Living on Mission

I am writing this not just to challenge you to get involved in missions by going on a trip but to live your life on mission for Christ right where you are, in your neighborhood, as well as on foreign soil. I spent a good portion of the day in meetings with a guy we will be partnering with in missions work in the Pacific Northwest here at FBC Seminole. As the needs were laid out it was a little overwhelming. There are far more needs than this one church can meet.

Then a vision formed in my heart. What if a church really lived on mission? I mean a church really lived to plant churches, to advance God’s kingdom, and take the gospel to the ends of the nation and the world. That would mean a membership being on board with living on mission. Part of that would mean taking seriously our responsibility to train future pastors, church planters, and leaders. That might mean parents getting a different vision for their children and sending them to colleges outside the Bible Belt to help live on mission while they are getting their education. It might call for people to retire early so they live out the remainder of their days on mission for God and serving Him full time in their twilight years. It will mean people giving continually and sacrificially to send others on trips when they cannot go themselves. It might even mean several families hearing and responding to God’s call to uproot from life in Texas to follow God to places like Saskatchewan, Spokane, Honduras, Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Living on mission for God is getting in the game, joining the front lines of the spiritual battle for souls and making impact for the kingdom and glory of God. I am excited about this challenge personally. It will mean once again packing a suitcase getting airfare secured and traveling north. It will mean prayerfully trusting Christ to let my life count as well as the life of this church.

If a nation and a world of Christian really lived on mission for God the implications would be beyond imagination. I can’t call anyone to this lifestyle. Only God can do that. Only the Lord can put this spiritual DNA in the core of our hearts and churches. It means dying to self, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. [Matt 16:24] It means counting our lives as nothing as we seek to finish the mission and ministry Jesus entrusted to us. [Acts 20:24]

The real question surfaces how committed we are as believers and as local churches to living on mission for God. I know we often give lip service to this but what about in actual living. Do I trust the Lord with my children if He calls them to go to college in a place outside my comfort zone as a parent? Do I trust the Lord enough with His church to willing support and encourage families listening to His call on their lives and sending them out to serve Christ around the world? Do I trust the Lord enough to give generously to help send others even if it means my doing without?

So let me leave this with four specific requests. Most of you reading this are a part of FBC Seminole. I am asking you to prayerfully begin asking the Lord what He would have you give over and above your regular church offerings toward His work in Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Many have signed up to go on the initial trip coming up at the end of April. I am asking you to ask the Lord what He wants you to give and to give that offering by or before April 25^th in the morning service. You have time to make plans to be able to give generously and sacrificially toward His work and sending people on mission. So begin asking the Lord to show you what to give and to make that commitment to give on or before April 25^th.

Second, I am challenging you to listen to the Lord intently about whether He might be calling you to go on a short- term mission trip or whether He might be calling you to go somewhere permanently. Whom is the Lord calling out who might be reading this? [Is 6:8] You could be the one God is calling to get up and go for Him or He might be calling your family. Will you lay your life, your family, and your future on the altar to live on mission for Him? [Ro 12:1]

Third, you can pray fervently for God to call His church to live on mission for Him. You can pray for God to advance the gospel where you live as well as around the world. We need fervent intercessors to call out to God for a fresh outpouring and for people to have the courage to live on mission for Him.

Last, we need to be willing to give up our children and grandchildren for the Lord. They are His. May we adopt the mentality of Paul as we live submitted to Christ. [Phil 1:21]

If we do these things we will be living on mission for God. There is not a greater purpose nor any greater life to live. O Lord, please help us to live on mission for you. Please help us to live for your purpose, your glory, and to advance your kingdom no matter the personal cost or difficulty of obstacles. Live out the remainder of your day on mission.