Tag: Weekly

God’s Call to Christian Missions

Matthew 16:18-19 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven to open the gospel door in progression, first to the Jews (Acts 2), then to the Samaritans who were half-Jew and half-gentile (Acts 8) and finally to Cornelius, an Italian Gentile (Acts 10).

With the opening of the gospel door to the Gentiles and the scattering of the Jews throughout the Roman Empire, the scene was set for the enactment of God’s redemption plan by His chosen vessels, Paul and his companions.

God’s Call to Christian Service

The call of God separates a man to salvation. The call of God also separates a man for Holy service for His Lord. The Apostle Paul was saved and commissioned by Christ, he met Christ on His eleventh and final appearance recorded in Acts 9:1-6 and 1 Corinthians 15:8 “And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time”, on the road to Damascus persecuting the early church two years after the Ascension (Acts 1:9). He confessed receiving the call to be the last Apostle of Christ and his unworthiness in 1 Corinthians 15:9 “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” He was a fierce persecutor of the early church. He witnessed the martyrdom of Stephen, for Saul, his Jewish name, was consenting unto Stephen’s death (Acts 8:1).

(1) Scripture Is the Rule of Life
– Humble Obedience, the True Imitation of Christ

The goal of the new life is that God’s children walk in the beauty of God’s law. In doing so, we become sure of our adoption as children of the Father. A sincere repentance from the heart does not guarantee that we shall not wander the straight path and sometimes become bewildered. Let us then search the Scripture to find the root principle for the reformation of our life.

(1) Rescue the Perishing

– A Song from the Slums

At the age of sixty, when many were planning retirement, Fanny Crosby launched out on a new career. She spent several days a week in a mission work in the slums of the Bowery district in New York City. Once, after such a visit among the destitute and derelicts, she returned home and wrote the now-famous hymn:

Rescue the perishing,

Care for the dying,

Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;

Weep o’er the erring one,

Lift up the fallen,

Tell them of Jesus, The mighty to save.