Introduction: Wayside financially supports about two dozen missionary families. The PCA supports over 500 missionary families. Christians around the world send tens of thousands of missionaries, spreading the gospel and doing good deeds in the name of Christ. Today we will zero in on the very first missionaries, and see Christ's directions for them:

I. Who are the twelve disciples (apostles)?
There is a list in Matthew 10:2-4.

II. Where did they go as missionaries?
Of course we know about Paul, who traveled in what today we call Turkey, Albania, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, and may have even reached Spain.
Peter is associated with Rome, Italy. Some evangelized North Africa and Arabia.
There is good evidence that Thomas reached both India and China between 50 and 70 AD. We don't know where all the disciples went.

III. What did Jesus tell the first missionaries to do?

A. Go under His authority and with His power.

B. Strategy: Two-pronged approach.

Preach the Gospel

Heal illnesses

C. Get financial support from believers and converts.

D. When people reject the message, move on.

Our job is to find and win the sheep, and build them into churches, not to spend a lot of time fighting atheists and idol worshippers.

Conclusion: Every Christian may either go as a missionary, or send missionaries. Paul wrote about this in Romans 10:8-15. Many of you have gone on missionaries. Many of you support missionaries with your money and with your prayers. But some of us have not been obedient to the Great Commission. May the Lord lead us all to support missions!