Helping You Fulfill the Great Commission

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11

Upon redemption from Egypt and the subsequent baptism in the cloud and in the Red Sea the children of Israel entered the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-4). There are certain things that can best be learned in a wilderness. God knows this, and He uses the wilderness to educate, discipline, and edify His people. Just as God’s people in the Old Testament immediately entered the wilderness after their salvation, God’s people with a New Testament must also enter the wilderness. When someone comes to Christ we often warn them about the battle to come. Initially, a new believer does not face a battle as much as he or she experiences the wilderness. So, what is exactly learned in the wilderness?

The wilderness is a time for education. It is special time to receive the Word of God. Soon after the Children of Israel entered the wilderness Moses climbed Mount Sinai and God gave him the Law. It is important for Gospel workers to get the new believer into the Word of God as soon as possible. A babe in Christ is excited about the things of God and is hungry. This is the best time to receive the Word of God!

The wilderness is a time for discipline. God organized His people in the wilderness and taught them how to watch for His leadership in their lives (Numbers 9:16-18). God through His Spirit does the same thing in the life a new believer. He disciplines them and teaches them to watch and listen for his leadership. The voice of God is discerned in the wilderness!

The wilderness is also a time for edification. Can you imagine how much it took to feed 2-3 million Israelites in the wilderness? If each Israelite gathered about an omer (Exodus 16:17-18 – close to a quart every day) and if an omer equals about 1.5 pounds then they would have gathered around 3.75 million pounds of manna per day as a nation. Modern railway boxcars carry an average weight of 75,000 pounds. That much manna would fill 50 modern boxcars. The task of providing water for the people and their livestock in the wilderness is even more daunting. What was God doing; what was He teaching them? He was teaching them that their sufficiency was in Him. He was building them up in Himself through His provision and protection. Jesus Christ does the same thing today in the wilderness of a new believer’s life. He builds them up in the truth of 2 Corinthians 3:5, “…our sufficiency is of God.”

Did God intend for Israel to spend 40 years in the wilderness? Was it God’s intention for that first generation of redeemed Israelites to not enter into the Promised Land? No. Unfortunately many murmur, complain, and ultimately rebel in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit warns in 1 Corinthians 10:10, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” Many young Christians fall by the wayside because they fail to learn the lessons of the wilderness.

Psalms 18:49 “Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.”

Did you know that there is a connection between missions and thanksgiving? Paul thought so. He quotes Psalm 18:49 in Romans 15:9, “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.” The Holy Spirit used both David and Paul to express the message of salvation and the method for communicating that message through Psalm 18.

We are familiar with the message of salvation. That message is that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, His Son. But what about the method to communicate that message? I believe God’s preferred method for evangelization is threefold: prayer, preaching and praise. Praise is the genuine, Spirit-filled expression of our heartfelt thanks to God. It is thanksgiving.

Israel expressed its thanksgiving to God, and the heathen heard. Many Gentiles from surrounding nations believed in God (e.g., Jethro the Midianite, Ruth the Moabite, Uriah the Hittite). Psalm 96:3, “Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.” Psalm 126:2, “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.”

God’s plan for the local church is the same. The church is to be a living testimony of God’s power and grace on the lives of the believers among the lost (i.e., heathen) of their communities. Hebrews 13:15 in its context clearly illustrates this. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” 1 Peter 1:7 also demonstrates this, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” I am not trying to be confrontational, but I believe “…and ye shall be witnesses…” has much more to do with offering the sacrifice of praise (i.e., thanksgiving) in the midst of life within our community than with knocking on doors and passing out tracts.

In the New Testament Spirit-filled thanksgiving led to explosive, exponential church growth, and it will today!

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2

A Definition

A good definition for “train” is something that is drawn behind (noun) or to draw something behind (verb). Isaiah saw the LORD’s train (noun) as it filled the Temple. What a sight that must have been! Solomon exhorts his readers to train (verb) up a child in the right way; he failed miserably. My point in defining and making a connection between the noun “train” and the verb “train” is to help illustrate our job as missionaries.

A Determination

First of all, we understand that discipleship, which Paul is encouraging in the selected text, is more than the mere regurgitation of certain truths. It is mentoring; it is training. A train would cease to be a train if the railroad cars were not connected and following the engine.

Our Lord illustrates this better than anyone else. He spent three and half years with a train of men dogging His every step. He ate with them, slept with them, ministered with them, and rested with them. The only time he was not training them was when He slipped away to spend time with His Father so that He could train most effectively. Every second of every day He poured Himself into the lives of his disciples until the day of His death. We are aware of the results. We must determine to pour our lives into those that the Lord has entrusted to us.

A Destination

Secondly, a train has a certain destination, a goal. It is locked into a specific course, and if it ever derails it’s disastrous. The Lord knew what He was doing in the life of every individual disciple. Why did He ask Phillip where the nearest bread store was? Why did He send Peter to get a coin from a fishes mouth? Why did He only take three of His disciples up the Mount of Transfiguration? He was training each man specifically and individually. He was preparing them each to fulfill a definite purpose that was prepared for them before the foundation of the earth was ever laid. Zig Ziglar said, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” He is right!

I am not advocating for anyone to play the role of the Holy Spirit in another persons life, BUT I believe that a Spirit filled missionary can and should have the mind of Christ as it is revealed by Christ to understand what God is doing in the lives of his or her faithful men and women. Many times a Spirit filled missionary knows that God is calling a person to preach or to be a missionary before that person ever knows it. He then mentors that person to that end. John 15:15 “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”

There is no other way to reach our people for Christ. We must not rely on money and materials, or methods, or even a mega-church. There is no easy way. We must be diligent. We must make a commitment to pour our lives into our faithful men and women 24/7. Then perhaps you will hear this, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also…”

Matthew 3:11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”

In all of our ministry there is one element that must be present if the work of God is going to go forward. That element is fire. Like the Laodiceans we are rich and increased with goods; we have need of nothing… we think! John the Baptist prophesied that the Lord Jesus would baptize us with fire. This is the need of the hour.

We can see the difference that fire makes in this excerpt from Del Fehsenfeld’s book Ablaze With His Glory.

Into the arena steps a solitary figure. He has been a fugitive from the king whose wrath he incurred three years earlier. One would expect him to cower in the presence of the offended monarch. After all, he stands to lose his life. But no, he is secure, assured, and bold.

Now he is calling to the people to listen. They gather around him skeptically. This man has always been something of an oddity – a real contrast to the other religious leaders of his day. His has always been a minority voice. His message cuts across the grain of what is traditional and palatable. His challenge to get off the fence and take a public stand for Baal or Jehovah makes the average person uncomfortable. He would rather not commit himself.

Now he directs their attention to the altar of Jehovah. Unused for many years, it is in a state of disrepair. One by one, he selects twelve large stones and constructs an altar. He prepares the sacrifice and places it on the altar.

Then he catches them off guard. Turning to the crowd he directs them to fill four barrels with water and pour it on the sacrifice.

What? Has he lost his mind? Anyone knows wet wood will not burn! Even more importantly, doesn’t this strange man know that it hasn’t rained for over three years? Nevertheless, they follow his orders.

Then a short, simple prayer, and . . . fire! No matches. No kerosene. No magic tricks. No gyrations. No pretending. just fire. Real fire. Fire that licks up the water and utterly consumes the sacrifice, the wood, the stones – even the dust of the ground. Fire from heaven. The fire of God.

How about it? Do you experience the fire of God on your life and ministry? Hebrews 12:29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire.” The fire of God is the presence of God, and it always results in changed lives and the advancement of the Gospel in ways that cannot be explained by human effort.

I want to know and experience this fire! The Word of God is clear. Elijah was a man just like you and me (James 5:17-18); yet, he was a minister of fire! Would you pray with me for this kind of fire in your life and mine and for the ministry of BIO?