Final Words

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NIV

If you were leaving your spouse and children, your dearest friends on a long trip, and you would not see them again for a long time, what would be your parting words? You would probably tell them that you loved them. But then, you might give them some marching orders; Something like: “Watch out for and be good to your mother,” “make the kids obey,” and “Be good,” or “Do good work.” In the 15^th chapter of John, Jesus tells his followers that He loves them, but the last two scriptures were Jesus’ marching orders to his friends, his brothers, his followers.

The Story of Ying Kai

In 2001 Ying Kai had been assigned as a missionary to an unreached people group of 20 million people in a country in the Far East. For the five years prior to this new assignment, he had been effective in planting one new church per year, and personally discipling about 60 people per year. He was receiving accolades for his effectiveness as a missionary.

But as he considered the overwhelming responsibility of trying to have an impact on 20 million people, he realized that if he kept doing what he had been doing he would never make a dent in reaching these unreached people. As he turned to the Lord in prayer and meditated on the Great Commission, the Lord’s instructions for pursuing his new assignment were there. The Great Commission instructs that we are to go, not just invite them to come to us; that everyone is to be engaged in attempting to reach everyone, everywhere; and we are to make disciples, not just church members or converts.

With these new marching orders, Ying Kai began by teaching a group of 30 Christians how to make disciples who would know how to make disciples. (2 Tim 2:2) During the next 10 years, he was used of God to begin a movement that planted more than 158,000 churches and baptized 1.7 million people.

They love us anyway!

God knows us better than we know ourselves. After all, He made us, the good parts anyway. Yet, He knows about all the bad stuff and still loves us enough to send His Son, Jesus to take away our sin.

Similarly, on earth, our wives know us better than anyone else. They know the good parts and they know the warts and wrinkles too. Yet, they still love us. Shouldn’t we return the favor?

“ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. Eph 5:25-28”

“You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker (a more sensitive instrument), since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. 1 Peter 3:7”

Happy Valentine’s Day guys. Don’t forget your best girl!

HE MADE US

You are no accident, or evolutionary product. God loves you, planned you, made you, thinks about you, prepared works for you to do, and has a future and hope for you. Don’t let the world tell you different!

One of the first people in the bible who followed after God was Enoch. Genesis 5:21-22a” says, “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. THEN Enoch walked with God…

I’ve recently just seen my first grandbaby, and in that little 8 lb 9 oz bundle is a complete person. She has tiny toes and fingernails, dark inquiring blue eyes and cute tiny ears. It’s a miracle, and like Enoch, many a man has been pointed towards God when they witness the miracle of a new baby.

Yet the world, secular science and evolution tries to deny God’s involvement in the miracle. Here’s what the God says in His word:

Psalm 100:3 says, “Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”

Psalm 139:13-17 says, “For You formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

You are no accident, or evolutionary product. God loves you, planned you, made you, thinks about you, prepared works for you to do, and has a future and hope for you. Don’t let the world tell you different!