It is amazing that God would pursue one individual out of 7.67 billion people. But God has always done that. Jacob was having difficulty following God’s will for his life - until he was “left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day” (Genesis 30:8). God waited for this moment when Jacob was away from people and distractions so He had Jacob’s full attention.
“And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay His hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly” (Mark 7:32–35). These two examples are not saying that God cannot work in a public setting or when others are near. The point is that sometimes the best and most important work is done in secret. In the next chapter, “And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?... Then Jesus laid His hands on his eyes again, and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly” (Mark 8:23, 26). This restoration was a process, but it was complete. Are there hindrances in your walk with the Lord that He can’t remove because He needs you to get alone with Him before change can take place. Your spiritual healing is more important than public appearance or being with others. Does God have your undivided attention?
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As I have prepared for the sermon tomorrow, the mind and heart of God toward missions has weighed heavy on my mind. I go back to the very beginning when God created this place called earth and placed Adam here with a definite purpose.
· Gen. 1:28 – “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” with what? We often associate this statement with having children, and that is part of it. I believe God had much more in mind when He stated this. Notice the next statement from the prophet Habakkuk. · “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). We are familiar with Paul’s rendering of the mind of God on missions; “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people… This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1–4). The word here for “people – anthropon” refers to every individual, while the word “nations – ethnē” refers to people groups and is used 161 times. What is the point of this? The point is to allow the Spirit of God to penetrate our hearts with this divine attitude so our energies are used in the right direction where God is working to reach those who have never heard the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Whether we seek to reach one person with the gospel of grace, or a whole people group, we are expressing the heart of God which brings Him great delight. “We have one business on earth – to save souls,” (John Wesley). God’s glory is revealed in salvation, as well as His power. This is our highest business! That was the comment made by a student who is working through God’s Plan for His Disciples. When they came to Lesson 13 – Spending Quiet Time with the Lord, he said, “I am too busy to do this.” He is not unique. This is the comment that is heard all over the world, but particularly in western countries. Sadly, it indicates that among Christ-followers, priorities need serious adjusting. As there is a lot for us to learn, so there was for the disciples. In their darkest hour when Jesus took them with Him into “a place called Gethsemane,” He took Peter, James and John and said to them, “remain here and watch” (Mark 14:32-34). When Jesus returned to them, they were sleeping. This happened three times, but after the second time, Jesus says to them, “Could you not watch one hour?” (14:37). We often point to the example Jesus gave of going “to a desolate place, and there He prayed” (1:35, see also Luke 5:16). This and other examples in His life show that even as a man, He needed this alone time with His Father in order to face the challenges of ministry. Do we think we are better than He and can handle the challenges of life and ministry without a quiet time with Him? I have often said to those who struggle with this discipline, that it is not the amount of time that is the first issue, it is the desire to spend time with Jesus. Even if the amount of time is only five minutes, you will sense the Lord feeding your soul with the Word of God as you let the Spirit teach you. He will also supply wisdom for setting everything else in the proper priority order. Some things may need to be taken off your “to do list” so Jesus has the first place on your list. I have just been reading about our fellow Christians in places like the Central African Republic, Sudan and Nigeria, who have suffered so much. Often, they are forced to run from their home to save their lives from radical groups, only to come back days later to find everything destroyed and burned. For them to find their Bible still readable, even with burnt edges, is a treasure worth more than all their possessions that were lost.
Job was a man who knew what loss was. Chapter 1 of Job reveals his losses, one after another, yet his faith in God remained unshaken, to the point that he could worship God even with the loss. “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped…The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:22-21). Later in the process of God purifying this special man, Job speaks of what God’s words meant to him. “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food” (23:12). In one sense, this was another form of worship for Job. He treasured God’s words more than the necessary things of life. I wonder whether we here in the West would think the same way if persecution or loss brought us to the same point of having nothing? Would God’s Word be enough? There are a few places around the world where we have discovered this treasure in hearts. But it is very rare. Could you worship our God if you lost everything except His Word? The process will purify your heart. “For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16:19). This comment is to a church that Paul had not directly planted or visited. He had wanted to visit this church, but “so often been hindered from coming to” them (15:22). As the beginning of chapter 16 shows, Paul knew the families and individuals in the church. Some had been with him in Asia and were now in Rome. God has given us the privilege to introduce God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) in many places from east to west, but few give the reaction that the Roman Christians gave to Paul’s teaching through his sixth letter; Romans. He gave them a thorough explanation of the gospel, and their “obedience is known to all.” This gave Paul much joy, especially in his suffering for the sake of Jesus. We just received a note from the Christians in Managua, Nicaragua, sharing how they are faithfully working through GPHD. “I share what God is doing through the GOD PLAN FOR THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. Some pastors and friends are asking how we are discipling, and that is when I share the book. We continue to pray and work for a glorious revival in Central America. More people are being added and the grace of the Lord is saving.” (Partly edited) Our desire is to see God multiply this in every place so obedience is publicly known by others and becomes a powerful influence in making faithful disciples. In many settings, some feel that our book God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) is only for new believers, and perhaps too elementary for older Christians. True, this book reviews the biblical basics for our Christian faith. Read the comments of a seasoned believer who has worked through this book.
“I agree! God IS sovereign and His word IS powerful and effective. I realize that many believers we encourage to go through GPHD are NOT new believers. I am not a new believer, but I benefited tremendously from going through GPHD to reinforce the basics in my life but also to see how I might use it in the lives of others. We are all prone to only ask "What can I get out of this?" "How can I be blessed?" Instead, GPHD is useful for (1) the discipline of going through the lessons and the 30 days with Jesus and (2) to become familiar with a tool that will indeed help others. I venture to say that those who say they are "not new believers" don't understand the 3 groupings of Paul's letters and how he used them to establish churches. Everyone can benefit from going through GPHD. I pray they might get a vision of its usefulness for themselves AND more importantly for others.” Even if you think this training manual is only for new, young, or believers who need to be established in the faith, I challenge you to get a copy through our “Training Resource” page or contact us for a hard copy or copies. We see many, new and old, grow in their hunger for Scripture through the study of this book. It also protects us from false teaching by knowing the Word Paul made a very important observation to the believers in Philippi; “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you” (Philippians 3:1). Learning something well requires repetition. It is no different with the most important principles of our relationship with God. Know them well and practice them always. Many of the “Timothy’s” we work with in various parts of the world are growing in their understanding and commitment to Paul’s method of discipling and planting churches. This has been one of our goals in working with them so they catch the biblical vision of being self-sustaining, self-propagating in spreading the gospel to the unreached. As they disciple others and plant churches with the same vision, all of Africa will be reached. We are witnessing this same strategy in Myanmar and Vietnam as our “Timothy’s push into areas we could not go (for several reasons), training believers with the intent that they will reach the unengaged, unreached people groups (UUPG’s). One Timothy is pressing deeper and deeper into those minority unreached people groups in Vietnam. Soon God's Plan for His Disciples will be ready in the KOHO language. Working with them and the Hmong people is the key to reaching the UUPG’s left. Even the Vietnamese believers find it difficult to move around and be accepted within the frontier lands where the minorities live. This “Timothy” has caught the vision and we expect soon all the people groups will be reached in Vietnam…then on to China and beyond until ALL UUPG’s have heard. We trust you also are catching this vision where you are! This is one of the purposes Jesus left with the disciples for the Church to fulfill (Matthew 28:19-20). It is true that the ultimate reward for those who pursue this command will be heaven, but there is a reward now as we see many coming to Christ in people groups that are being reached. Will you pray for more effective ministry to reach the UUGS’s? To my shame, I have done this many times. There are so many excuses I have thrown at an opportunity; ‘I don’t have time right now.’ ‘The person looks like they will reject me.’ ‘I just can’t handle that type of person’ and on and on.
Most of us are familiar with this story; “Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:30–32). I am sure both the priest and Levite were busy, but is that an excuse for leaving someone in the condition this man was found in? Was avoiding this man a religious prohibition or was it just because they did not want to get involved in something that would cost them something? Helping others in any way will cost you something, if not everything. It cost Jesus His life! What makes the difference is knowing why God has brought you into contact with this person. For any believer, every situation has a purpose, unless you are acting in sin and rebellion against God’s design for that moment. The Samaritan did not ask how much it would cost before getting involved. He didn’t even get permission from the man who had been robbed. The Samaritan just thought through the long-term needs of what this man would face. Are you proving “to be a neighbor to the man” or woman in their need? While all people have physical needs, eternal needs are far more important and must be met with urgency. In recent weeks, we had conversations with close friends and believers who were forced to move to another state for employment reasons. One of their first concerns was finding a church where the Word of God was faithfully taught and where God had a place for them to serve. Their search has not been what they expected. In most churches they visited, no one spoke to them or welcomed them and showed an interest in their attending.
This is an indicator of a deeper problem which James addresses in the section we looked at yesterday. “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:8–9). I understand that we like to talk and fellowship more with those we know best because we have more in common with them. But think with me about the ministry of Jesus, a Jew. “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11–12). “And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”” (Matthew 9:10–11). They were not “of them,” the Pharisees. Are you showing “partiality” or are you reaching out as Jesus did to those you don’t know with the light and love of Christ? You will be surprised at how many want what you have – eternal life and the fellowship of the “poor in spirit…those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (5:3, 6). There is an old problem that plagued the Early Church and still affects the Church today. It began in Acts 6 by overlooking certain widows who had needs. Then the Jewish believers wanted to place requirements on the Gentiles who were coming to Christ and becoming part of the Church. The problem did not go away, which caused James to address believers in a very straightforward way.
“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” (James 2:1). “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (2:5). “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” (2:8–9). This issue is not just a problem in the Church. Partiality affects the way we look at ministry locally outside the church and missions to the ends of the earth. We select neighborhoods and ethnic groups of people that fit our ‘comfort ideals’ for ministry and missions. Think for a moment of how Jesus pursued His ministry. He looked at the crowds (Jewish and Samaritan) with compassion for them. He recognized faith in those who didn’t belong to the Jewish nation. His invitation to follow Him was to all. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:32). The Church needs to recapture the heart of Jesus in every aspect of ministry and missions! |
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