STEP to MISSION week end ,21-23 October 2005,OMF -Singapore
Keeping a Journal
One of the most helpful ways to think over of reflect on what GOD saying is to keep a journal.
A Journal more than a diary, for its purpose is to record not merely events,but what is happening inside you.It is more than a record of your personal bible study, for its focus is on thoughts and feelings, to help you understand yourself and to recognize the voice and activity of GOD in your life.
Journal keeping serves as a wonderful tool what for withdrawing and communing with the Father.When I write, it is as if I am in direct conversation with Him.and there is that sense that in the words that you are led to write , God's Spirit is mysteriously active, and communion at the deepest level in happening.
Gordon Mac Donald on Journaling,Ordering Your Private world
TIP OF JOURNALING
- Let it flow
- Tell it like it is
- Use " I " language
- Record your feeling
- Be patient
- Do it regularly
- Search for meaning in what you have written
- Review and act on what do you discover
Surveying your Spiritual Journey
" Without the knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God. Without the knowledge of God, there is no knowledge of self" . John Calvin ( 1509-1564) ,Institute of Christian Religion
Test your call
Introduction "The Call" Suffer is Cost. To believe Jesus Cost Nothing.To follow Jesus cost every thing.
- Call is genuine
- Keep your eyes on Jesus
- Investing to take time
- Different way with business
- Insurance
- Minimized the risk
- Result for HIM.
1.Think about your call to salvation and your call to ministry.
Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest; heaven so real that we must have men there;Christ so real that our supreme motive& aim shall be make the Man of Sorrows ,the Man of Joy by conversion of many" J.Hudson Taylor
1.1 Read John 20:21,1 Pet 2:9-10, 1 Cor 5:17-20
What is the link between you becoming a child of GOd and you becoming an ambassador of Christ to the nations?
" If Jesus Christ be GOD and died for me, then no sacrifice can bee too great for me to make for Him". CT.Studd.
1.2. Do a quick audit of your life now; are you ready living as a faithfull ambassador of Christ? What should you do to be a more faithful and effective servant of GOD where you are?
2.Think about the missionary call
2.1 Read the following quotations about the missionary call to understand the various perpectives on the subject.
I believe that in each generation God has Called enough men & women to evangelize all the unreached tribe on the earth..Every where I go, I constantly meet men and women who say to me, " When I was young I wanted a missionary,but I got married in stead" or , "My Parents dissuaded me" or some such thing. NO, It is not GOD who does not call,It is man who will not respond.
Isobel Kuhn,Nests Above Abyss,OMF.
Being a missionary begins with being called.You do not choose to be a missionary, you're called to be one.The only choice is whether to obey."
"This distinction between Gods general call & His "specific call" os very similar to the distinction between God's general will " as revealed in Scripture & His "specific will for the individual.God's general will ( call) is that I be a witness.His specific will ( call) is that I be a witness in Nepal, or Chicago, or whatever." Thomas Hale,On being a Missionary,William Carey Library
" If we have a choice & unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary, the Christian worker should choose the place of greatest need!. Failure to give consideration to this factor has caused the incredible inequity in the distribution of workers. Gordon Olson," What in the world is God doing?" The Essensial of Global Mission.
2.2 Write down your current understand & conviction of the missionary call.
2.3 Consider the calling of aspostle Paul( Acts 9:1-30 esp v15) what strikes you about his Calling?
3. Think about your calling to missions
3.1 Knowing God's guidance is the examinatuion of our relationship with God.He has said in John 14:15" If you love me,You will obey what I command.
List the instances of specific guidance that GOd has given you in the past 12 months.How have you obeyed GOd in these areas?
3.2 Sensing the call.
Do you have a growing burden for the salvation of a people group and /or country? Eloborate.
Do you find a convergence of affirmation of this calling as you study The Bilbe? As you seek the advice of mature Christians? As you see events unfold? As your loved one respond to your sharing? Elaborate/
Read & Mediate on Psalm 32:8 & Isa:19-22.Write Down your reflections on these passage.
3.3 Ensure your calling is not based on myths.
There are 7 myths about the call disussed today.
4.12 thing to be sure about if you want to be a missionary.
1. Be sure you are sent by the owner of the harvest-the Lord Jesus Christ-to work in His fields. You will go because His harvest is bountifull and his workers are scarce.You will go because others have prayed for you to be sent by Him.
2. Be sure you have Jesus' authority to do His work.You must be in step with the Lord's program. policies and practices.This much more important than having some organization's authority to do its work.
3. Be sure Jesus knows you by name, and that He knows all about you. You are his companion and friend. He wants to live in you & bear fruit in ,within & through you .You are his plan and program to bring in His harvest.
4. Be sure you know Jesus commision & the message He wants to proclaim. You will find this only in closest communication with Him in His word and inprayer.You calling is to listen before you work, and to meditate before you lift a hand.
5. Be sure you know the full scope of working in the harvest, because the fields are full of helpless, harassed, hurting poeple for whim fe others-especially those in pwer-have any compasion at all.Their needs are total spritual & physical. They must be touched as well as taught, brought to spritual life in GOd's Kingdom as well as to physicalwholeness & health here and now.
6. Be sure you know that working for Jesus in snot working for hire.You did not earn your way onto His workforce & therefore you must not expect wages from Him
7. Be sure you trust Jesus to give you all you need to survive in the fields. Don't load yourself up with a lot of stuff you think you will need.
8.Be sure you learn from Jesus How to size up the harvest.Pray to enter the lives of those who will welcome you. Don't suprised, how ever ,because some parts of the field no ripe. In fact, some people will reject the workers who bring peace.
9. Be sure you know you will be working like sheep among wolves.You will work in weakness, not power. Ask Jesus to teach you how to urvive & be proficient haverster, despite the risks of being caught off guard, or trusting you own cleverness.
10 . Be sure you are prepared for persecution at the hands of religious & political leaders. This will be for the sake of Jesus, so you can testify to HIM. This a tough way to harvest, but it is the Lord's way. The Holy Spirit will speak through you. so don't worry abiut this advance.
11. Be sure you are prepared for frightfull consequences of your harvesting.Not everyone will be happy.Families will be split by betrayals and even death. You will be hated for your allegiance to Jesus but don't quit,Because He will save you. If persecution in one way or anather gets really bad, go to another place.
12. Be sure you don't put your self above Jesus.Expect to share in His lot in every way. He didn't come for appreciation, respect and power. He came to seek & to save the lost, and for that He was called the devil. He said his workes can expect much worse.
These are not my intructuons. They come form Jesus Himselfr ( Mathew 0:35-10:25)
4.1 What is your first reaction to these " BE SURE" instructions?
4.2 Which of the above" BE SURE" is most challenging to you? Why?
EVALUATE THE OBSTACLES & OBJECTIONS
1.Keeping you focus. useful reading: The Purpose Driven Life,Rick warren.
2. Making Christ-centred decisions on people centred /Self-centred issues.
Usefull readings:
Treasures in Heaven, Mat 6:19-24
Do not worry , Mat 6:25-34, Luke 12:22-34
Cost of following Jesus, Mat 7:18-22, Luke 9: 57-62
Not peace but division, Luke 12: 49-53
Cost of discipleship Luke 14:25-35
Signs of the end of the age, Mark 13:1-31, Luke 21:5-38
The vine and the branches, Luke 15:1-17
3. Sacrificing your " Isaac", usefull reading : Genesis 22:1-19.
4. Is service to the Lord a privilege or Sacrifice?
5. Listening to the others. useful reading: Listening to others ,Joyce hurggett.
What if I get it wrong?
- Culture shock
- List of obstacles
- no wife/husband
- no financial support
- no dare to fail
Trust in th Lord with all you heart . Foundation principle: GOD LOVE me, so I can trust HIM.
If you don't believe .You are important in GOD.You must BELIEVE, we are important in GOD hand.
Un God's script. You and I are the STARS.God doesn't hide from us and he doesn't let us down.He wants us to know and do HIS will.
Beside each obstacle, Write the fear you need to trust in GO with. " I trust GOd so Iam not afraid that..!
Lean not on your own understanding
Foundation principle 2 : He Knows best.
- A lot of our struggle is actually pride at work
- We need to acknowledge that HE KNOWS BEST, and that HE is LORD.
- We also neeed to remember that God speaks through the community of His people.
- Consider What God might be saying to you about this obstacle. List your thoughts . Some people you could consult futher with.
- The Authority Test
- In all you ways acknowledge Him.
Foundation principle 3 :
It's NOT what you know but WHO you know.
- The central issue is a relational issue GOD & You
- GOD doesn't show us the right path if we aren't going tp walk it with him.No path is right under those terms.
- The mission test experience.
For each obtastacle , describe how GOd might be groryfied on your relationship.
And He will make paths straight. Straight does not mean easy.
- As we get tp know GOD, We grow in confidence that He will make the path straight.
- When hard times come, We go bact to
- God love me.He knows best, what is He teaching me about himself and myself?
- Our theology of guidance must include Theology of Suffering
- For each obtacles ,describe a Straight path which God may have a need for you. Be honest & Creative.
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