his message was inspired by some current issues going on in my own life. I know I am not alone, because there are many who have the same question especially when rough times hit. I personally heard them say it to me or by them telling it to someone else. The question usually is why am I here? Then one day the Lord spoke to me and said “I sent you, too.” Then, he proceeded to tell me just as I sent Jesus I sent you too. I started to think about John 3:16 and how the scripture went John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The truth is we were sent, but in a different way. Why? Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for us to have that everlasting life just as John 3:16 says, but we were sent, too, to help somebody along the way.
One of the areas that has been bothering me as well as some of the Christians that I run into over the last five years or so is that I would hear from a great number of them saying “Oh, I wish the Lord would come and get us out of here.” or “I am so tired of dealing with people.” This isn’t the attitude we should be taking on. Believe me, I’ve had those same feelings as well. I know it’s hard not to have such a mindset especially in the way the world is functioning today. The very place we really need to be in is to turn away from those thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 “5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6) and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” We’re going to take this a step further with James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We get our revenge against the attack by submitting to the word of God. I want to come back to the attitude mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph later, but for the most part I want to get us into the place where we understand we were sent to help. Were we sent to help? Yes, we can go back and refer to this in at least two areas. The first one is Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before you camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Wow, this can really state that the Lord sent us for somebody. No, I am not claiming everybody is a prophet as in the five-fold ministry or even before a whole nation altogether, but we are to speak to people that we do come across about the word of God that will give us an opportunity to do so. The Lord spoke to me in a different way about the words “sanctified thee” in a special way. He told me “I had sanctified each of my children with a special gift and that gift will work for you, if you will use it correctly.” This is so true and it can be found in Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Now, let me make something clear here; not all of us are to quit our jobs. God had given us a gift or talent and we’re to use it, not only to provide for our family, but to share that gift with others to be a blessing to them. Here is the second place we can find that we were sent in Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Notice that Jesus has even sent us to help. This means he commissioned us to help him out or as the topic of this message “You were Sent”. God sent us Jesus to represent the Father. Jesus is now sending us to represent not only him, but the Father, too. It’s time for us to do our duty of being sent and help lead others to the Lord. Let’s help them have that same opportunity to get into a real personal relationship with Jesus. Now from this point, it’s up to them to become a part of God’s family and inherit what rightfully belongs to them, which is to have an everlasting life. Now, if we’re really with Christ or truly part of the Lord’s family we would have the mind set of what Jesus did. What kind of mindset did Jesus have? He wanted everybody to repent of their sins so that they could have eternal life Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now we don’t always have to open up that strong, but we can do the same thing Jesus did when he started gathering his disciples. How did Jesus draw Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew in? Jesus did this in Matthew 4:19 “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” I like to parallel this with follow me I will take you under my wing and teach you what I know and then you can begin to use it, too. What happened next? The next verse says what Peter and Andrew did Matthew 4:20 “And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.” What did Jesus teach his disciples to do after they followed him? The same thing the Father sent him to do; that was to help those who needed help Luke 4:18-19 “18) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19) to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Since Jesus performed these things we should be doing the same thing, because he trained us and sent us out to do the same thing in Mark 6:7 “And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;” This should give us a clear picture that we were sent. It could also empower us to spend more time with the Lord to get that direction on where and when to go, so it will work more effectively than just our basic sharing the word of God. I would like to encourage you with this. You were sent for someone whether it was to help your spouse if you’re married, children if you have any, other family members or even your in-laws, if they will receive you. It could be your friends who the Lord blessed you with to hang out with, or that one time encounter with a stranger. We were all sent to help somebody, even if it has to be done in silent like in our own personal prayer time. This includes the ones who mistreat us. Yes, this is hard to do at times, but we do know this is true from Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Now, this is Jesus speaking and not of my own. This may be hard, but it is one thing we need to be doing? We need to be doing what Jesus did. That was to be like the Father. Matthew 5:45 “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” The Lord spoke to me that if he took persecution or ridicule words from people and still showed love then we could, too. Again this isn’t always easy, but it’s the very truth. Let me remind you once again this isn’t my own words. These are the words of Jesus. I saved this part last because I wanted us to understand we were sent for somebody and we can’t have that negative attitude like saying “Oh, I wish the Lord would come and get us out of here.” or “I am so tired of dealing with people.” The Lord always reminds me of Amos 5:18 to get me out of that attitude. Amos 5:18 says “Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.” He reminds me of this scripture because he saved me from falling into the pits of hell. He also took it a step further with Matthew 7:33 “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” These two scriptures were personal for me to understand that I was sent and don’t have the option to step away. Don’t miss understand me, I may fall from time to time knowing that I am not perfect, but I should be trying to make those changes and efforts to become perfect Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” and Philippians 2:12 “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The time has come when we need to step up and understand that we were sent and if we walk away from this we’re not walking as a child of God. Yes, this maybe a hard word, but sometimes those hard words can light a fire back in us to keep going, especially if it’s given out of love. I pray that this message will encourage you to keep going and get rid of that negative mindset of “Why am I here” attitude.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Jason HolstineMy heart's desire is to see that you walk in the purity of God's word and to strengthen it into your life, so that you're able to see all of God's promises blessing you richly as you advance in his word. CategoriesArchives
April 2024
|