April 21
Live the Gospel
Romans 12
KEY VERSE:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s
will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
n Romans 12:2
Society
constantly exerts enormous pressure on all of us to adopt the value system of
materialism. Paul understood that the world wants to squeeze us into its own
mold. But God has a different plan! He invites us to resist the world and allow
his Spirit to give us the power to live by his holy standards.
Paul
recognizes that such holy living does not happen simply because we want it to
happen. The secret lies in submitting our minds to the transforming power of
the indwelling Christ. Grace, and grace alone, saves us from conformity to the
world.
But when by
the grace of God we are able to offer ourselves as “living sacrifices” to God,
he is able to use our example to attract others to embrace the mission of
Christ. I have seen this happen in our local church.
For more
than a decade our church has invited missionaries to share their faith with our
people. Over and over again we have witnessed with our own eyes, and heard with
our own hearts, the testimonies of men and women who are sold out to God. We
have been divinely inspired by the examples of ordinary folks like ourselves
who have found in Christ the transforming power to live by Kingdom standards.
The result
has been that several of our people have been moved to offer themselves for missionary
service. At one point Keith and Dianne Byrd, both educators with good
positions, were co-chairs of our Missions Team. Now they are in Kenya where
both are teaching at Highlands Bible College. To do so they had to give up the
values of our society and embrace the values of the Kingdom of God. Several
other adults in our church are headed toward the mission field as their minds
are renewed and transformed by the power of God.
Another
result of the influence of godly missionaries is the increase of our concern
for missions. People care more, pray more, and give more. Our church is now
assisting nearly 20 missionaries in different parts of the world. We are
sending mission work teams to love and work in Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay,
Dominican Republic, and Russia.
In February
our people responded to a goal of $100,000 in Faith Promise giving by believing
God for more than $110,000. Last year our people gave about
$98,000 for Faith Promise missions work, as well as paying 100% of our
apportionments.
Why is this
happening to our church? God has been using the examples of people who are
“living the gospel” to transform the lives of others. Seeing that happen should
motivate us to offer ourselves as “living sacrifices” so that he can use us
too.