Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”
Our Bible verse for today: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We are to be kingdom people.”
Many of you probably noticed that our Bible verse for today and our thought for today are identical to yesterdays. That’s because I want to continue the discussion we began yesterday about being kingdom people, as well as what obedience to Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8 should look like in the lives of individual Christians and their churches.
The editors of “The Mission of God Study Bible” made an interesting point when they wrote, “God is a sending God, a missionary God, who has called His people, the church, to be missionary agents of His love and glory … Although it is frequently stated “God’s church has a mission”, according to missional theology, a more accurate expression is “God’s mission has a church.”
I like that – “God’s mission has a church”. Jesus called us to be His missionary agents in this world. That’s what Acts 1:8 is all about. To accomplish that we have to take the practice of our faith outside the walls of the church building, making a difference by spreading the love and glory of God in a broken and bleeding world.
The way we accomplish that at Oak Hill Baptist Church is we have adopted one mission project in our Jerusalem (Cumberland County, TN) which regularly takes us as a group out of the church building. In our case we partner in a variety of different ways with the Bread of Life Rescue Mission in our town. In our Judea (the state of Tennessee) we have a partnership with the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home. We regularly leave our church building and go do things with the girls who live in that home. In our Samaria (the coal mining region in eastern Kentucky) we partner with a small church in a very impoverished rural area. Three times a year we take weekend mission trips to bring relief supplies to help them minister in their community. And throughout the year some of our members go on short-term overseas mission trips with CERT International (The Christian Emergency Relief Teams). We are also the host church for a family of Southern Baptist Missionaries serving in Southeast Asia.
Not all of our members can actually go on mission trips overseas, or to Kentucky, or even to the children’s home or the rescue mission. But all of our members can pray for the works, and they can contribute financially, and they can help pack supplies, wrap Christmas presents, and much more. Participating in those ways constitutes involvement in the Great Commission of Jesus as expressed in Acts 1:8.
As we continue to think about how we will invest our time in 2017 I want to ask you to prayerfully consider actively being on-mission with Jesus outside the walls of your church building. Actually think it through and plan for it. Put in on your calendar. Whether your mission activity will be in your Jerusalem, or your Judea, or Samaria, or to the ends of the earth, God and His Kingdom are much, much bigger that just what you can experience in your own little piece of the world. Let Him expand your understanding. Make a plan to be on-mission with Jesus.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 