you. See, I've got this video, like you can see we're on the screen like we're a part of the church family. Everybody knows who we are. They even put Min Hahn's picture on the screen, and I saw him leave the room. He cringed. And he doesn't like this kind of attention, which is why I love sharing with him with everyone. But he's just like, oh. And then, this is the kids’ ministry. When they come out, they come up to me at three different times they brought me, my son, Tyler, and Min Han, up on stage in front of the entire church, and they brought us flowers three different times. They did it over the weekend, different flowers every time, including homemade flowers that they made just to give us, because they're just overflowing with like, thank you our fellow workers. Thank you for what you did. Without you, we'd still be melting on that third floor, having a hard time hearing the sermon with all of the honking, the kids not having nice places to go and learn the Bible. And so here come these precious kids in the church in India. Thank you, sir. Thank you Compass Bible Church. Thank you so much for our new building. And they send endless cards to me, to Min, to Tyler. And these kids, sometimes I think people hear, well, hey, sponsor a child in a foreign land man, nobody's getting it better in these two churches than the kids. The kids’ ministries are thriving. They are growing. The kids at the church in India, I got confused on multiple occasions, because I'm like, wait a minute, that child you're holding right now is not your child? It's like, everybody just loves everybody else's kids, in a way that we in America would be like, whoa, I'm not sure about this. In the church in India, they're just like one big, happy family, and they think we are a part of their family.
They thank you for what you did. You have made a difference in other people's lives. I just want to tell you this, if you gave money to this church this year, if you prayed for these people, that was the best investment you ever made. Like to see the joy in these people, to see how far our money went in India, to help them with this building, they think you did it.
See, we’ve got to change our mind from this point forward. Missionaries aren't people who are out there doing the work. We work with them when we pray for them, and when we pay for them, when we send them, we join them as fellow workers. Go with me to Matthew 10. Look what Jesus says in Matthew 10:40- 42. Look at how Jesus puts this when he sends out his disciples, two by two, here in Matthew 10, to be these traveling preachers. And one of the questions is, will people receive them? Will people send them? Remember how they're not supposed to take money, they're not supposed to take a bag, they're just supposed to rely on other people meeting their needs. And at the end of his instructions to send out his disciples two by two, here at the end of Matthew 10, look at what he says in verses 40 and 42. He says, ““Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Can you fathom what Jesus is saying? It's not just the Prophet that's going to get the reward. It's not just the righteous person doing the work of the ministry that's going to get the reward. No, whoever receives them and sends them, whoever loves them like a stranger and welcomes them in and then sends them on their way, helps them on their journey in a manner worthy of God; that person receives the prophet's reward. Do you hear what Jesus is saying? That person receives the righteous person's reward. It's not just the missionary who will get the reward. No, who sent them, they're a part of that work. That's amazing what Jesus is saying here.
At the Delhi airport, I bought a bottle of water for 12 cents. That's how far our money can go; a bottle of water is 12 cents. And Jesus is saying that if you invested 12 cents into a bottle of water and that bottle was given to someone because they're a disciple of Jesus, you will by no means lose your reward for that. This is how much it matters to Jesus that we welcome and receive and send out and help his people. He wants you to know that you're a part of the work and you will receive a part of the reward. What an amazing concept. Missionaries aren't somebody out there doing the work. Missionaries need to be sent by people who partner with them in the work. And you may never go and be a missionary, but you can be a part of the work right here when you pay and when you pray.
And so, what we're going to do is we're going to take an offering here today because of our third reason. Let's get this down for our third dash: “We may be the difference makers.” We may be the difference makers. And I can tell you that we made a difference in Uganda with that new building, and I can tell you that the church in Tokyo is still in their building because you give money here in Huntington Beach. And overall, I think the place maybe that we made the most impact was India. And we have helped the church in India establish a fund, and we have made it very clear to the pastors of the church that we would strongly encourage them, hey, if they want to give to the people at the church, give to the church fund. Stop giving people out of your own money so you go into debt. And we started the church fund for this church, which I hope will change the way they do church, and lead them to being a blessed church there in India. And that's all because you are doing the work. I'm not here to tell you about what people are doing in India. I'm not here to tell you about my trip to India. I'm here to tell you about what you're doing in India. And I'm trying to tell you that what you did, it mattered, that when you make it to heaven someday, what you did in India might be talked about there. That's how significant it was. And so, I want to encourage you to think not like missionaries or other people, but how can I be a fellow worker with those who are going? They're going for his name, they're going among the Gentiles. I want to be a fellow worker with them, because your prayers, your paying it forward, may be the difference maker.
And so, I really am excited for who's going to give today, who's going to give at our church this December, and when the year is over and we're setting our budget for the next year, if we have more than what we need, how could God use us to be fellow workers with churches all over the world? So let me pray for us, and as I pray for you, what we want to do is give you time to pray. I want you to think about this. Did you participate in Project Pay it Forward when I'm talking about this praying and this giving, were you a part of it? Because I want to encourage you to pray about what God has given you, and how can you be a fellow worker with other people who could you be paying for or praying for? So, I want to give you time to pray about this between you and God. You may not be sent, but you can do the full send. Let's pray together.
Father, thank you so much that we could have this conversation here today from 3 John, that we could see what he said to Gaius when Gaius was doing this work of supporting and helping, and that we could then think about that here at our church. And so, God, I thank you for Community Bible Church in Uganda and that they have a balcony in their new building. God, that building that's like the biggest building for miles in Uganda, and it's full of people hearing Jesus’ name being preached. We praise You for that, God. We thank you that we got to be a part of that, God. We thank you for Megumi Bible Church in Tokyo, trying to stay faithful to the name of Jesus when it's just an overwhelmingly hard context all around them, it's hard to reach people that don't really interact much. It's hard to break through in a culture that feels like it's already doing a good job. And so, God, we pray for Megumi Bible Church, we thank you that they're still in that building, that they're still preaching Jesus. God, we want to thank you for Grace Bible Fellowship in Zirakpur, India. We want to thank you for these pastors who will give, not their last dollar, they'll go into debt giving money to meet the needs of people. We, thank you for their commitment to the name of Jesus. We thank you for their hard work in a nation that doesn't really know about Jesus and what he's done. But God, we don't want them to do it themselves. We want to work with them, and so we thank you for this new building, where everybody's running around in their socks and everybody's feeling at home and there's a temperature control, and there's a quietness, and they're talking about the Word together. And dads are turning their hearts to their kids and husbands are learning how to love their wives and children are being taught the way of Jesus from an early age. God, what blessed children in India, where so few children ever hear about Jesus. And we see Jesus building his church. So, God, I pray that this project that we did this year in 2025, I pray that it would change the way that we think for the rest of our lives, that if you've given us what we need, we should give you thanks. We should thank you. But then, if we have more than what we need, what should we do with that? God, I pray that we wouldn't think other people are doing the work. I pray that we would join them in the work, that we would welcome them when they travel through, that we would receive them and we would send them on their journey in a manner that is worthy of you. If we know they go for the name of Jesus, if we know they go where Jesus is not known, that we would be our fellow workers, helping them, sending them. God, I pray that whenever we hear somebody say, here am I, send me, that we would all think, well, you don't have to go necessarily to be a part of the Send. You can give. You can pray, and you can partner with those who are out there in hard places, preaching the gospel of Jesus. So, let that be the legacy of this church that we would do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.