Tuesday, March 01, 2011

the call to missions

The first night Peter took us to 3 common passages that are used to encourage missions. In his words we often feel guilted or maybe shamed into missions. We see the negative a lot of times in these following passages. We see the pressure but lose sigh tof the relationship/the heart of it all.

Matthew 28:19,20 so here is one of the famous missions send out. so here yes Jesus is sending out the disciples but let's not forget that at this point they had all been together for 3 years. Jesus wasn't just saying hey you guys go and I'm leaving but rather go and share with others what we have experienced together in relationship over time and I will be with you until the end. The message of the gospel is so much more than truth announced it's about a relationship with Christ like the disciples experienced.

Psalm 67 sometimes this can be seen negatively... so there are lost people not adoring/glorifying God so we gotta go tell people about Jesus so they glorify him(imagine this said in a forceful way). It's true people aren't glorifying Him but in this psalm we see relationships at the beginning and the end. In the middle there is joy. The Lord is transforming and blessing people so that in turn they take Christ to the nations so that they may glorify him and know this experience with Him.

Genesis 12 sometimes we're taught that oh you've been blessed so you are required to be a blessing to others or you feel guilted because you've been blessed. Yes we are oh so rich in that we have first and foremost the Gospel message in our lives. But we also have a roof, a house, a shirt which compared to the rest of the world makes us technically rich. We should glorify the Lord that we have these blessing and in turn use this privilege we've been given to share Him with others, we should let the blessings flow out to the nations.

In all this where is God's heart, what is it for, what are his feelings/thoughts for the nations? His heart beats for the nations. Ask yourself how does God's heart beat for (insert the people of your city)?? So I ask myself today How does God's heart beat for Italy, for Florence? Then I ask him and long that as His heart beats for Italy and Florence mine would beat the same for this nation and this city. I wan't his heartbeat for Italy/Florence to be my heartbeat.

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