Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Devotional 271009

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Praise God for a bright sunny day! Life is full of challenges and excitement simply because our Lord is working in our lives each day. His plan is to shape and mold us to be the kind of disciples that will impact the world. His plan is to use us to become His means to offer abundant lives to all people. This abundant life is a mission driven life; a life that is filled with joy and excitements. It is a life that sees no end in fulfillment and growth. It is a life that walks with Creator God each day until forever.

"Therefore go, and teach (make disciple of) all nations" (Matthew 28:19). Jesus Christ did not say - Go and save souls (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but - "Go and teach" that is to “disciple all nations," and you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples came back from their first mission they were filled with joy because the devils were subject to them, and Jesus said - Don't rejoice in successful service; the great secret of joy is that you are rightly related to Me. The great essential of the missionary is that he remains true to the call of God, and realizes that his one purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. There is a passion for souls that does not spring from God, but from the desire to make converts to our point of view.

The challenge to the missionary does not come on the line that people are difficult to get saved, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, that people are indifference to the gospel; but along the line of his own personal relationship to Jesus Christ. "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Our Lord puts that question steadily; it faces us in every individual case we meet. The one great challenge is - Do I know my Risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God's sight, and foolish enough according to the world, to bank on what Jesus Christ has said, or am I abandoning the great supernatural position, which is the only call for his disciples, who have boundless confidence in Christ Jesus? If I take up any other method I depart altogether from the methods laid down by Our Lord - "All power is given unto Me . . , therefore go and make disciples of all nations."

Our mission is to teach the world about Christ, and our means is to imitate the life of Christ. The world wants to see how we walk our faith instead of just to talk about our faith. There are different philosophies and religions for people to build their faith upon. People are not interested to build their faith upon a “theory” or a “claim.” People want to build relationship with a God who is genuinely caring and omnipresence; a God of “Emmanuel.” I discovered lately that churches in China like to put the word “Emmanuel” at the center of their sanctuary. They want to remind themselves that the God upon whom they trust is a god of Emmanuel – omnipresence. After going through (or while they are still going through) many trials, hardship, persecutions and sufferings, they came to realize one thing – their God is truly Emmanuel; Our Lord Jesus did not remove His church from hardship or persecutions throughout centuries. Nevertheless, He, the Holy Spirit, did not forsake them but live and work among them. That little “Emmanuel” banner is their testimony and life message. God empowered the church in China to grow left and right throughout the last 60 years under Communist regime. They practiced their faith and obey the Lord’s command to make disciples among their own kinsmen. Now, the church of China will obey the Lord’s command to make disciples of ALL nations.

As I said in my sermon at the Bi-vocational conference, China is considered to be an awakening Giant or Super-power in this 21st Century. And Chinese Church (both in China and Diaspora) will also play a significant role in global mission; Missiologists believe that Chinese Church will produce 50,000 missionaries in the next twenty years (currently, we only have about 1000 Chinese missionaries globally). But before this projection becomes a reality, a great revival must first take place. Let’s pray that this revival will begin in you and me.

Love you for His glory,
Lawrence

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