If the Holy Spirit were taken away from the New Testament church, ninety percent of what they did would come to a halt. But if the Holy Spirit were taken away from today’s church, only ten percent of what it does would cease.
– A.W. Tozer
Missions
Quotes (512)
It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home.
– Hudson Taylor
1832 – 1905
Quotes (508)
“‘Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.
– William Booth
1829 – 1912
Sam and Esther: The least of these.
Reminiscent of the helplessness I felt watching the video of Africa’s Witch Children, this video broke me. I never wept so much over the suffering of the children in Africa, and at the same time been so angered at my own gluttony, selfishness, and daily ungratefulness. Lord forgive me.
My prayers for God to use me and my family in Africa will now be taking on a whole new fervency.
HT: Musings of a Missionary Girl by way of The Desert Pastor
Quotes (503)
“If missions languish, it is because the whole life of godliness is feeble. The command to go everywhere and preach to everybody is not obeyed, until the will is lost by self-surrender in the will of God. There is little right giving because there is little right living, and because of the lack of sympathetic contact with God in holiness of heart, there is a lack of effectual contact with him at the Throne of Grace. Living, praying, giving and going will always be found together, and a low standard in one means a general debility in the whole spiritual being.”
1856-1887
Certainly not “Your Best Life Now” for those outside America.
While we entertain ourselves with stupid little videos to show the Hollywood culture how cool, hip, and relevant we are, this is going on everywhere else.
HT: Saced by Grace
Sermon of the Week: “For God So Loved the World” by Brad Buser.
Your Sermon of the Week is For God So Loved the World by Brad Buser. Brad, a long time missionary to Papau New Guniea, challenges you to consider world missions as he smases most of the common excuses people employ to resist going into all the world, including “There are needs here,” “If God wants me there I guess I’ll end up there,” and the infamous but all too common: “I haven’t been called.”
Quotes (487)
People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives . . . and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.
– Nate Saint
1923 – 1956
Quotes (479)
While vast continents are shrouded in darkness . . . the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field.
– Ion Keith-Falconer
1856-1887
Who they were then, and who they are now.
Thanks to The Desert Pastor for e-mailing this video to me. Who would have thought a sharpie marker and a piece of cardboard could be such an encouragement?
For those contemplating missionary work in West Africa, (or anywhere else for that matter), you will be greatly encouraged and deeply touched by this video.
The video on YouTube does not contain audio; if you prefer the audio version (recommended) then watch it on this link.
From the website:
Missionaries aren’t superheroes. That’s for sure.
Those of us who work in West Africa were once school teachers, retirees, engineers and coffee baristas. We’ve struggled with sin, physical handicaps, broken families and the stagnant Christian life. We had fears of moving overseas, learning new languages, catching strange diseases and raising our families in a foreign country.
We are transformed.
We all have a story of how God has renewed our lives and brought us to His service, sharing the Gospel with West Africans who have never heard.
We want to share our stories with you — on cardboard — and show you that in Him, anyone is worthy of The Call.
Quotes (368)
The so-called humanist gospel—which isn’t really the “good news” at all—is called by many names. Some argue for it in familiar biblical and theological terms; some call it the “social gospel” or the “holistic gospel,” but the label is not important. You can tell the humanist gospel because it refuses to admit that the basic problem of humanity is not physical, but spiritual. The humanist won’t tell you sin is the root cause of all human suffering.
– K.P. Yohannan
Quotes (342)
If we intend to answer man’s greatest problem—his separation from the eternal God—with rice handouts, then we are throwing a drowning man a board instead of helping him out of the water.
– K.P. Yohannan
Quotes (297)
Modern man unconsciously holds highest the humanistic ideals of happiness, freedom, and economic, cultural, and social progress for all mankind. This secular view says there is no God, heaven or Hell; there is just one chance at life, so do what makes you most happy. It also teaches that “since all men are brothers,” we should work for that which contributes toward the welfare of all men. This teaching–so attractive on the surface–has entered our churches in many ways, creating a man-centered and man-made gospel based on changing the outside and social status of man by meeting his physical needs. The cost is his eternal soul.
– K.P. Yohannan
Quotes (264)
Both in India and in my travels around Western countries, I constantly uncovered a preoccupation with so-called “ministry” activities operated by Christian workers, financed by church monies, but with little else to distinguish them as Christian. . . . Social concern is a natural fruit of the Gospel. But to put it first is to put the cart before the horse; and from experience, we have seen it fail in India for more than 200 years. Yet while I realized the intrinsic nature of the Gospel involved [in] caring for the poor, I knew the priority was giving them the Gospel. Meeting their needs was a means to share the love of Christ so they would be saved for eternity.
– K.P. Yohannan
Christ Alone Wyoming 