Tag: evangelism

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For All Who Seek Jesus to Also Share Jesus

Light of the World,
On this day of Epiphany, we reflect on the wise men who journeyed to worship the Savior. At some point, in some way, the news about the birth of the Savior had reached their ears and touched their hearts. That wonderful message was shared with them. Undoubtedly, upon returning to their own country and people, they shared not only stories of their travels with others, but also the news that a Savior for all people had been born. Like the angels and shepherds before them, they couldn’t help but make known to others this life-changing news. Lead all who seek the Savior also to share him. Use me to make known to others the life-changing news that a Savior has come into the world – a Savior for all people. Rather than assuming everyone already knows this, which is simply untrue, help me live as if they don’t, so that I approach my interactions with others as if I cannot wait to share something amazing with them.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For Those Starting Churches

Lord of the Church,
Energize your people everywhere who are involved in planting a new church. Their ministry is both exciting and exhausting. To be used by you to reach out and connect with the lost and see the Holy Spirit’s work in bringing them to faith is one of the greatest rewards a Christian can experience. But it is also very hard work. Give believers in these settings a great measure of patience and perseverance. Fill them up with a steady diet of your Word so they are prepared and well-equipped to pass along your promises to others as they evangelize. Raise up solid leaders in their midst who are full of faith. Open doors to provide them with strong community relationships and a favorable reputation in their mission field. Infuse missionaries with an abundance of love, support, and encouragement to help protect them from burnout. Use their efforts to add many souls to your kingdom and lead them all to regularly celebrate your gracious work in and through them.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For the Certainty of Salvation

Saving Lord,
While each day has plenty of uncertainties and unknowns of its own, I thank you that my eternal salvation is not one of them! The Bible spells it out so clearly that even a child can understand and believe that you love us so much that you sent Jesus into this world to live and die for us. In Jesus every perfect requirement of heaven has been met. In Jesus every condemning sin has been paid for and canceled. Though faith in him I am never wondering where I stand with you, because he came and carried out all that was necessary for me. Let me find joyful security in my salvation every single day, and lead me to make it known to others in every possible way.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

To Witness with Confidence and Courage

Savior God,
You alone are the God who saves. While there are more false gods than could ever be counted, whether worshipped through false religions or idols manufactured in the hearts of men, salvation is found only in you, the true and Triune God. I know and confess this, but I don’t always reflect it confidently in my witnessing. Too often, bringing Jesus into the conversation never even crosses my mind. Then, when it does, I quickly imagine several negative scenarios or responses to justify my silence. Help me overcome myself, Lord, and let what I know in my mind and heart bear fruit from my lips. If you alone save, that is reason enough for me to make sure your name and your salvation are clearly made known to all people. Give me both confidence and courage to boldly bless others with your name as I magnify you in my witness to others. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Pray for What Pleases God

adbLeave a comment

(1 Timothy 2:1-7)

What’s the first step? Figuring that out can be the difference between getting a task or project off the ground or sitting on it for days, months, or even longer. When we focus on the scale of a project – how many different steps are involved or how long it’s going to take or the endless questions that will need to be answered or the research that needs to be done or the skills that need to be learned – we understandably get overwhelmed.

And then we shut down. And put it off. It’s too much. It’s more than I can handle. I don’t even know where to begin. 

But knowing – and then taking – that first step, is everything. Yes, hiccups will follow. Yes, things won’t go as planned and will need to be adjusted. Expect all of that. But it all seems so magically manageable once we just take that first step and get the ball rolling. Traction ensues and things get done and accomplished. 

And of course, the more serious the situation, the more important it is to address.

I went through this not too long ago when putting down flooring in the garage bathroom of the parsonage. At about the worst time, the toilet tank started to leak. After realizing the bolts were rusty and corroded, compromising the seal, I elected to turn off the water, empty the tank, and remove it. That’s when I realized the line to the tank wouldn’t shut off completely, resulting in a slow leak on the floor. After not being able to stop that leak, I shut off the main water line for the whole house. Guess what didn’t stop leaking?

I was starting to panic a little, because I couldn’t stop this slow leak, which would have eventually flooded the whole garage floor if left unchecked all night. Eventually, I removed the toilet base and directed the leaking hose directly into the toilet drain. That worked to give me peace of mind until being able to call for some additional help to come the next morning. So the more serious the situation, the more important it is to take that first step – it’s not an option to leave it undone when the stakes are high.

How high were the stakes when Paul was writing to his fellow pastor, Timothy? The first chapter spills the tea: false teaching was creeping in, and it was already having the damaging effect of leading some astray, whom Paul even mentioned by name. So putting off that matter was not an option. Something needed to be done, and done right away. The first step needed to be taken. What was it?

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (v.1-2). Prayer. “First of all,” Paul writes, pray “…for all people.” The first step in dealing with the challenges laid out in the first chapter was to pray. 

But we often do it the other way, don’t we? We act first, pray last, after we feel we’ve exhausted all other options. Think of how foolish it would be to paint a room that way. You open up the can of paint and start rolling it on and cutting in the corners. Then, after all the walls are covered with a second coat, you decide to go back and fill any holes or cracks and make any drywall repairs. Then, after you fill all the holes and cracks or make the repairs, you decide to tape off the baseboard and any light fixtures or switches. Why would you do all of that after you’ve already painted? It’s backwards.

Just like our prayer lives often are. We want to figure out what we need to do first. What’s the plan? Who needs to be involved and who needs to be talked to? What solutions do we have to come up with to figure out the problem? Then, after we do all of that, we wrap it all up with the nice bowtie prayer. After all, “all we can do now is pray,” right? Not according to Paul! Paul says that prayer should happen first of all and for all people.

Who is included in “all people?” “Kings and all those in authority” (v.2a). Or presidents – no matter the party. Or government officials – no matter the political affiliation. Or bosses – no matter the dumb policies. Or community, church, and home leaders – anyone in any capacity of authority, regardless of our own personal feelings toward or about them. All of them are to be included in our prayers, and not as a last resort, but “first of all.” 

Why? “That we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (v.2b). No, by “peaceful and quiet lives,” Paul’s concern is not that you could live the care-free life of a recluse or hermit, a life to yourself, uninterrupted by anyone else’s problems. He wasn’t urging prayers for those in authority with the goal of improving your quality of life by limiting hardship or adversity.

Rather, he urged prayers for those in authority so that their work permits peaceful living, so that we can let our light shine as Christians when we live “lives in all godliness and holiness.” Our godliness and holiness is God’s version of attraction marketing to draw people to the cross and to Christ. Our godliness and holiness is a direct reflection of him. Our godliness and holiness may be exactly what the Spirit uses to create curiosity in unbelieving onlookers. So pray for it and then produce it. You. Me. Live quiet lives in godliness and holiness. 

When you do, you stand out. That sounds odd, doesn’t it? We’re not used to standing out by being quiet and focusing on living godly, holy lives. In a world of “who can yell louder and shock more,” we fall into the trap and get sucked up into all the noise, thinking we can out-scream everyone else. We can’t. But you’ll get the attention of your neighbor or your coworker when your godly, holy living is so awkward looking to them because so few operate within any ethical or moral framework like that. You’ll stand out because you’re odd. 

And that’s part of God’s plan through prayer and producing the kinds of lives he calls us to live. It all fits in with his ultimate goal, which Paul reminds us of in the next verse. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (v.3-4). There’s two pretty good reasons for prayer: one, it pleases God; two, it is directly tied to his desire to see all people saved.

This kind of prayer pleases God. Just stop there for a moment and ask yourself how important that is to you. In general, how much of your time and thoughts are focused on pleasing God? Do you consciously think about pleasing God? How differently would we live if more of our thoughts and words were framed by the ongoing desire to please God? Prayer pleases God. Praying for others and for those in authority pleases God. If for no other reason than that, we have more than enough reason to give more time and attention to prayer in our lives because we want to please God. 

It’s also good because it’s the game plan God put together to accomplish his goal of saving all people who come to know and believe in him. God wants everyone to be saved. Think about it. God didn’t just drum up some plan for salvation hoping that it would stick for a few people; he outlined – and then carried out – the perfect plan, a plan that would disqualify no one, a plan that would be possible for everyone, regardless of social status, intellect, or natural ability. It’s a plan entirely dependent on his work from start to finish, and he wants everyone to know about that plan of salvation and to be saved through it. And your prayers and my prayers are included in that plan. 

And don’t forget, it isn’t just your prayers that are included in that plan: so are you. You are the beneficiary of it. You know the certainty of it. You have peace through it. His desire to save all people has already played out in your life. Paul reminds us how. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (v.5-6a).

A mediator is called in to work with two parties in an effort to get what is best for each side. Jesus alone did that. He satisfied God’s justice and paid the ransom price for our sin and rebellion. He died and suffered hell. He also provided for us the holiness we could never manufacture on our own. He tore down the barricade of our sin that separated us from God. He did that for you and me. What he did for you and me, he also did “for all people.”

Paul backed up that precious truth by reminding Timothy that he was not dwelling in the realm of theory or philosophy or even prediction of what might happen, but confirming that it already had. “This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles” (v.6b-7). The ransom price paid by Jesus was witnessed. It happened.

People saw it. People testified to it. People were still testifying to it – people like Paul. And, people like Timothy, to whom Paul was writing this letter. And, people like you and me, who not only can pray first of all, but also witness, testify, herald the good news to others. When that message accompanies our lives of godliness and holiness, we’re packing a powerful one-two punch for the gospel. 

In the meantime, first things first: pray. Take that first step. Pray for what pleases the God who wants all people to be saved. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For the Salvation of Many

Savior God,
Prayers for the salvation of those who are lost can never be made too often. Not only will there always be those who are lost in the darkness of unbelief for whom we can pray, but since your desire is also for all people to be saved, such prayers are always inline with your will. 

Therefore, I pray for the salvation of many souls today. As your powerful gospel is proclaimed, wherever your powerful gospel is proclaimed, in whatever situation your powerful gospel is proclaimed, let it reach the ears and hearts of many. With that amazing message of forgiveness and salvation through Jesus, let your Spirit plant seeds of faith that grow and mature into a huge orchard of believers, who then blossom and bear abundant fruit. Soften stubborn, obstinate hearts, awakening them to the joy and peace in you that can be found nowhere else. Bless the efforts of all who share the gospel, raise up more bold believers to join them, and move many more to generously support the continued spread of the gospel in every possible way.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Gospel Growth

adbLeave a comment

(Colossians 1:1-14)

We want to know if something is working. Depending on what it is, we have different metrics to help us determine whether or not it is. If a person has car trouble and either replaces a part or has the mechanic fix it, we’d expect to be able to tell because whatever sound or warning light used to be going on is no longer an issue. The plan you have in place to drop a few pounds should be able to be verified as working by the shrinking number on the scale. You can tell a certain product works if it delivers the results promised. We want to know if something is working, and there are ways for us determine if that’s the case.

Does it work the same way with the gospel? How do you tell if it’s working? On the one hand, if a person looks at the general moral compass of our country, they might determine that the gospel – and by extension, the churches responsible for proclaiming it – isn’t working. After all, how could so many call bad what God calls good, and call good what God calls bad? But because this is such a common occurrence, we might conclude that most churches today aren’t preaching the gospel. Because if they were, wouldn’t our society include more good people?

So are we looking at the wrong metrics? Expecting wrong or unrealistic results? How can we tell if the gospel – and the church proclaiming it – is working?

Let us be encouraged by the words of Paul, which are every bit as true today as they were the day he first wrote them to the Colossians. “The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace” (v.6). The gospel grows. It bears fruit. That’s what it does. It’s what it has always done in the past and it’s what it will always do in the future. Where, though, does this growth happen? Here. There. Everywhere.

What do we know about Paul’s relationship with the Christians in Colossae? In addition to it being one of the letters he wrote while in prison, it was also somewhat unique in that Paul was writing to a church that he had not personally started or even visited. As Paul explained in verse seven, it was Epaphras who had started and pastored the church. And, according to the details of the rest of the letter, there was concern over a false teaching that was getting around and threatening the gospel which Epaphras had been responsible for preaching and teaching. 

What Paul was personally familiar with was the fruit the gospel was bearing in all of the places he had proclaimed it. The prolific church planter that he was, Paul had many Christians and congregations on his heart and mind at all times. Not only that, but as leaders were trained and equipped to keep the gospel ministry going, he received regular reports about gospel growth in so many places. So he knew firsthand about how the gospel was “bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world.”

And, Paul was excited that the same thing could be said about what the gospel was doing among and through the believers in Colossae. Paul wasn’t just trying to pump them up with encouraging reports coming in from all over, but also reminding them of the work that was happening in their midst ever since it had first reached them. Theirs was one of the churches Paul was celebrating. He had heard news of the obvious evidence of their faith in action and prayed that it would continue as their faith continued to grow. 

Do you know how much fruit the gospel is bearing all over the world today? Even if we focus just on the work we’re doing together in WELS, we see so many reasons to celebrate! This year we are celebrating that our church body has been carrying out gospel ministry for 175 years. This 175th Anniversary highlights that for almost 200 years, we have been establishing churches and schools as hubs for gospel ministry. In addition to the thousands of congregations and mission efforts across the United States, we are involved in mission efforts in about 50 countries, and currently looking into more than 15 possible new mission fields. Our world-wide ministry allows us to spread the gospel through digital and printed publications in other languages, providing medical aid and disaster relief, and even training future pastors through our seminaries in other countries. 

But, let’s not be too presumptuous that we assume the only gospel work God is doing throughout the world is through WELS. While we certainly desire to see the gospel preached and taught correctly and without any error – and rightly so! – we rejoice that the good news is delivered even when the “packaging” leaves much to be desired. In other words, even where this teaching or that teaching may not be inline with a given doctrine in Scripture, the good news of Jesus as the Savior from sin for all people is still made known. So yes, through WELS and other Christian churches, “the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world.”

And, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, so he could say to us: “just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.” As we’ll celebrate very soon, God has been at work with his gospel in and through Shepherd of the Hills (SOTH) for sixty years! That is no small thing! 

What fruit would you point to evidence of God’s work? Paul provided a lengthy description of what gospel growth looks like. “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father…” (v.9b-12a). 

Where have we seen any of this at SOTH? How many eternal lives have been altered directly because of the gospel through our church and school? How many students have been trained and educated in Scripture through our school and the schools we support? How many have been wrapped up in Christ’s righteousness through baptism? How many struggling souls have been refreshed and restored after having received Jesus’ body and blood?  How many souls have been ushered across the finish line into eternal life while bearing the SOTH name? Will these blessings continue? They will if we keep the gospel front and center in all we do, because that’s what the gospel does: it grows. It bears fruit. Here. There. Everywhere. 

And, the gospel can bear fruit in unexpected ways – not just under our own roof, but also on the frontlines of ministry. Sometimes that fruit is born out of what might come across as failure. After carrying out gospel ministry in the Fallbrook area for fifty years through its church and school, our sister congregation in the last couple of years made the difficult decision to close the doors of its ministry. One could easily conclude that the gospel had become ineffective or was no longer bearing fruit. However, it appears that God is simply taking what he yielded from that gospel ministry to bear fruit in a new orchard.

From the financial assets of one ministry, our sister congregation has passed along the resources both to our congregation and to our church body to work together in expanding ministry around San Diego County. In addition to a substantial gift given to WELS for that purpose, the saints in Fallbrook also designated a gift to our own congregation to establish a plan for exploring mission work. We are currently working with our various mission planners to determine a plan for carrying out mission work in the Menifee area.

What could that look like? How could God bear fruit through that gospel ministry? How could it contribute to and collaborate with our existing congregations in Temecula and Wildomar, as well as our high school, CLHS, to bear fruit in gospel ministry? What will our role in that gospel effort be? While we may not have a clear picture just yet, we do have confidence that the gospel will bear fruit, because that’s what it does. It grows. It bears fruit. Here. There. Everywhere – including the potential mission field of Menifee!

We’ll keep after this if we continually remind ourselves of the power the gospel has in our lives and potentially in the lives of all who hear it. Remember who we are! “[The Father] has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (v.12b-14).

When we remember this, we don’t want to walk, but run with the gospel! When we rejoice that our doubts about how effective the gospel is and our complacency surrounding it have been cancelled and forgiven, we’re renewed and stirred! Why should we have this privilege? Because the Father qualified us through the work of his Son. Knowing that we belong to his kingdom of light, having been rescued from the darkness of unbelief, we want to expand that kingdom to include many others – here, there, everywhere!

How do we know if the gospel works? It’s simple. Open your eyes. It’s here. There. Everywhere. Bearing fruit all over. And it will continue to work and bear fruit, because that’s what it does – the gospel grows.

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For Worship to Spur on Ministry

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Use your Word and worship today to equip your people to carry out the mission of your church. Let worship serve to remind believers about the unique role the church serves in both growing and going. As we carry out our calling together, we use the same gospel to grow in our faith and to go bring others to faith. While your Holy Spirit does all the heavy lifting of converting souls and nurturing spiritual growth, he does that important work through us.

Since you send pastors and teachers to help prioritize that work and equip and train believers for it, lead many more to choose the path of public ministry so that our congregations and classrooms are not lacking in manpower. Raise up around them zealous disciples who are eager to work together in ministry and give focused attention to your mission of growing and going. Spur on your people all over the world to embrace the joyful privilege of ministry, to be faithful and diligent in carrying it out, and to fully trust in you for the results. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

adbLeave a comment

For the Salvation of Many More Souls

Savior God,
Your grace and forgiveness have etched the names of countless souls into the Book of Life. So many have been delivered from darkness into your eternal light as the Holy Spirit has created faith in their hearts through your powerful Word. There is no treasure on earth worth comparing to your gift of faith and the salvation it secures.

Yet there are still more. So many more souls remain lost and condemned. So many souls remain in the darkness and death of unbelief. So many souls wander aimlessly, blindly stumbling toward a final destination of permanent separation and suffering.

There is still so much work to do – so many souls in need of your salvation. Rekindle in your churches and in your people the desire and zeal to prioritize the work of evangelism. Fill the hearts of believers with your Spirit’s fire and create in us all a sense of urgency that refuses to stand by idly or ignorantly as souls are lost daily. Cause your gospel to go viral and spread like nothing else ever has, so that heaven becomes home to multitudes more. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Ascending & Sending, Part 2: The Means

adbLeave a comment

(Acts 2:1-21)

“Turn around. Your sins have been let go.” That’s how we boiled down the message of our mission in part one. It was how we captured what Jesus meant when he told his disciples that “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Lk. 24:47) and reminded them that they were witnesses, both having seen Jesus carry out the work he was sent to do, and now testifying to it as the mission is carried out. We tell others, “Turn around. Your sins have been let go.” 

It was ten days prior to the events in Acts 2 when Jesus ascended while blessing the disciples. It was at that time that he also sent the disciples on their mission. But he was not done sending. He wasn’t just sending them; there was another gift Jesus promised to send. “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Lk. 24:49). Now, on the day we call Pentecost (not some deeply significant theological designation, but which means “50”, as in fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection), Jesus was sending the very gift he promised: the Holy Spirit. 

If you had to guess where some monumental event in church history might take place, where might you guess? Church, right? Or, in their day, the temple, which is where Luke said the disciples stayed continually to praise God. That would make sense. But that’s not where the Spirit was sent on this very special occasion.

Instead, we’re told they were together in a house. Now, without stretching the significance of this too far, it may nonetheless serve as a good reminder for us that the work of the Spirit and the work of his Church is not by any means limited to the church as a building. Sure, the physical location, along with Christian churches wherever the gospel is preached and the sacraments are rightly administered and received, is essential to our mission. But it isn’t exclusive, by any means. Essential, yes. Exclusive, no. 

Why? Because the Holy Spirit can and does work anywhere. He has worked in foreign lands, as he did through Moses in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon. He can show up in a burning bush. He can speak through a donkey. He can communicate through the powerful visual of a valley of dry bones. 

And, he can work as he did here among the believers on Pentecost. His work was visual, audible, and intelligible. Ultimately, it was just the means needed to carry out the mission: communicate to the ends of the earth the message, “Turn around. Your sins have been let go.” Tongues that were tangled and tied at Babel became loosed and unleashed.

When we strip away the Spirit’s special effects, what did it all come down to? Communicating in a language everyone could understand by the simplest means possible: spoken words. There was speaking and there was hearing. It was that simple. Was there any better gift that could be given to spread the message than removing the barrier of foreign language? Jesus said “all nations,” and he had now made that possible. They had the means by which to carry out the mission.

You know, don’t you, that we still have the means to carry out the mission today? Recently in our congregation, three youth confirmands were joined by two adults in professing their faith in Jesus. That same Sunday, as well as the Sunday prior, each included a baptism. Then, on the Sunday that followed, those confirmands received the Lord’s Supper together with their church family for the first time. What is behind all of this? What do all of these things have in common? 

Well, if you ask someone without the Spirit, they’re all just silly church rituals. They’re far-fetched foolishness and a waste of time.

But if you ask a believer, a child of God, one who has read, studied, and believes what the Word says about all of these things, they all point to one thing in common: the work of the Holy Spirit. Guess what that means? The Holy Spirit’s shift didn’t end after the Day of Pentecost. He didn’t clock out for the last time and decide to retire. Ever since that day, the Spirit has been building up and strengthening the Church, and he will continue to do so until Jesus returns. 

But how do we tap into that power? What does it take to unlock the same jaw-dropping effects of Pentecost? Surely that sort of thing must be relegated to the spiritual cream of the crop. It must be limited to the spiritually trained professionals and the deeply dedicated, the most devoted among us. It must be reserved for the explosive churches and ministries having a world-wide impact, who have clearly discovered something the rest of us have not. 

I think you know better, don’t you? But if we do, then why don’t our words and actions more often show it? When is the last time you got excited to get involved in something at church, not just for the sake of spending time with friends at church – but excited by the potential behind it to reach someone new with the gospel? When is the last time you started getting giddy as you realized a conversation with a non-believer was an open door to point them to their Savior? When is the last time you took the time to even look into any sort of mission work being done by your congregation or church body?

As much as we enjoy functions that bring us together to enjoy each other as we are blessed to do, Lord forgive us if our meeting together overshadows our mission together. Lord forgive us if everything we do together more or less effectively cuts our mission of Seeking the Lost and Serving the Found in half, chopping off the “Seeking the Lost”, leaving only Serving the Found (this is the mission of Shepherd of the Hills).

When we are veering off in that direction, let us run, not walk, to the last verse of our section from Acts 2 this morning: “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v.21). Believe it. you are saved, not because you are on fire with the Holy Spirit. You are saved, not because your spiritual fervor surpasses that of the disciples in the early Christian Church. You are saved because of one reason and one reason only: Jesus.

To call on his name is to cling to his forgiveness, embracing his grace, and savoring the salvation your Savior won for you. Lost your mission zeal? Never had it in the first place? It’s not counted against those who call on his name! We have been saved – but also saved with purpose!

Therefore, I am going to give you both an invitation and a challenge. First, the invitation. Please, use your pastor as a resource. Please, tell others you have a pastor that you can talk to anytime about anything and he’ll do his best to listen, answer questions, and provide guidance. Please, give him referrals. Please, send people his way. Please, share resources with others. Please, speak highly and frequently of your church. Please, tell others what they’re missing if their kids aren’t in your school (if you have one). Please, invite others to anything and everything you do at church – it’s for them, too!)

And here’s the challenge: push yourself to get more confident and more comfortable in carrying out the mission directly yourself. Because… you’re never really by yourself. The Spirit Jesus promised to send after his ascension is still at your side when you communicate the message. You’re never really by yourself.

So speak up. Talk Jesus. Normalize him in your conversations. Look for openings to bring him up whenever you can. Do it until you become so comfortable that it actually feels uncomfortable when you don’t! Go back and read that last sentence again!

If Peter can do it, you can do it. Through the power of the Spirit, Peter, the one who needed his mind opened at Ascension, was the one opening minds on Pentecost, explaining what was happening! Peter, who at one point was determined to keep Jesus from dying, was now connecting the Scriptures for those listening. Peter, who was so confident in his own allegiance to Jesus that he refused to believe he could ever turn on him or deny him, was now appealing not to his own authority, but to God’s authority through his prophets. Jesus had given him the mission; now, in this special outpouring, he was also giving him the means: the Holy Spirit. 

You have the mission and the means. There is no reason the Spirit cannot do through you the sort of things that he did through Peter and so many others. No disrespect to Peter, but there was nothing special about him. The same could be said for many of the men and women in Scripture – there was nothing special about them.

We easily forget that, because of course their names are written in Scripture, and so we automatically elevate them to some superstar spiritual status. But their names aren’t in there because there was something exceptional about them; rather, their names are recorded because they allowed God to use them so that he could do something exceptional through them. Don’t think so little of God that he cannot do the exceptional and extraordinary for his kingdom through ordinary you or me.

In fact, rather than putting all the extra pressure on ourselves, let’s start with ordinary – and let God turn it into extraordinary if he so chooses. Is he able to? Look at Pentecost!

Suppose you find yourself wandering, lost in the woods in the cold chill of winter, desperately seeking warmth. You come across a beautiful cabin that is vacant, and the front door is unlocked. As you enter, the first thing that grabs your attention is the stunning oversized fireplace. The stonework around it is exceptional, the fireplace itself is obviously well-made, and there is even a huge stack of wood inside it, carefully positioned to light up and burn for hours. The only thing missing is the fire itself.

That was the church prior to Pentecost. Everything had been completed and made ready. Jesus had trained and equipped his disciples during his three-year ministry. Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus had ascended and promised the outpouring of a special gift from on high. The only thing missing was the fire itself.

Then, like a lit match in that cabin fireplace, a blazing fire roared to life, throwing light and heat and beauty throughout the whole cabin. When the Spirit came on Pentecost, the whole church also roared to life and began to throw the light and heat and beauty of the gospel to the ends of the earth. Everything was ready; it just needed the Spirit’s spark.

Everything is ready. But the church will not roar to life in its mission if it doesn’t also have the means. It will always be the Spirit driving it. And the Spirit will always drive it through the means of grace – Word and Sacrament. Let’s keep stoking that fire so that the Spirit stirs us to roar to life in carrying out our mission together!