My family and I gathered around the TV last night to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Wow! It was amazing. The drums, the lights, the colors, the pageantry, the human paintbrushes. The voices of the children singing in one accord. The precision and timing of each of the 15,000 performers was outstanding.
As I sat on the couch with my kiddos I was in awe and in tears. Some 91,000 people filled the "Bird's Nest" to witness this history making event. Ninety-one thousand spectators, not to mention the thousands and thousands of athletes, put all political and religious differences aside to come together for one purpose. My heart was filled with such wonder and amazement I thought it would burst forth from my chest.
After putting my kiddos to bed I crawled up in my own comfy bed and watched as each country and nation's group of athletes entered the arena. They all proudly wore outfits that represented their nation and held their countries flag high. There were smiles on all the faces and, I imagine, joy and excitement in the hearts of every man and women, boy and girl, who were a part of this great parade of nations.
As I continued to watch I though back to when the Chinese flag entered the arena earlier in the night. The flag was carried into the arena by Chinese children and was then passed to Chinese soldiers. The soldiers then, very carefully and with a great display of pride, lifted the flag high. As all of this was happening the commentator made this statement, "The state of China is the guarantee of the future of these children. "Wow," my husband replied, "the state of China is the guarantee of the future of these children."
My friends, no state, no president, no government, no nation is the guarantee of our future. As I said yesterday in Psalm Friday, the Holy Spirit is the Guarantee of our future because He has sealed us until the day of the coming of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30). The day is coming when every tribe, every tongue and every nation will gather together for one purpose. Oh, and when that day comes, our banners will be raised high, our hearts will be filled with much pride, joy and elation, and smiles will cover our faces! We will all stand together, not dressed in our nations garb, but dressed in the robes of the righteousness of Christ and His salvation, and we will praise God Almighty for eternity. I can hardly wait!
But until then, you and I have work to do. As I picture that arena full of peoples from all lands, I can't help but think that not all of them will join us in that great day of praise. We have been commissioned to go into ALL the world and make disciples of ALL NATIONS, ALL TRIBES, ALL TONGUES. This means we are going to have to give up somethings, step out of our comfort zones, and get down and dirty. God's work is not easy, but it is very rewarding. You and I can't take any of our material possessions with us to heaven, but we can be a part of the harvesting of souls for His Kingdom.
If you read this post on Tuesday, you know that I have an information packets on China that I'd like to share with you. I have 4 of those packets left to give away. In order to receive one of these packets I am asking that you share with us an evangelistic encounter in which you have been personally involved in- i.e. witnessing to a neighbor, sharing the love of Jesus by providing someone a meal, etc. I look forward to reading about all the ways God is using you. I will post an update when all of the packets are gone.
Many blessings to you all. Make today, and everyday, an ON MISSION day!
2 Lovely Thoughts Shared:
Wow! What a day that will be when we gather to worship! We do have work to do and we can start in our own communities. We can have an impact on the very people we come in contact with every day. Sitting next to a lady at football practice the other day; over hearing some of her comments to another mom, I became aware of her lost condition and there she was; sitting RIGHT next to me. I didn't say anything YET. But I will be working on getting to know her and letting her SEE who I am!
I've already got a packet coming, but I wanted to share anyway! =)
Litl Krista
Blessings Jenifer! This one brought tears to my eyes!
Your heart and mine filled with wonder and aMazement!
My banner says Jehovah Nissi! I wave it proudly to honor my allegiance to my King! And I can't wait for every tribe, and every nation...my daily life is to bring in the harvest.
Evangelistic encounter: besides posting at Mazes, Messes, Miracles & aMazing Grace; working with YWAM students that have 3 outreaches here in Mazatlan(Homes of Hope, Skateboarding Bible Study for Youth, Tolerance Zone evangelism) and went on their final outreach to other parts of Mexico and Indonesia;weekly excursions to the dumpsite workers bringing them torta, fruit & water; outreaches to the Children's Feeding Centers early hours of breakfast and God's Word; Festininos...Christmas shoeboxes handing out from Graham's Evangelical
outreach to poor colonies in Mexico 1,000+ kids here; orphanages that receive donations from Tourist BINGO through my friend Helen's Forgotten Children
Charity; Hands Across the Borders;
Friends of Mexico; SOMACUPA...for Hospice here; HOWEVER
I guess my first one that I had a part of way back in the early 90s with my Spanish class in Monterrey, Nueva Leon, Mexico...was a door to door canvas handing out the Gospel of John in Spanish as we took back Jehovah Witness materials and invited them to CHURCH or if they wanted to pray and accept Jesus! It's the first one that really makes an impression and stays with you a lifetime!It was too short of a Short Term Mission trip so I came back and stayed! My life just could not go back to being the same. I knew where I was called!
I knew where HE had prepared me to go! I just needed to be obedient &
LISTEN! SEE my INTERNET CAFE from Saturday, August 9th!!!
By the way, Thanks for your visit..I removed that post and posted a Seek the Lord Sunday instead but I'm glad you saw the new link...it's in my sidebar but most don't look through those! My trip was to the border and back to Mazatlan and I'm still recuperating, my body takes a while to make the adjustments nowadays...my eyes too...but Thanks for asking!!!
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