You Can Do It!

You Can Do It!

Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Luke 5:10-11

May the words and deeds of our Lord inspire and motivate you and your church for missions. Remember, everything we do is in the hands of God; we are called to follow Him, obey, and pray. These are difficult tasks, but take comfort. He owns the harvest and we will receive His empowerment and backing for the task (John 14:12). Also remember that prayer does not merely equip us for a greater work. It is the greater work!

Jesus said, “Follow Me.” Jesus did not mean that they should just physically and aimlessly follow Him on the road like a puppy following a child. Rather, He meant for them to follow Him in His Way. They were set apart, challenged to know and grow in the faith, and taught their call and mission. Just as they had worked at catching fish, now they would be catching men. The word "disciple" literally means “apprentice,” someone who pledges to be a “learner,” to live as one believes, to do what He has taught. And, this is not just for a time or season, but for all times and all seasons as long as we are sojourners in this life on earth. It involves our accepting His call to follow, then actually living and obeying that call as continual learners and partakers as missionaries. It means being real and consistent in what we say we believe. It is about living our lives in truth so we reproduce the clarity of that truth to others around us, even in a cross-cultural context. For this to happen, we have to be willing to learn, to grow beyond our perceived barriers, and remove what is in the way of our growth and outreach. It does not stop at our conversion; that is where it begins. Discipleship is a life-long journey of growth and the practicing of His Word and precepts in all areas of life! This is the essential mandate before we venture out ourselves!

God in missions does not ask us to just seek converts. He simply asks us to disciple. Discipleship is modeling and teaching Christians the precepts of the Bible, mainly prayer, doctrine, and Christian living, which means having an attitude and heart that worships Christ. This means raising up leaders and training them to do the essential work. Yes, we are still to evangelize, but that is not our main mission and call. In missions when we evangelize, we must realize that it is the role of the Holy Spirit to bring people into an intimate relationship with God, we are the tools and means He uses. This is an act of divine cooperation, intervention and grace. He uses us as the tools, but He is the means. We are the display case of His life and work! We are to care, and share with others His love and character. We are to obey and reach out, but we cannot lead people anywhere. He is the One who leads! Our goal is to worship and model our worship to others—not just our service in our missions project or plan, but the lifestyle of a heart surrendered and poured out to His. However, with that said, when we are real and authentic in our Christian living, then we are actually doing effective evangelizing missions and bringing others to Christ even more powerfully and frequently.

How does our focus on Him and not evangelism help us be evangelistic in missions? Because, when the focus is on evangelism, it tends to be on gathering numbers for numbers sake, and this mindset is pretentious and ineffective. Out of a real, worship-centered heart will come a church plant that is also poured out in the community, a lighthouse of God's love and care to the world that is contagious. It will model Christ-like character to the community, encouraging others to surrender themselves to Jesus Christ. However, this is only the beginning. When we are worshiping Christ with our hearts and minds, we are focused on Him and motivated to be His witnesses as missionaries. Christ's work in us is what is contagious to others who are seeking Him.

When we are in missions or any ministry, we need to realize, it is not what we do, but whom we can equip. As we practice by reciprocating what we have learned to others, we will also be built up. We are called to build a network of relationships so we can build one another up in the faith through friendship and mentoring.

From the character of Christ comes the conduct of Christ—if we choose to follow Him. Then, the values of our daily walk, those which drive our behaviors, will, in turn, influence others. You cannot lead where you have not been, or when you do not know the direction to go. This is why discipleship is so essential to the aspect of being a missionary, especially a witness. We are called, not to just visualize faith and missions, but to do it, not to just read about it, but to do it, and not to just talk about it, but to do it. One cannot just think about dinner and satisfy hunger; the meal has to be gathered, prepared, and then eaten. The effective church will take Scripture and the call of our Lord seriously, gather, prepare, and then put it all into practice so we partake of His feast.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12

Norman J Sinappen