Big Mandate on a Little Church

Our church isn't the biggest church on the block yet God has given us a 'big mandate.' It's to fulfill the Great Commission of preaching the Gospel everywhere. God's main priority has always been saving souls. Jesus Himself said He came to seek and to save that which was lost. The purpose of His mission cost Him His life yet He was faithful to it. When a congregation makes God's priority their priority He will bless that church and the individuals of that church. Our church is about to have it's annual missions convention this November. How exciting it is to hear the stories of what Jesus is doing on the front lines in other parts of the world. We believe that as we invest in missions we do so in direct obedience to fulfill our purpose as a church. Missions is one of the church's activities that everyone should respond to no matter what their age is. We have a stern warning in the Book of Luke when Jesus told the crowd to beware of covetousness because a person's life does not consist of the things he owns. After He spoke the parable of the rich man who pulled down his barns to store up all his crops he died that night. Jesus call him a fool because he laid up his treasure for himself but wasn't rich toward God. How many of us fail to understand life's true objective. Advance the Kingdom of God. So here we go. Another advantage given to us by God to fulfill the Great Commission. Supporting missionaries as they go to places that we will never go except in our prayers. Let's do our best for our King and His Kingdom.

God's Schooling

I went to see friend of mine who is in a retirement center but still active in his walk with the Lord. He was sharing with me about the influence his Bible school teacher had on his life fifty years ago. The teacher would start out his class with some statement that we would probably call a golden nugget. Something that will change the way we think. Before one class the teacher said this, "I know you are all here to learn homiletic and hermeneutics but I want you to enroll in the school of the knowledge of God. I want you to get the know the God of the Bible." That night my friend went home and said, "Wow, I just don't want to know the Bible but I want to know the Author of it." He knelt and prayed that God would enroll his life in the school of the knowledge of God and his life was transformed. God sent my friend to over fifty countries to peach the Good News about Christ, pastor and plant churches, be a missionary himself, and sit on several presbytery boards of our fellowship. He also saw countless thousands respond to the gospel and many filled with the Holy Spirit throughout his years. I recently read about our world being filled with insecurity and uncertainty so we must all learn to walk by faith. Regardless of how old we are or how long we have walked with the Lord. Living by faith means obeying the Scriptures in spite of our feelings, circumstances, or consequences. It means holding on to God's truth no matter how heavy the burden may seem or how dark the outlook may be. It's trusting God through thick and thin. The only way we could possibly do this is by enrolling ourselves in the school of the knowledge of God. Knowing God and trusting Him through it all. Even though I have walked with God for forty years now, I went home that evening and asked God to enroll me in the school of the knowledge of God. I want to keep my spirit teachable at all times and keep learning about the One I love so much. So here I am again in school with the Bible as my textbook and the Holy Spirit as my teacher. I wonder what the Lord is going to teach me through the next forty years. This is exciting!