Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A life of service”
Our Bible verse for today: “But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!” Romans 10:14-15 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “A life of service includes sending and going.”
Not only do I write daily devotional messages, but I also use daily devotional books in my own quiet time with the Lord. This year, as a bedtime devotional, I’m using a little book entitled “This Day in Christian History”. Each daily devotional is about some significant event out of the 2000 years of Christian history.
The other evening it occurred to me how many of those significant events out of Christian history involved missionaries. That thought then caused me to think about my own personal library. It contains approximately 1500 books and more than 100 of them are biographies. Of the biographies, more than 50 of them are about famous missionaries, and that number doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the number of biographies that have been written about missionaries.
Missions are the heartbeat of the cause of Christ on earth. This is what the Great Commission is all about. It’s what Jesus meant in Acts 1:8 when He said “And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Both long-term and short-term missions are a vital part of spreading the Good News about Jesus. The Great Commission applies to all Christians, whether we actually physically go on missions or not. Our participation in it begins at home and in our own neighborhoods, but it is intended by the Lord to then spread out further and further until each of us is either going on missions, or at least playing a role in helping to facilitate mission work worldwide.
The reasons the Lord requires this of us are many. For one thing, history proves that when someone travels a great distance to share the Good News of the Gospel it is a powerful testimony. Even if the Gospel is already being preached in that region, when someone comes from a great distance to serve and witness, people are more apt to pay attention. Also, participating in missions expands our understanding of God and His ways. It takes our thinking outside of our own little cultural box and helps us to see a bigger picture of God at work in many varied cultural settings. Finally, missions help God’s people to share resources for the sake of the Kingdom – the haves share with the have-nots.
Paul explained in Romans 10:14-15 that in every mission effort there are three key groups of people. There are the “goers”, or those who actually go on the long or short-term mission; there are the “receivers”, those who receive the mission team; and there are the “senders”, those who make it possible for the goers to go.
When it comes to living a life of service the Great Commission is our guide (the entire Great Commission, not just the local part but the whole thing). Therefore if we aren’t among those who are going to go, then we do need to help send. The Great Commission belongs to all of us. If we’re not a receiver then we need to be a goer. And if we’re not a goer, we do need to be a sender.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 