The Christmas Model for Missions

“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18)

Christmas is a model for missions. Missions is a mirror of Christmas. As I, so you.

For example, danger. Christ came to his own and his own received him not. So you also. They plotted against him. So you. He had no permanent home. So you. They trumped up false charges against him. So you. They whipped and mocked him. So you. He died after three years of ministry. So you.

But there is a worse danger than any of these which Jesus escaped. So you!!

In the mid-16th century the missionary Francis Xavier (1506–1552), wrote to Father Perez of Malacca (today part of Malaysia) about the perils of his mission to China. He said,

The danger of all dangers would be to lose trust and confidence in the mercy of God. . . . To distrust him would be a far more terrible thing than any physical evil which all the enemies of God put together could inflict on us, for without God’s permission neither the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us in the slightest degree.

The greatest danger a missionary faces is not death but to distrust the mercy of God. If that danger is avoided, then all other dangers lose their sting.

In the end God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W. Alexander says, “Each instant of present labor is to be graciously repaid with a million ages of glory.”

Christ escaped this danger — the danger of distrusting God. Therefore God has highly exalted him! As he, so you.

Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model for missions. As I, so you. And that mission means danger. And the greatest danger is distrusting God’s mercy. Succumb to this and all is lost. Conquer here and nothing can harm you for a million ages.

John Piper 

God Wants More to Be Saved

PRAY OVER THIS

“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8

 

PONDER THIS

People who scoff at the Second Coming of Jesus are ignorant of what God has done and of what God is like. God is above and beyond time, and God doesn’t wake up by an alarm clock. Second Peter 3:8 says, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

As far as God is concerned, it’s only been a few days since Jesus left this Earth. God hasn’t forgotten. The reason Jesus is not yet come is that God has kept the door of mercy open. I believe God, in mercy, is waiting on our generation to come to Jesus, but one of these days, the Day of the Lord will come, and even now the raging waters of God’s wrath are furiously pounding against the dam of His mercy. Jesus is going to come suddenly, like a thief in the night.

How does it reframe your perspective to know the delay of Jesus’ return is a sign of mercy and not neglect?

How should this encourage us to share Jesus with others?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time to thank God for His mercy. Pray and ask Him to point you to the people He wants you to share with today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Can Use You

PRAY OVER THIS

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

 

PONDER THIS

Years ago in New Jersey, there was a man who advertised that he was going to play a concert on an extremely valuable violin. People came from all over to hear him play. He tucked that instrument under his chin and began to play. You could hear the laughter of children as he played. You could hear the songs of the birds in the trees as he played. You could hear babies cry as he played. People were amazed at the music that came from that violin. When he had finished the concert, he took that violin and broke it on his knee. “Ah!” They were aghast. “Why has he done that?” Then he opened his case and brought out the expensive violin. He said, “The violin that I’ve been playing on is a fiddle I bought for a few dollars. It is not so much the violin that makes the music as it is the man who draws the bow.” To the world, you may be just a cheap fiddle, but God is the one who can make music out of your life. God uses common people! God can use you.

When have you been deterred because you felt dismissed or discarded by the world?

How has God used you in unlikely situations? How are you hoping He will do it again?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways God has used the “foolish things” of the world “to shame the wise” throughout the Bible and history.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Known by Our Enemies

PRAY OVER THIS

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19

 

PONDER THIS

People are known by the enemies they have. Every now and then someone will say something like: “Oh Pastor Rogers, we love you so much. Everybody loves you.” When I hear this, I laugh because everybody doesn’t love me. And that doesn’t break my heart. I don’t expect to be loved by everybody, nor should you. We cannot be popular with a world that crucified our Lord. If His friends are our friends, His enemies are our enemies. That doesn’t mean we’re not to love our enemies. Jesus loved His enemies. He prayed for those who crucified Him. I don’t mean we are to be filled with hate and spite. But the reality is that some people are enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ. Paul said, “I tell you weeping that there are enemies” (Philippians 3:18, author paraphrase).

Who would you classify as your enemies?

What does it look like to practically love our enemies?

PRACTICE THIS

Take an inventory of your life. Where are you hating the things Christ hates? Where are you loving the things that He hates? What needs to change?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Live for Jesus?

PRAY OVER THIS

“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” Matthew 25:40

 

PONDER THIS

When you do something for one of the brothers of Jesus, it’s just like you have done it unto Jesus because His friends are our friends. If you love Jesus, you’re going to love what Jesus loves. And if you don’t love the brethren, certain conclusions are in order.

The late, great Vance Havner was a Baptist preacher from North Carolina, full of wisdom. Here’s what he said: “When I see a bird that looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, paddles in water like a duck, and prefers the company of ducks, I conclude it must be a duck!”

When you see people who live like the world, dress like the world, act like the world, and prefer the company of the world rather than the company of God’s people, they’re of the world! If you love the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re going to love what Jesus loves, and Jesus loves the Church. He loves the brethren. His friends are our friends—“…as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

What evidence does your life give that you are “of Jesus”? “Of the world”?

What changes is God calling you to make to move closer to Jesus today?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the changes you feel God leading you to make. Take concrete steps toward change today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Who Do You Need to Witness To?

PRAY OVER THIS

“So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood." Genesis 7:7

 

PONDER THIS

Religion that does not begin at home does not begin. Have you ever thought, “My loved ones are the hardest ones to witness to”? Do you know why they are the hardest ones to witness to? Because they know you. Would you go and say, “Forgive me for the life that I have lived in front of you? I’m a Christian, but I have been a poor example.” They’ll be watching you. Then later on go back and say, “Would you forgive me for something else? …I haven’t shared with you the most important thing on Earth to me. Would you forgive me for not sharing Jesus with you?” This type of humility gives you an open door to share the Lord Jesus Christ with your loved ones. Noah had faith and that faith was for the saving of his household.

In what areas are you convicted of the way you have lived with and before your family members?

Who do you need to ask forgiveness from in this regard?

PRACTICE THIS

Take concrete steps to ask forgiveness from a family member this week as the Lord leads you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Desire to Share Jesus?

PRAY OVER THIS

“And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.” Acts 10:42

 

PONDER THIS

You ought to share your faith. If you have no desire to share your faith, there is reason to assess if you have really been changed by Jesus. You’ve heard people say “keep the faith.” Not only should you keep it, but you ought also to give it away. And if you have no desire to give it away, perhaps you ought to give it up. If you knew the cure to cancer, you’d want to share that, wouldn’t you? The best news this world has ever known is the saving Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I can give you this testimony: from the day I gave my heart to Jesus Christ to this very moment, there has always been a desire in my heart to share Him. That’s one of the ways I know my faith is real. I’ve not always shared Him as I ought. I’ve not always been wise. I’ve not always been diligent. But there has always been, down in the recesses of my heart, a desire to share the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have this same desire?

How would you rate your own desire to share Jesus with others?

What obstacles make this difficult for you?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God to show you your true heart for sharing Him with others. Ask Him to help you be honest with Him and with yourself, recognizing that it is of no benefit to try to convince yourself of falsehood in this area.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Christmas Model for Missions

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18)

Christmas is a model for missions. Missions is a mirror of Christmas. As I, so you.

For example, danger. Christ came to his own and his own received him not. So you also. They plotted against him. So you. He had no permanent home. So you. They trumped up false charges against him. So you. They whipped and mocked him. So you. He died after three years of ministry. So you.

But there is a worse danger than any of these which Jesus escaped. So you!!

In the mid-16th century the missionary Francis Xavier (1506–1552), wrote to Father Perez of Malacca (today part of Malaysia) about the perils of his mission to China. He said,

The danger of all dangers would be to lose trust and confidence in the mercy of God. . . . To distrust him would be a far more terrible thing than any physical evil which all the enemies of God put together could inflict on us, for without God’s permission neither the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us in the slightest degree.

The greatest danger a missionary faces is not death but to distrust the mercy of God. If that danger is avoided, then all other dangers lose their sting.

In the end God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W. Alexander says, “Each instant of present labor is to be graciously repaid with a million ages of glory.”

Christ escaped this danger — the danger of distrusting God. Therefore God has highly exalted him! As he, so you.

Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model for missions. As I, so you. And that mission means danger. And the greatest danger is distrusting God’s mercy. Succumb to this and all is lost. Conquer here and nothing can harm you for a million ages.

John Piper 

The Christmas Model for Missions

“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18)

Christmas is a model for missions. Missions is a mirror of Christmas. As I, so you.

For example, danger. Christ came to his own and his own received him not. So you also. They plotted against him. So you. He had no permanent home. So you. They trumped up false charges against him. So you. They whipped and mocked him. So you. He died after three years of ministry. So you.

But there is a worse danger than any of these which Jesus escaped. So you!!

In the mid-16th century the missionary Francis Xavier (1506–1552), wrote to Father Perez of Malacca (today part of Malaysia) about the perils of his mission to China. He said,

The danger of all dangers would be to lose trust and confidence in the mercy of God. . . . To distrust him would be a far more terrible thing than any physical evil which all the enemies of God put together could inflict on us, for without God’s permission neither the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us in the slightest degree.

The greatest danger a missionary faces is not death but to distrust the mercy of God. If that danger is avoided, then all other dangers lose their sting.

In the end God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W. Alexander says, “Each instant of present labor is to be graciously repaid with a million ages of glory.”

Christ escaped this danger — the danger of distrusting God. Therefore God has highly exalted him! As he, so you.

Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model for missions. As I, so you. And that mission means danger. And the greatest danger is distrusting God’s mercy. Succumb to this and all is lost. Conquer here and nothing can harm you for a million ages.

John Piper 

You Can Either Evangelize or Fossilize

BIBLE MEDITATION

“But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them [Paul and Silas] out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” Acts 17:5-6

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Ours is the greatest mission on the face of this earth: the salvation of lost souls. Our message is the greatest message: the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our Master is the greatest Master, Jesus Christ Himself. The church that’s not interested in evangelism and soul-winning is not worthy of the ground it occupies. We are to evangelize or we will fossilize. Our mandate is to preach the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ to every creature.

What was the early church like? “Now in those days…the Word of God spread; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:1, 7).

They did so much with so little. We do so little with so much. They didn’t have Christian colleges, seminaries, radio and TV stations, or printing presses. They had no finances, no prestige. They went out to tell the message of a carpenter’s son, who was crucified. Against the imperial might of Rome, the intellectual sophistry of Greece, and the stiff-necked resistance of Jewish leaders, it was said of them, “These people turned the world upside down.”

ACTION POINT

Do you have a sincere concern for souls? You might answer, “I do.” But would you feel a twinge of conscience because your conscience couldn’t bear witness?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Why You Have a Body

For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

God did not create the physical-material universe willy-nilly. He had a purpose, namely, to add to the ways his glory is externalized and made manifest. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

Our bodies fit into that same category of physical things that God created for this reason. He is not going to back out on his plan to glorify himself through human beings and human bodies.

Why does God go to all the trouble to dirty his hands, as it were, with our decaying, sin-stained flesh, in order to reestablish it as a resurrection body and clothe it with glory and immortality? Answer: Because his Son paid the price of death so that the Father’s purpose for the material universe would be fulfilled, namely, that he would be glorified in it, including in our bodies, forever and ever.

That’s what the text says: “You were bought with a price [namely, the death of his Son]. So glorify God in your body.” God will not disregard or dishonor the work of his Son. God will honor the work of his Son by raising our bodies from the dead, and we will use our bodies to glorify him forever and ever.

That is why you have a body now. And that is why it will be raised to be like Christ’s glorious body.

John Piper 

Bring The Dead Man Into The Light

Darkness kills!

What is it?

It is sin!

Repent!

7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.

8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,

10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. - Ephesians 3:7-12

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:4-10

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  - Luke 4:18-19

1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;  - Isaiah 61:1-2

for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light - Ephesians 5:8

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. - Colossians 1:13-14

9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. - 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. - Colossians 1:15-23

Are you willing to be different?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy…” Acts 20:24a

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Do you pay a price—some extra time in the morning—to get into the Word of God? Do you pay the price of being ridiculed because you keep your Bible on your desk at the office or bow your head and thank God for His gracious goodness to you when He gives you a meal? Are you willing to be different? Will you finish your course?

When you’re running this race, you’re going to find out that you’re running right against the grain. Don’t get the idea that there’s a broad road and a narrow road, and the narrow road runs alongside the broad road, and over there a bunch of people are going this way, and over here you’re going in the same direction.

No, there’s the broad way, and here you are, right in the middle of it, going the other way. Against the tide. Against the grain.

What we believe

starts at a different source

follows a different course

ends at a different conclusion

…and there is a price to pay.

ACTION POINT

We don’t like the idea of a “price to pay.” We say, “I’m saved by grace, so I’m just going to float on into Heaven on flowery beds of ease.” No. A disciple is one who follows his Master. There is a price to pay. Get the sin out of your life. Fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. Don’t slack up. Finish your course. Go across the finish line with a burst of energy.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Moves You to Minister?

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)

Faith has an insatiable appetite for experiencing as much of God’s grace as possible. Therefore, faith presses toward the river where God’s grace flows most freely, namely, the river of love.

What other force will move us out of our contented living rooms to take upon ourselves the inconveniences and suffering that love requires?

What will propel us . . .

to greet strangers when we feel shy?

to go to an enemy and plead for reconciliation when we feel indignant?

to tithe when we’ve never tried it?

to speak to our colleagues about Christ when we are timid?

to invite new neighbors to a Bible study?

to cross cultures with the gospel?

to create a new ministry for alcoholics?

to spend an evening driving a van?

to invest a morning praying for renewal?

None of these costly acts of love just happens. They are impelled by a new appetite — the appetite of faith for the fullest experience of God’s grace. We want more of God. And we want this more than we want our private, disturbance-free security and comfort.

Faith loves to rely on God and see him work miracles in us. Therefore, faith pushes us into the current where the power of God’s future grace flows most freely — the current of love.

I think this is what Paul meant when he said that we should sow to the Spirit (Galatians 6:8). By faith, we should put the seeds of our energy in the furrows where we know the Spirit is at work to bear fruit — the furrows of love.

John Piper 

Do You Bring Good News?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

I once heard of a pastor who received word from the war department that a young soldier, reported missing in action and presumed dead, was found alive! His mother had already been informed of his death. And now they asked the pastor to be the one to tell her that her son was alive.

Do you think the pastor said, “Well, I've got a little vacation I'm going to take first, and I want to play a round of golf…” or something like that?

What a thrill, going to deliver that message! I want to tell you, there ought to be that same thrill and urgency in my heart and yours every time we tell a poor, sin-sick, lost and undone sinner the good news that Christ died for our sins.

ACTION POINT

If you know the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and you're not interested in sharing it, I sincerely doubt you've ever been saved. How could a person know the Gospel and not want to share it? Deliver the message! Tell those who feel hopeless there’s an answer. Share Jesus with them.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Talk to Your Tears

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126:5–6)

There is nothing sad about sowing seed. It takes no more work than reaping. The days can be beautiful. There can be great hope of harvest.

Yet the psalm speaks of sowing “in tears.” It says that someone “goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing.” So, why are they weeping?

I think the reason is not that sowing is sad, or that sowing is hard. I think the reason has nothing to do with sowing. Sowing is simply the work that has to be done, even when there are things in life that make us cry.

The crops won’t wait while we finish our grief or solve all our problems. If we are going to eat next winter, we must get out in the field and sow the seed, whether we are crying or not.

If you do that, the promise of the psalm is that you will “reap with shouts of joy.” You will “come home with shouts of joy, bringing [your] sheaves with [you].” Not because the tears of sowing produce the joy of reaping, but because the sheer sowing produces the reaping, and you need to remember this even when your tears tempt you to give up sowing.

So, here’s the lesson: When there are simple, straightforward jobs to be done, and you are full of sadness, and tears are flowing easily, go ahead and do the jobs with tears. Be realistic. Say to your tears, “Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life. But there is a field to be sown (dishes to be washed, car to be fixed, sermon to be written).”

Then say, on the basis of God’s word, “Tears, I know that you will not stay forever. The very fact that I just do my work (tears and all) will in the end bring a harvest of blessing. So, go ahead and flow if you must. But I believe — though I do not yet see it or feel it fully — I believe that the simple work of my sowing will bring sheaves of harvest. And my tears will be turned to joy.”

John Piper 

The Conquest: Standing in Holy Boldness

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard’”... Acts 4:19-20

 DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The religious leaders told Peter and John “you can’t preach a risen Lord.” They didn’t want this message out because of the power of the message. A story is told that one demon said to another: “If those liberal theologians ever really let Jesus out of the grave, Hell help us because all Heaven will break loose!” That’s true! You might as well have told the sun not to shine as to tell Peter and John they could not preach a risen Christ. They had seen Him! They knew He was alive. You could not shut them up. They had no church building and yet they turned their world upside down and inside out for Jesus. You know what we need today? We need an epidemic of Holy Boldness. It’s not arrogance, self-confidence, human courage or presumption. It’s a boldness that comes from spending time in the presence of the living Lord Jesus Christ. His presence compels us. We cannot but speak.

ACTION POINT:

Have you met the risen Christ? If not, He is ready to make all Heaven break loose in your life! If you know Him, are you infected with Holy Boldness; do you need to spend more time in His presence to catch the fever?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus Will Finish the Mission

“This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)

I don’t know any more inspiring missionary promise than this word from Jesus.

Not: This gospel should be preached.

Not: This gospel might be preached.

But: This gospel will be preached.

This is not a great commission, nor a great commandment. It is a great certainty, a great confidence.

Who can dare talk like that? How does he know it will? How can he be sure the church will not fail in its missionary task?

Answer: The grace of missionary service is as irresistible as the grace of regeneration. Christ can promise universal proclamation because he is sovereign. He knows the future success of missions because he makes the future. All the nations will hear!

A “nation” is not a modern “country.” When the Old Testament spoke of nations, it referred to groups like Jebusites and Perizites and Hivites and Amorites and Moabites and Canaanites and Philistines. “Nations” are ethnic groups with their own peculiar language and culture. Psalm 117:1: “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!” Nations are peoples — people groups, as we call them.

As the sovereign Son of God and Lord of the church, Jesus simply took up this divine purpose and stated as an absolute certainty, “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matthew 24:14).

The cause of world missions is absolutely assured of success. It cannot fail. Is it not reasonable, then, that we pray with great faith, that we invest with great confidence, and that we go with a sense of sure triumph?

John Piper 

Subversive for the Savior

When Jesus met the man filled with demons at Gadara, the demons cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29)

Demons learned a mystery here. They knew they were doomed. They knew the Son of God would be the victor. But they didn’t know until it happened that Christ was coming before the time of final defeat.

Christ is not going to wait for the end of the war to lead his troops into combat. He has begun to lead a subversive force into the territory of Satan. He has trained a “life-squad” to perform daring rescue operations. Christ has plotted many tactical victories before the time of the final strategic victory.

The resulting wartime mentality is this: Since Satan’s doom is sure, and he knows it, we can always remind him of it when he tempts us to follow him. We can laugh and say, “You’re out of your mind. Who wants to join forces with a loser?!”

The church is the liberated enemy of “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are the guerrillas and the gadflies. We are the insurgency against the rebel kingdom of “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).

It is not safe. But it is thrilling. Many lives are lost. Satan’s forces are ever on the lookout for our subversive activity. Christ has guaranteed resurrection for all who fight to the death. But he has not guaranteed comfort, or acceptance from the world, or prosperity in enemy territory.

Many have gladly given their lives behind the lines running errands for the Commander. I can think of no better way to live — or die!

John Piper 

When You Are Immortal

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. (Acts 23:12)

What about those hungry fellows who promised not to eat till they had ambushed Paul?

We read about them in Acts 23:12, “When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.” It didn’t work. Why? Because a string of unlikely events happened.

A boy overheard the plot.

The boy was the son of Paul’s sister.

The boy had the courage to go to the Roman centurion guarding Paul.

The centurion took him seriously and brought him to the tribune.

The tribune believed him and prepared “two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen” to take Paul to safety.

Every one of those events was highly unlikely. Strange. But that’s what happened.

What had those hungry men lying in ambush overlooked? They failed to reckon with what happened to Paul just before they made their plot. The Lord appeared to Paul in prison and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome” (Acts 23:11).

Christ said Paul was going to Rome. And that was that. No ambush can stand against the promise of Christ. Until he got to Rome, Paul was immortal. There was a final testimony to be given. And Christ would see to it that Paul would give it.

You too have final testimony to give. And you are immortal until you give it.

John Piper