Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow / Watch
Missions Week started with a declaration from Grand Canyon University alumnus KJ Gould, who emphasized that advancing Jesus’ kingdom must become our urgent mission.
“It's so easy in such an amazing environment, with such amazing people and community around you, to not see the urgency of the mission,” Gould told students during Chapel on Monday at Global Credit Union Arena. “But Jesus' kingdom said it another way: ‘This good news of the kingdom of God is our urgent priority that people would hear it, that they would know it, that they would experience Jesus.’“
Gould, adult discipleship pastor at Christ Church Central Phoenix, is heavily involved in 27Collab, an initiative that includes 80 local schools, churches, businesses and neighborhood residents invested in making an impact in the community along the 27th Avenue corridor, from Indian School Road to Northern Avenue.
In referencing Matthew 9:35-38, and in following this academic year's Chapel theme of "Jesus Stories from the Bible," Gould explained how Jesus healed and supported helpless crowds while asking His disciples to pray for more workers to build a robust spiritual harvest.
Kingdom advancement is our urgent priority, Gould said, because:
- Jesus leads it.
- Compassion compels it.
- Need demands it.
- The church cultivates it.
Before elaborating on each point, Gould discussed the Great Fire of London, a four-day inferno that started in the oven of a Pudding Lane bakery and destroyed 13,000 homes, 87 churches and left 100,000 people homeless.
The destruction could have been limited had city officials tore down houses to stop the flames. London's mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth, and public officials paused before taking action because of potential backlash, and Robert Hubert, a French watchmaker, falsely confessed to starting the fire and was executed despite not being in London at the time of the fire.
Gould said it is easy to reflect and say one would have never made this mistake or handled the pressure differently.
“And yet, it's often the case when it comes to our Christianity. That when we see the brokenness of the world, the urgent need for actions, Christians are tempted to sit on the sidewalks and expect someone else to make moves,” Gould said. “We're tempted to say, 'Well, that's somebody else's responsibility.' Or, 'What will other people think?’ Or, ‘If I don't get the thing that I want out of this situation, I won't be satisfied.’
“But here's the reality for us this morning: Evil is spreading. The kingdom of darkness is real, and it's everywhere. People are lost and hurting, and the opportunity of every Christian in this room is massive for you.”
In Matthew 9:35, Jesus leads by traveling to places such as Galilee and Capernaum to heal the sick while preaching in the synagogues, later traveling to Bethsaida, where He used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people.
“This is Jesus' ministry, not just to like Scottsdale or Paradise Valley,” Gould said. “This is Jesus is heading over to Apache Junction and Yuma and everywhere in between.”
Gould, who will become Christ Church Central Phoenix's lead pastor in January, adds that Jesus leads for kingdom progress and not to overthrow physical kingdoms.
“He comes to overthrow sin and death,” Gould said.
Matthew 9:36 illustrates how Jesus had compassion for large crowds suffering from harassment and helplessness, “like sheep without a shepherd.”
“Here's one thing for you as a college student: You need to be shepherded,” Gould said.
As an example, Gould told the story of Father Damien, who had a brother who was scheduled to be a missionary in Hawaii in 1864 before suffering typhus. Damien took his place and traveled to the island of Molokai for three months to serve those afflicted with leprosy.
Damien became so passionate that he built homes, schools and churches for about 2,000 afflicted with leprosy, providing love and support for 11 years before suffering the disease and eventually dying on the mission field.
“We know this: Jesus was no stranger to being around people rejected by society, even specifically because of leprosy,” Gould said. “He would touch their bodies. He would speak to them face to face. He would heal them.
“Jesus is the kind of God who sees the needs of the people. He sees that they're harassed. He sees that they're helpless, and His compassion moves Him because they need direction, healing, and they need to be a part of a new kingdom.”
Matthew 9:37 shows the need for kingdom advancement, with Jesus telling his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
Jesus uses a farming metaphor to show that people are ready to hear and receive His message, but not enough are sharing it. This hits home to Gould, a former javelin thrower on the GCU men’s track and field team who spent part of his childhood in Indiana near a cornfield and recalled how combine harvesters saved countless hours of labor.
“If you're a follower of Jesus in this room, you have to see this need and not let any of the harvest that God has prepared go to waste,” Gould said. “There's people that are so close to the kingdom of God; they must come, and they must experience Jesus. This should drive us. We have to see the kingdom advance.”
Matthew 9:38 stresses that kingdom advancement is our urgent priority because the church cultivates it. He also shared with students to pray earnestly.
“If you're a Bible major in this room and you're not a person with prayer, and I've been there, it might be time to evaluate what kingdom you're actually cultivating,” Gould said. “Most of those things can be great, but there's a higher beauty that the Bible's putting in front of us. It's something so simple and so often untried.
“You want to labor and harvest and see people come to know Jesus? Pray like a man. Pray like it matters. Therefore, it starts there.”
Gould recalled his 3 ½ years leading City Hope, which provided food, hygiene, clothing and Bibles for distressed people, including one day in which he was distressed because only four volunteers had arrived 10 minutes before distribution, causing him to pray.
“Maybe you're like me, but you pray because it's like your last resort when you don't know what else to do. It's your last resort instead of your first priority,” Gould said.
“But here's what's amazing: I bowed my head in God's grace. I'm not making this up. Almost every seat in that room was filled when I lifted up my eyes and finished my prayer with volunteers.”
“… The simplest way to guarantee mission failure is to cultivate the wrong kingdom and then say that it's Jesus' kingdom. Don't build the kingdom of God in your own strength. Depend and surrender in prayer on God.”
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Next Chapel speaker: Erwin McManus of Mosaic church in Los Angeles, 11 a.m. Oct. 5, Global Credit Union Arena
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