October 13

Exodus 19:3-7

3 Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.

Mission Impossible—Moses was sent to form a people, the nation of Israel. The task must have seemed intimidating to take thousands of grumbling slaves still in the middle of a desert and try to unite them into a people. Yet, the task was greater still as they were meant to be a holy nation to channel God’s blessings to the nations in fulfilment to his covenant to Abram (Gen. 12:1-3). God’s choosing of Israel was not turning his back on the other nations; indeed, it was the very expression of his heart for the nations. In his love, he chose one nation to embody him before the entire world so that the blind and lost nations would tangibly see God in the way his people lived. This was Moses’ task, to be instrumental in the formation of a nation that would be holy as the Lord is holy (Lev. 11:44). Daunting! Impossible!

But God… But God brought them to himself. God through the law revealed all that he desired. The fear of the Lord spread so that even Rahab and Jericho trembled and had the chance to know the Living God (Jos. 2:8-11; Jos. 4:23-24).God’s power, love, grace, and holiness were visibly displayed before all the nations in his election of Israel. It was integral to his mission. He chose one nation to be his servant, which ultimately foreshadowed his true Servant, Jesus Christ, who truly embodied God himself to bring salvation to the entire world.

Today, we too are chosen, a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation for the Lord (1 Pet. 2:9). Missionaries are to be like a spark in a dark culture, lighting other nationals so that a holy “nation” or community is formed in the midst of that darkness to be priests to that culture and show God. Each church is God’s chosen and God-formed instrument to visibly demonstrate his love in a tangible form, and to show his character by the way they live so that all nations—all nations!—will be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3). This is how great God’s love is for the entire world! That he would call, choose, equip, send, make holy so that all would see!

Your Mission

·         Pray for the missionaries’ work in church planting, church formation, and discipling that the leaders and members of these churches and small groups will be holy, a visible and tangible demonstration of God. Pray that all who meet the missionaries see God in them through their set-apart holy yet contextualized living.

·         How do your time priorities, money spending, manner of relating demonstrate God’s holiness? How do you live out your priesthood each moment?

Mission Impossible Made Possible—Field Notes

JIM & RUTH SNYDER

An impossible connection –A year ago, I was introduced to the pastor of a church where one of the 40+ Tabitha Centers was installed. It was in a very poor, depressed section of Kinshasa, where people do what they must to survive. While visiting the women at that Center, the pastor proudly shared with me materials that he had developed in order to respond to a prolific need in their community and in his church. The pastor realized that few could read their Bibles. Thus began a long process of developing a scripturally-based literacy program for people in his community. However, as he presented these materials to me, I was duly impressed, but saw no need for or application of these materials.

Last fall, I met with our GlobalFingerprints Coordinator for Congo and Pastor Selenga and his wife to plan through the startup and development of GlobalFingerprints Tabitha. It soon became clear that a fairly large percentage of women entering into the Tabitha Ministry could not read or write – making their learning a skill very difficult. Quickly our discussions moved toward providing sponsorship opportunities for young women (15-25 years old) who are illiterate, but would like to join the Tabitha Ministry. And then, this random meeting with Pastor Andre the year before all made sense. He is now teaching his materials to the first 30 women in the GlobalFingerprints Tabitha program in Kinshasa. His methodology of using scripturally-based material to teach reading and writing in both Lingala and French will one day impact thousands of young women. Shortly, we will be printing his materials into a workbook form so that can be used by each young woman that chooses to break her cycle of dependency through a relationship with Christ.