More Than What You Know

Tom Johnson was a relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins from 1974 to ‘78. A brilliant year in 1977 (16-7 with 15 saves) ran up against a torn rotator cuff in the shoulder of his throwing arm. Attempts to repair it and return failed. That was bad news for his baseball career, but ended up being good news for the kids of Bratislava, Slovakia.

Tom went on the earn a masters degree from a Christian university and serve as a pastor for 17 years until he got a vision for how his baseball skill and his spiritual gifts could combine to form a unique ministry in a former communist country in the throes of transition. He will now be conducting baseball camps in Slovakia nine months out of the year.

He was compelled by the words of a high school teacher there: “The parents who grew up in communism are just trying to navigate this new democratic life. They tell their kids that life is not about what you own, and the kids say, ‘How would you know?’ The parents have no answer… We need people who grew up in an environment like the West to tell the kids that life is more than what you own.”

Something tells me we could use the same message here. Life is more than what you own; it’s about finding your real purpose in life in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Maybe Tom can save those kids a few steps over there. “Look, we have all this stuff, and it’s not what you think!”

So there goes Tom Johnson, former pastor and Minnesota Twin turned Slovakian baseball coach. You never know what kind of unique opportunity can come out of the combination of skills and talents you have. For Tom it will be helping provide after-school activities for children who might otherwise wind up in gangs or on drugs. “I figure there are 50,000 people qualified to do what I’m doing at my church, and maybe a half-dozen capable and willing to do what I’m going to try to do there [in Slovakia],” he said.

“I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal, but that’s something I believe in very deeply. I can step into something unconventional, or play it safe. My faith compels me to step into something unconventional.”

It sounds unconventional, but for Tom, it’s just God putting everything together and getting the most out of it — more than what he owns, that’s for sure.

The Key to the Missionary’s Work

“Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…’”  (Matthew 28:18-19)

The key to the missionary’s work is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the lost.  We are inclined to look at our Lord as one who assists us in our endeavors for God. Yet our Lord places Himself as the absolute sovereign and supreme Lord over His disciples. He does not say that the lost will never be saved if we don’t go – He simply says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” He says, “Go on the basis of the revealed truth of My sovereignty, teaching and preaching out of your living experience of Me.”

“Then the eleven disciples went…to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them” (Matt.28:16). If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him myself. I must take time to worship the One whose name I bear. True worship will deepen our relationship with Him, so that we may know every awesome attribute of our Lord, and share what we have experienced with the nations.

To “Go” simply means to live. Acts 1:8 is the description of how to go. Jesus did not say to Go into Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, but rather that we are to be “witnesses unto Me in [all these places].” He takes upon himself the work of sending us.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you…” (John 15:7) – that is the way to keep going. Where we are placed is then a matter of indifference to us, because God sovereignly directs our goings.

Take some time to appreciate the direction of God I your life. He has brought you to this exact moment in your time on earth for His purpose. Open your eyes and your heart to worship Him today with your life, so that you may understand the plan that He has for you today!

Get Up and Get Out

Your mission today (should you choose to accept it) is to get yourself up out of bed and throw yourself out into the world. That’s right: Get up and get out.

My, how daring we are! Well, yes, when you consider how dangerous a place the world is, and how inadequate we feel when we try to make a difference in it. But just read this:

For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? (2 Corinthians 2:15-16 NIV)

Now there is a picture – you and me having a significant effect on people, churning up reactions as varied as life and death by our mere presence. It’s no surprise Paul would wonder, in the next breath, who, if any, might be equal to this task. It’s a rhetorical question that he intends to answer, and he does in the next chapter. “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God who has made us adequate…” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). In other words, we aren’t adequate, but we are. We aren’t adequate in ourselves, but we are in Christ. And we find this out we when we jump into the world, believing.

By believing, you are taking the particular characteristics of a believer (a person in whom God’s presence is a factor) out into the world, and by nature of your presence in the world and the presence of Christ in your life, you will make a difference. So, you see, it is all about literally throwing yourself out there and trusting that God shows up when you do, even when you don’t exactly know what’s going to happen next, you just know you’ll be ready when it does by nature of the Spirit of God in you. How about that for living dangerously?

As a friend of mine said last night, almost nonchalantly, a true Christian is choosing the most dangerous occupation in the world. I think he’s right, not only because Satan is alive and well on planet earth working to discredit those who believe, but because God likes us living on the edge in believing Him. I really don’t think faith is mainstream. I don’t think it gets the popular vote. Real faith does not win mass-market appeal. True faith is a challenge of wits. It’s the mover and shaker of the status quo. Faith kicks us out of our safety net and into the world. If nothing’s on the line, then there’s no faith required. That’s dangerous, but all the more exhilarating when God shows up and shows Himself to be true to His promises.

So get up and get out. It’s the only way to truly find out!

The Praise of Missions

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Thy blood, from every kindred and tongue, and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living beings and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and blessing!”   Revelations 5:9-12

This is the praise of missions! Missions is about People; People who have felt the touch of Jesus in their personal life, in the life of a relative, a friend, a co-worker, or a stranger in a foreign land. It’s about those who are alive on earth and those who are now in heaven with Jesus. We have the only true message of Hope and salvation. What we do with it will determine the eternal destiny of people far and near.

I love music. One unforgettable experience in my life was to stand in a crowd of over 100,000 people as they sang the old hymn “ Amazing Grace” Every hair on my head seem to stand up. My heart was so overwhelmed I could not sing. Tears of joy were coming down my face, And then it dawned on me… one day from every tongue and tribe and nation we will sing a new Song to our Lord. It will be the praise of Missions. Jesus left heaven and became God’s personal missionary to us. Now we have the high privilege to become his missionaries to our world.

True missions is about: Planning, Power, Partnering, Praying, Participating, and Praising. Join the Team Today!

Participating in Missions

Matthew 28:19,20 “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Amen.

When you decide to obey the Lord and get in the game you already know who will be your missionary companion. When I say participating, I am talking about God participating in our mission in life. He goes with us even to the end of the earth. And that’s exactly where He may take us. The next time you get that opportunity and that urge to share with someone, just remember that Jesus is going to use your heart, your mind, your soul and your body (mouth) as instruments in his mighty hand to share the good news.

This is the only activity that God promises such a participation with us. There is something magnificent about getting involved and in participating. No matter how small or insignificant you may feel, you have a vital part to play. The blind hymn writer Helen Keller said “I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do that something I can do.”

Remember in your life there will be lots of circumstances that will need a kind of courage, a kind of decision of your own, not about other people but about yourself. God has made it so He has no hands but yours and no mouth but yours. You have an awesome partner waiting to participate with you in missions today!

Paying for Missions

II Cor. 9:8-11   “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written:  ”He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;  and his righteousness endures forever.” ¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

What an incredible promise to those who provide seed to the sowers! The seed  mentioned here is money to make it possible for missionaries to have what they need to spread the gospel to the world.

Missions is costly. As you give to our church it is important that you know that  12% of our regular tithes and offerings go directly to missions. That means every time you give to King’s Way you are providing seed to the sowers of the Gospel. This  is a way we together can make a difference in the world.

Did you notice what God promised to those who provide the seeds. He said “all grace” so that in all things, at all times, having all needs met, your righteousness endures forever and God puts seed into your store so that you can be generous in every occasion and thereby be rich. What a paycheck! Love is a costly thing. But oh, so rewarding!

Praying for Missions

LUKE 10:2    Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is  great, but the  laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,  that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.

When you pray for missions you are able to leave the place you are praying and go to the part of the world that you are praying for and participate in the ministry there.

In his book “Quiet Talks on Prayer”  by S.D. Gordon, he says,” Prayer opens a whole planet  to a man’s activities. I can  really be touching hearts for God in far away  India or China through prayer, as though I were there. Not in as many  ways as though there, but just as truly. I think the highest privilege of service is to those far off lands. There the need is greatest, the darkness densest, the pleading call most eloquently pathetic.” 

“You may be in only one spot, but your relationship is as wide as your master’s and his compassions should be ours. A man may be in Africa, but if his heart is touched with Jesus it will be burning for a world. Prayer puts us into direct dynamic touch with a whole world.”

“A man may go aside to-day, and shut his door and really spend a half hour in India , yea, spend an half hour of his life in India for God as though he were there in person.”

What are we to pray for?  Jesus said “Pray for Workers”. Pray  for God to raise up workers and to lift up  workers.

And pray for the souls of men and women and children around the Globe. Prayer in the Spirit circles the Globe.

Partnering in Missions

This is both a personal and a plural commissioning. I have fond memories of our time of ministry in Louisville, Ky, near  to Fort Knox. I was privileged often to watch the soldiers receive their commission in this awesome ceremony. There were proud cheers  in recognition of their commitment and training, but there were also tears as loved ones watched them accept their assignment for service in the U.S. Army. It was so personal as they called out each name, but is was also plural as they proudly lined up in neat rows  signifying their group. They were on mission together.

Together they were going to defend their country and freedom. We are soldiers for Christ. Together our mission is to go into this our world and tell people about Jesus.

Always remember, you are not alone and you are not the only one on the team. Joshua was discouraged and lonely and he said to the Lord, “ I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your  prophets with the sword; and I, I only, am left;

And the Lord said to him “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal,. Joshua thought he was alone but he was surrounded with seven thousand soldiers he couldn’t even see but God knew where they were.

 

Always remember… we are in this together…PARTNERS!

The Power for Missions

Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Within the heart of every believer lives the Holy Spirit of God! He indwells us so that we can have a power beyond ourselves. The Power of the Holy Spirit is the dynamo, the engine, the energizer, the enabler of every true mission project.

Whether it’s around the world, in your own family ,or in your own neighborhood, it’s still His power that makes it work. The most important question is NOT can I have God’s power but rather…do you want God’s Power? He is more excited about your having the power to get the job done than we are to have it.

HOW CAN WE HAVE THIS POWER?

• Receive Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior. •

• Sign up in your heart. Tell the Lord you want to be a witness more than anything. •

• Pray daily for God’s power, guidance and leading. Then all day long look for open doors to share Jesus. •

• By Faith use it today. Be on mission when you leave.

The Plan for Missions

MAT 16:18 Jesus said …  I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

God has a plan for world missions. In the mind of God every Christian is on mission, and the church is the headquarters. The only organization the Lord said He would build and sustain is the Church.

Another way of saying this is “ the Mission of the church is missions and the Mission of missions is the church plan at This means that our church is all about missions here and around the Globe. And the Mission of our missions is to start churches.

The great commission that Jesus gave to all his followers was very clear and specific… “go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” You may wonder, ‘how can I possibly go   into all the world and spread the Gospel?” This week in our devotions I want to show you how!

OUR MISSION STATEMENT: To bring people into a personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

OUR GOAL: To build a thousand churches in the next ten years.

OUR PLAN: To build ten Hub Churches we call stations. These will have a church, a Bible school, a clinic, and perhaps an orphanage. Each Hub will start 100 churches. We can accomplish this goal if we will see the vision.

The great missionary C.T. Studd said, “Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell;I want to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.”