Cornerstone

Eccl. 1:1-11; Matt:28:18-20

Maintenance and mission are both necessary in order to minister effectively. When maintenance is emphasized while neglecting mission, it loses its purpose and becomes little more than a bore and a chore. When mission is emphasized at the expense of maintenance, its accomplishment is neutralized. Maintenance and mission are both necessary and important. Maintenance may not be very exciting, but it shows that we care. Mission is exciting but easily forgotten because of the sense of urgency that maintenance declares.

This is a tension that we experience in our calling. We have a mission to accomplish but in order to accomplish the mission we must maintain the vehicle and trappings necessary to accomplish the mission. Often our emphasis on one or the other gets out of balance and we are less effective in our work as a result.

If it seems that your ministry is ineffective you can still ignite a spark of renewed flame in your work. But to see this happen you must do some self-evaluation. How is the balance in your life AND work between maintenance and mission? Are you so caught up in the necessary things involved in your work that you have forgotten the purpose for it all? The proper balance can bring new life and new excitement to your work. You can come to the place where you can ‘t wait to get to the work because of what you are sure God is going to do through you.

Dr. Gayle Woods

John 14:1-6 (1)

The mental patient holding his ear close to the wall, listened intently. The attendant approached. “Sh!” whispered the patient, beckoning him over. The attendant pressed his ear to the wall. “I can’t hear a thing,” he finally said. “No,” replied the patient, “it’s been like that all day!”

Often we are confident that things are going to go wrong. If things dont go wrong they should have. When we get outside the sphere of the customary we get nervous, pessimistic and uncertain. Jesus faced this as He talked to his disciples in John 14. In the John 13 Jesus said He would soon leave. He also told them that Peter was going to deny Him. Then seeing their agitation He told them not to be concerned!

What He was trying to teach them was faith dependence. They were already dependent upon Him but they needed to have a faith dependence. Faith dependence will continue constant even when the visible evidence of the source of our dependence is absent.

Elizabeth Cheney stated it well:

Said the Robin to the Sparrow,

“I should really like to know

Why these anxious human beings

Rush about and hurry so.”

Said the Sparrow to the Robin,

“Friend, I think that it must be

That they have no Heavenly Father

Such as cares for you and me.”

Christs Mission

Psalm 147:1-12 (3)

Pungent Statement: To see Christs vision and realize His sense of mission you must be more concerned about the lost than your own comfort or convenience.

As William Booth walked among the poor, hungry and sick people of London his heard was moved with compassion. The situation seemed to be hopeless. The people were not able to find jobs. They lived in small dilapidated quarters that were deteriorating, vermin infested and dangerous. They were lost and without a Savior. It seemed that know one cared whether they knew that Jesus died for them.

William Booth told his wife, “I have given myself to work for God among those sick souls.” He made up his mind that God would have all there was of William Booth as he tried to bring the needy face to face with Jesus. As a result of this vision and sense of mission a new army was formed. It was soon to be called the Salvation Army.

Every successful work of God has been the result of a man or woman first seeing people through the eyes of Jesus. As they looked upon the degradation, destitution, and depressed situation surround the lives of doomed people they began to realize that the mission of their Master to saved a lost world was also to be their mission.

Until you become more concerned about the condition of the lost than your own comfort or convenience you will never see Christs vision or realize His sense of mission.

Dr. Gayle Woods