**** Contact Gillian if you want a final PDF.
3 John 5-8
3 John 5-8
5 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all
your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6 who testified to your
love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a
manner worthy of God. 7 For they have gone out for the sake of the name,
accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support people
like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
Matthew 10:5, 7, 8
5 These twelve Jesus sent out… 7 and proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
8 …Freely you have received, freely give.
Mission Impossible—our missionaries face a
tough task. It is difficult to describe the loneliness, the culture shock, the
weariness of speaking and living in another tongue, how ministry often expands
to 24/7 lifestyle, how one is always aware their moves are being watched by
those they are witnessing to, the spiritual oppression and spiritual attacks,
the government and bribes and paperwork, the church problems, the toll on the
family, the need to guard against over and under contextualization, the
different climate and food and water, etc. Yet, more than that, they know their
ultimate goal is impossible for man as our key verse states (Mat. 19:25-26).
Opening eyes to the light of the gospel and changing hearts of stone to flesh,
raising the dead to life, is impossible. Only God.
And we are called to participate in this
impossible task. We are called to financially support (3 Jn. 5-8; Rom. 15:24; 1 Cor. 16:6, 11; 1 Cor. 9:3-11; 2 Cor. 1:16; Tit.
3:13-14). We are called to encourage and prayerfully
support (Col. 4:3; Eph. 6:19-20; Phil. 1:19; 2 Cor. 1:11; 3 Jn. 5-8). If
we recognize Christ as our Lord, how can we not obey his authority and
participate in his mission to spread his name and his glory, teaching and
baptizing all nations? He is Lord, and Lord of all the earth!
May we see God’s generosity towards us, and
echo his heart in sacrifice of time in prayer, in generosity as Christ is
formed in us. Freely we have received all from him, may we freely give for his
name’s sake among the nations!
May we see his heart for his name and the
nations so clearly that his heart is our drum beat, propelling us out with his
same love. For God so loved the world that he sent his Son, and as the Father
sent his Son, so his Son sends us (Jn. 20:21). May we see so clearly the beauty and love of
Christ, the worthiness of the Lord, and the power of the Spirit that we go on
this mission impossible to our own neighbors and support our front-line
international workers, in confidence, in a passion that all the earth ascribe
to the Lord the glory due his name! (Ps. 29:2; Ps. 96).
Your Mission
·
Pray for
our missionaries to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfector of
their faith and of those they are trying to reach, that they may run with
perseverance (Heb. 12:1-3).
·
What is
one specific way God is calling you to participate in his global mission right
now?
Mission Impossible
Made Possible—Field Notes
As he serves the
persecuted church in the Middle East, a front-line worker is watching the
gospel spread and change lives in a predominantly Muslim region.
In his own village,
and among the Syrian and Iraqi refugees his church has visited, people are
coming to Christ as persecuted believers live out their faith.
“We have new people in
our home groups and it’s an opportunity for them to hear the good news,” the
front-line worker said. “We have focused in our weekly service on subordination
to the Lord Jesus and bearing persecution that could happen to the church.
“For some reason,
there is a significant number of Muslims coming to church, especially those
women who wear the hijab. We also will go to the streets on daily basis during
the breakfast time in the month of Ramadan and will share the love of Christ
with Muslim people directly.”
