First, thank you all for the prayers & well wishes for Linda and I on our trip to Malawi last week. It was an exhausting, Spirit filled adventure. We look forward to sharing about our trip - through our testimonies and video - with you this Sunday at Bellwether.
The message Sunday will be about much more than our one mission trip to Africa. A question I've gotten several times over the last few years is: why go anywhere at all? Honduras, Uganda, Malawi, India....why go to these far off places? Isn't there enough needs right here? The answer is - YES! There are plenty of needs across Metro Jackson. In fact, there are more than enough needs in our church family. We could spend all of our lives simply trying to minister to those we have right now.
However, that is not what Christ calls us to. He clearly asks us to go. Matthew 28: 18 says to - "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." In Acts 1: 8, Jesus says - "you will be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Jesus is in the business of evangelizing the entire world. We must do the same. Jesus is in the business of meeting the needs of the poorest of the poor. We must do the same. When you go to these far off places, you witness poverty on a scale much larger than anything we see here. It can be overwhelming. It even makes you think - why even try? There's so many poor people, so many are sick, so many don't have water - why try? Can't we make much more of an impact where we are?
Jesus came to meet both the physical and the spiritual needs of people. And we who have so much, and who claim to be His followers, need to go with the Faith and Power of Christ to do the same. Whether He calls us to Mississippi or Malawi, we must follow His call.
Last (and perhaps most importantly), we all know people who are unsure about God, Christ, the Church, etc. They say Christians are all hypocrits. They hear what we say about believing in Christ, yet they want to see our actions. They want to really if we will really act on what we say. They are constantly watching. One of the greatest reasons to GO is to help these people truly SEE Christ in us. To SEE we believe what we say and will act on it. That we are willing to go to the ends of the earth for Him. That we are willing to touch the sick, and love people who speak and talk very differently from us. And yes, maybe those who are watching won't believe immediately, yet when they see us - going individually and as a church - I believe Christ begins to work to soften their hearts to Him.
I hope you'll be at Bellwether Sunday. I hope it will inspire you to be part of our church - a church fully committed to evangelizing the world and touching the poorest of the poor with the Light of Christ. I hope it will inspire you to open your eyes to a Savior who came to heal spiritually and physically. I hope it will inspire those of you who always want to stay to wake up and begin to take steps to follow Christ and go.
We look forward to worshipping together Sunday. We hope you all can be there.
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