"Missionaries"

On June 5, 2016, we held a joint worship service for the 2 churches, as we welcomed a missionary family who we are currently supporting. Initially, I intended to offer no comments, but at the last minute, I thought that I might.

This past week, we attended our yearly Annual Conference meetings, and 2 presentations spoke to me regarding missional efforts. The first was a youth lead service on Saturday morning, in which the theme of their message was "Do Something". I reminded me of James 2:16 “If one of you says to him ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” As much as this is a call on the church as a whole, it is especially important in our call to support missionaries and their vital ministry.

in Luke 10:1-12, Jesus reiterated this very thought - that the missionary's task is to carry the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the world, while it is the rest of the Church's responsibility to support them in all that they do.

As if that wasn't enough reminder for me, later that day, our Bishop, Mark Webb, preached a message at the ordination service entitled "Called, Equipped, Completed", with a primary reference to Exodus 4:1-14, with a secondary reference to Luke 5:1-11. There were 5 thoughts that struck me especially hard, and they are as follow:

1) His first question for us was - "Do you trust more in your limitations than you do in God’s abilities?" All too often, we limit ourselves in ministry and mission, simply because we believe that "I can't do that." Of course we can't, but does that mean that God can't either? Philippians 4:13 corrects our doubts, and calls us to unbridled trust in the Almighty.

2) His next point was "When we are shallow in faith, we lean shallowly into God’s plan." The Lord will never force his will and way onto our life - he just offers it to us, then calls us to accept it and follow it. Great accomplishments and grand efforts require great faith on our part.

3) Third, he told us that "with every excuse that Moses had, God responded with a promise of sufficiency. With God, it is always enough." Moses had excuse after excuse as to why he shouldn't have to return to Egypt to lead the people out of slavery, and with every word he spoke against the call, God offered an answer as to why he should and could. Even the prophet Jeremiah complained that he was too young to be God's messenger (Jeremiah 1:4-10), and his great Jehovah told him that he didn't have to have all the words to speak - that God's words would rest upon his tongue. No excuse that we could ever come up with will stop the Lord's work from being completed. Remember the hymn "He Who Began a Good Work in You"?

4) The fourth thought is this: "God is up to something in and through us!" And Bishop Webb offered several examples of God's working in ordinary people.

Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers, and one problem after another fell on his, until finally, he was falsely accused of rape by his master's wife, and was thrown into prison. Pharaoh would have a dream that only God would interpret through Joseph, and Joseph would be elevated to the second highest position in the entire land. And in this position, he would be instrumental in providing stores to sustain, not only the nation through 7 years of famine, but also his family. God did a mighty work in Joseph. (Genesis 39-46)

Job would experience tremendous adversity to the point that he lost everything except his wife and 4 friends, and even they could offer him no encouragement. Even though he would suffer greatly, he remained faithful, and would become a symbol of patient faith.

Saul was a devote Pharisee, and persecuted the followers of Jesus throughout Jerusalem and Judah. He decided that there were far too many believers beyond the nation, so he set off for Damascus to find even more of "those people". On the way, he meets the Living Lord Jesus (Acts 9:1-19), and he becomes the apostle and evangelist Paul, who would carry the Good News of Jesus throughout the Gentile world.

The Widow of Zarephath was on her last legs (1 Kings 17:7-24) - there had been a tremendous famine throughout the land, and she had one last measure of flour and oil to make one more loaf of bread for her and her son, and after that was gone, she fully expected to die. But the prophet Elijah came along, and we know the story - he asked for some water and bread, she gave her last meal to him, but the flour and oil continued to be replenished throughout the famine, and Elijah would even heal her son when he became deathly ill. The woman, but trust in the word of God, would be sustained in miraculous ways.

Shadrack, Meshach, Abednego were Hebrew captives in Babylon. A gold image of the King was created, and all were commanded to worship the image, upon penalty of death in a fiery furnace. The three refused, in saying We will serve only our God for he can save us, and even if he doesn't, he is still our God." They were thrown into the furnace, but not a hair was singed, nor was there even the smell of smoke on their clothing. How powerful is our God? Just read about what came from he faith that these three lived. (Daniel 3)


The last thought that our Bishop lifted up was that we must "Celebrate the Amazing that God is up to, as well as the Unimaginable that God is up to". We can't even begin to consider the greatness that God is up to in our lives, if we but surrender ourselves, and claim his way. But we certainly can rejoice and be blessed by it!

The missionaries are following the Lord's call on their lives, and our call is to support them. If your church has a missions program to support them, please consider a donation. If your church doesn't, here is an opportunity to support a missionary family - Chris and Tracy Pousseur. Pray about it.