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“Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
For the world to hear the good news of the Gospel, someone must be where the people are, or go to where they are. Think about it. God has strategically placed every believer exactly where He wants them to live, work and play. No Christian lives where they live, works where they work, or plays where they play coincidentally. God purposefully placed you where you are for His purpose, so that His Gospel would be known. In other words, He sent you. God says we have both an opportunity and a responsibility to get the Gospel to every area of the globe. How are we to be proclaimers, after all, unless we are sent? And we are being sent because God purposed to do so. Be honest with God: are you willing to be sent wherever He wants you? Tell him why or why not, and then submit yourself to Him. Where has God sent you?
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“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere...” Acts 1:8
The word "preaching" can also be translated "proclaiming." The world doesn't need the professional clergyman to preach the Gospel in order to hear it --it needs a witness! A witness is anyone who has the message. In Christianity, a witness is one who has been saved by the Gospel, and is able to dispense it readily, boldly and openly to those in need of it. We must never forget that hearing the Gospel is dependent on someone speaking it. Jesus proclaimed, "And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Ask God to send you wherever He wants you to go and submit to that today. What hinders you from sharing your story of salvation with others? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” Romans 10,14-15
Paul continues his rhetorical questioning by asking what the possibility of belief is if a person has never heard the truth. Think about it: ignorance does not mean a lack of intelligence it's just a lack of awareness or knowledge on a subject. Have you ever met someone who has never heard the name Jesus? A person cannot believe in someone or something that they do not realize exists. There are more than 1.5 billion humans currently alive who have never heard the name of Jesus. They cannot believe if they've never heard. Pray right now for the role you will play in getting this knowledge to them. What must be true if a person is to believe in Jesus for salvation? “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved… For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? Romans 10:9-10,14
Jesus death on the cross was and is sufficient payment for the penalty every human has incurred because of sin. The apostle Paul's question in this verse, however, is logical. He asks, "What is the possibility that someone would ask another being for help if they didn't believe that that being could actually help them?" To call on someone, one must believe in that person, and to "believe" in that person, one has to trust them. As Paul asks, how can they call if they haven't believed? Ask God to give you more understanding in this truth today as you meditate on this verse. What must first be true in order to call upon Jesus for salvation? “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12
A principle of healthy church life is that without community, we cannot faithfully follow Jesus. How do we know that? Well, what Paul describes in our text today cannot happen apart from biblical community. Think about it. Are you and I able to display humility and gentleness in an attitude of patience apart from community? Can we show tolerance toward one another apart from doing life with others? No. Those things demand community. But through experiencing community with other believers, not only are we challenged to more faithfully follow Jesus, His mission is accomplished through our lives together. This begs the question for us to consider: Am I in biblical community consistently? What may be keeping you from experiencing biblical community? |
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June 2018
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