MISSIONARY NUMBER
fliijiiiniiiiijiiiNiiinwjiiiiNiiNgjiiiu As thou h a st sen t me in to th e world, even so have I also sent th em Into th e world. (John 17:18) And he said un to them , Go ye in to all th e world, and preach th e gospel to every creature. (M a rt 16:15) And h e th a t reapeth receiveth wages, and g ath ereth fru it un to life etern al; th a t both he th a t soweth and he th a t reap eth may rejoice together. (John 4 :3 6 ) ¡¡l!lllllll]]|lllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllliillll!!lllllllllllllllllllllNilllllllll]]»l]l!l!ll!lllllllllllll!l!l!!llll!IIIIIIIIIIII]l!llllll!INIIIIIIlll!llllllll]INI!ll!llllll!]lllllimillllNlllllll!l»INIIIIIIIIIII]II!inilllllllllNIIIIIIIIIII!l!l!llilllllllllllllllllll!l MISSIONARY METHODS We are thinking of a lost world; of millions of unevangelized; of our own country with millions yet unreached with the Gospel; and wondering whether the church is not making some serious errors in its attitude towards its members and towards the world field. There are two outstanding facts which need stressing. First,—salvation is a gift of God through faith in a crucified, risen Saviour; the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and confession of Him as Lord is accompanied by the incoming of the Holy Spirit, who imparts eternal life and seals the be liever unto the day of redemption, when he will receive his glorified body. The believer has a new life, a new relationship. He is not his own. He is bought with a price. He belongs to Christ. The second important fact is that this hew relationship involves new responsibilities. We become subjects of a new ruler. Among the last words of our Lord before He went to the cross were, “ I have manifested thy name unto the men thou gavest me out of the world. ’’ He takes us out of the world and then He sends us into the world. “ As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world.” He was a missionary. We are missionaries sent into the world. He came to give God’s message to the world and to give His life. Are we better than He ? Now here is where we have made the most serious mistake in our Christian iife. We are glad our sins are forgiven; glad for the indwelling Spirit; glad for the precious promises for time and eternity; but we are not glad that we are His representatives, His missionaries. As believers, we do not need a special call to be missionaries. We are missionaries. We do need a call from the Holy Spirit (who alone can give the call) for special service in our missionary work. He calls some to be apostles, some teachers, some evangelists, some bankers, some bakers, some lawyers but He must chopse. The church is full of restless people because they are out of the will of God. Many men have chosen to be preachers and pastors whom God never chose. Many whom we call “ foreign” and “ home” missionaries were neveij called to the field they have selected. No believer ever needs to “ volunteer” as a missionary. All need to
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