– We were talking to a pastor the other day, and he has some friends who have been traveling all across the U.S. for the last couple years. And everywhere they go, they try to find an Alliance church to attend, and it did our hearts so good to hear what he had to say. There are so many different kinds of Alliance churches, he said, and they might do ministry differently, but in each of them there are devoted good, good-hearted people who are seeking Jesus.

– We’re coming to you today from one of those churches, First Alliance Church in Erie, Pennsylvania. God is doing some really good things here and reaching far beyond the local area to global, and we love how that’s happening.

– For over 125 years, since 1899, this church has participated in Jesus’ mission to reach their neighbors and the nations. They’ve given sacrificially to the Great Commission Fund. They’ve sent international workers to 10 different places around the world. They’ve prayed for those workers and for the people who have yet to meet Jesus. It’s All of Jesus for All the World.

– We praise God for partnership with Christ-centered local churches like First Alliance who are demonstrating this important reality, and it’s this: global impact starts with the local church.

– Our neighbors and the nations are aching for hope, for peace, for what only the Lord Jesus can give them. You know, it’s estimated that there are three and a half billion people who don’t yet have access to the good news of Jesus.

– Over 40 percent of the world’s population live in unreached people groups with little-to-no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They don’t have local churches or Bible translations or Christians to share the message.

– For 140 years, The Alliance has worked to close that gap by sending workers to difficult and hard-to-reach places because the gospel is good news for every person. A woman in Central Asia who’s never heard that she is loved by a Savior, a young man in West Africa searching for peace and without true hope, a family in the Middle East longing for justice and freedom.

– What a privilege you and I have to know Jesus. What an honor we have to share the best news ever. There’s no better mission in life than to use our energy, our resources, our lives, to point people to Jesus. And so, every year, we, as the Alliance family, take up a Great Commission Day Offering. It’s a day when we bring special focus to Jesus’ words, His assignment to us to take the good news to every nation.

– It’s one of our family’s key moments in sending new workers and sustaining those already active in the world’s hardest places. It’s about all of us joining in to complete the mission that Jesus entrusted to us—by giving, by praying, by participating in what God has commanded us to do.

– To my fellow pastors, can I make a bold ask? Will you give your people an opportunity to participate? Let’s do this together. There will be a video clip, just two minutes, that you can feature in a Sunday service, and the theme is For All the World.

– You can take part in this offering as a church anytime between April 1 and May 24, that’s National Great Commission Day.

– And when you give, you’re not just writing a check. You’re sending workers to places where Jesus’ name has maybe never been spoken. You’re providing clean water to those with little access and sharing the Living Water in the process. You’re rescuing children from trafficking and offering them safety and hope that only Jesus can provide.

– You are training pastors who will plant churches in hostile territory. You’re feeding the hungry. You’re healing the sick. You’re resettling refugees. You’re breaking chains of addiction. You are changing eternity for people who are waiting.

– Right now, 650 international workers are serving in places that might be difficult, often dangerous places that many of us maybe will never see. The Lord calls some of us to go, but He calls all of us to give, to send, to pray.

– We are compelled by the promise of Jesus, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached, and the whole world is a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

– As we say, all of Jesus for all the world takes all of us.