Good Friday morning from the LPD.
Yes, this is the weekend that we turn our clocks back on Saturday night – look out for some early birds on Sunday morning – let’s just call them keeners. 🙂
For some people, moving the clock back means that you can sleep in on Sunday morning. Young children don’t think that way. They will simply rise at 5AM, rather than 6AM on Sunday morning!
If we are honest, we all have days where we might just want to “fall back” and “lie in” for another hour. We may feel both overwhelmed and not “up to” the day ahead. When I think of this day ahead (Friday), I am praying for a very pivotal meeting in one church this morning. I am praying for a pastor who is coming alongside a family in which cancer has aggressively returned. I have been praying for a church that is in transition. All of us face circumstances and challenges that are beyond us.
To add to this, our churches, feeling overwhelmed by the changes in our culture, might also desire to “fall back.” Rather than engaging and speaking the gospel into our culture, there can be a desire to simply retreat into the culture and safety of our church.
On Tuesday morning, I was encouraged by the reminder in, “My Utmost For His Highest.” When we might feel like “falling back,” it is time to refocus on our Lord, not upon the “task” at hand or the circumstances we face. I paste the reading below:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19
Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.
The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).
May God guide and keep you through this day and through the weekend ahead.
Please see the attached Five Minutes on Friday, with news and prayer items from the LPD, and also see the attachment featuring Parkdale Evangelical Free Church, our LPD Church of the Week.
Please note the following dates:
Here are some topics to be covered:
Dr. Christopher Yuan teaches the Bible at Moody Bible Institute and speaks around the globe on faith and sexuality. He speaks at conferences (such as InterVarsity’s Urbana, as well as the Moody Pastors’ Conferences and Men’s Conference), on college campuses and in churches (such as Saddleback Church and Willow Creek Community Church). He is featured in the award-winning documentary “HOPE Positive: Surviving the Sentence of AIDS,” and has co-authored a memoir with his mother – Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son’s Journey to God, A Broken Mother’s Search for Hope. Christopher graduated from Moody Bible Institute in 2005, Wheaton College Graduate School in 2007 with a Master of Arts in Biblical Exegesis, and Bethel Seminary with a doctorate of ministry in 2014.
Please see this link for all the info and a brochure with instructions for registration.
Please note Islanders: We are thankful to Central EFC in Courtenay for hosting a simulcast for Island people. Please contact Pastor Ben Crumback of Sointula Community Church for details! (ben.crumback@gmail.com)
May God bless and keep you as you look to the Lord, trust him for his good work through the week ahead.
In Jesus,
Rob
***
This year, as our Lower Pacific District assists in the birth and revitalization of churches, we also step out in faith with local churches through providing financial support and seed money. To this end, we appreciate the gifts of many district churches and also of individuals. You can participate through both cheques and online through PayPal at our website. See LPD website for more info.
