"And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
- Matthew 28:18-20
I had the great privilege of hearing from a man I may be studying under at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the Fall. His name is Dr. Alvin Reid. As I listened to him talk about being relevant to our generation I was amazed at how easily he related stuff and how easy it was to understand. This is one of the stories he told:
"Think about when you go on a mission trip. You pack your bags, you get all of your stuff ready to go and you're excited to share Jesus with people. You realize that you only have about a week or maybe a few weeks at the most to reach as many people as you can for the Gospel before the mission trip is over. Well, as Christians, imagine how great it would be if we could live with that sense of excitement and urgency every day of our lives. That we realize that we should reach out to as many people as we possibly can for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every day is a mission trip."
When he told that story I just sat there in utter amazement as my heart sped up when I was reminded of how excited I was to go overseas to do missions. It is very true that we so often get excited about the week long or even month long trips that we go on to share with people, but that we do not have that same sense of excitement and urgency to reach out to the very people that are only an arms length away.
I have been reading many different stories of early church fathers and missionaries who gave up their very lives for the cause of Christ. One story in particular that I am reminded of involves the missionary literally having his fingernails pulled out in the enemies effort to get him to recant of his faith. But, the missionary never once denied Christ and was ultimately killed because of his faith. How cowardly are we? To live in a nation as free as the United States (although a day is coming when that may not be so) and to not be able to share the Gospel with a single soul. I pray for a huge shift in our hearts towards the evangelism of America and this world. I pray for the persecuted church as well as the church in America because we are all facing our own heartaches and trials. God will bless us if we do the work, even if it ultimately results in death.
Friends, I leave you with this last statement said by the father of the modern missionary movement, William Carey: "Expect great things (from God), attempt great things (for God)."
Let us be ever so diligent in trusting the Father's love and doing the work that He has called us to do, knowing that He always provides.
Preaching Christ Crucified,
Timothy R. Stokes
