The Great Comission, Great Commandment, and Great Compassion

Hello everyone, I was reading a book about the Missionary Call and the author mentioned how part of the missionary call is a burden for these three things. I really enjoyed what he had to say, so I figured that I would take a little time to write about them.

If your reading this, I am assuming that you know what the first of these three is, the "Great Commission". This is the command of Jesus to go to the nations (ethne) and make disciples - it is recorded in every gospel and the book of Acts. (Matt 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:74, John20:21 and Acts 1:8). I think most people would say that in order to be a missionary you just need to have a burden to fulfill this call of our Lord to go into every people group and to make disciples among them teaching them to obey all that the Lord has commanded us. I think that is certaily a main piece, but I also believe that they must feel a burden to fulfill these two other area's mentioned above.

Matt. 22:33-40 explains what the "Great Commandment" is.
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Not only are the law and the prophets summed up in these two commandments, we also see the start of the missionary calling in them as well. The author I was reading say's "When you love the Lord, you long to glorify Him, and see the nations fall at His feet in worship. When you love your neighbor as yourself, you share the gospel with him and seek to meet his needs in every way you can, which includes seeing them fall at Jesus' feet in thanksgiving for salvation."

Lastly, we read of "The Great Compassion" in Mark 6:34 which says
34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
When our heart is united with the Lord's heart, the great compassion will be part of our everyday life and actions. When each day that goes by is filled with burden of the nations being lost and without any hope, we then can say, "Here I am, send me"!

I believe that hearing the Lord's call to missions will include a burden to fulfill the Great Commission, and a deep desire to obey the Great Commandment, and lastly for all things to be guided by the Great Compassion. I pray that these things will be able to guide us and direct us to exactly what the Lord has for us, in the places He desires us to be in. I am praying in my own life that these three things would be in the forefront of everything that I do, from how I spend my time and money, to how I relate with other people. Praise the Lord for the power of His Word, and His Holy Spirit to guide us into all Truth.

Blessings,

Carlos

God's sovereignty

Hello everyone, I just wanted to give you guys an update on the freight container to Zambia, as well as our trip to set up the radio tower for Lumba Christian Ministries over in Kasempa, Zambia, which by the way have had a direct affect on my lack of postings lately!

Unfortunately the news is bad regarding both the freight container, and our trip to Zambia that was to leave on the 18th of September. The freight container is still in Beira, Mozambique and for reasons that I cannot comprehend, or at this point control, we really don't have a time on when it will be shipped to Kasempa, Zambia. From what I am being told, there is a dispute between the trucking company taking it to Zambia, and our shipping company who is to pay them. It has something to do with contracts and money and all that stuff, and unfortunately, without me actually going to Mozambique, we may just have to wait it out a bit. Of course that means that I had to cancel our tickets for our trip to go and set up the radio tower from September 18th -28th, but I am trusting that this is the Lord's will, and that He will have us there in His perfect timing. Also, the longer that this container sits in one place, I think it has a greater chance of looters getting to it, and the contents being stolen. So I am asking you guys (and anyone else that you give this to) to please labor in prayer for this container to leave Mozambique quickly, and arrive in Kasempa, Zambia with all of it's contents still in there. I would love to see a miracle take place, and the Lord to receive even more glory for what has taken place, so that's what I'm praying for.

Regarding God's sovereignty, I really believe that He is in control in this situation. One of the reasons is that now, the Lord has freed me up a little more to concentrate on our El Salvador medical missions trip this October 31st - November 8th. There are allot of details in regards to getting the proper licenses, and approvals for our trip, and it is taking up more of my time that previously expected. I am very excited about this trip as it is our first medical trip to El Salvador, and the Lord has opened up many doors to minister the love of Christ in various Calvary Chapel church plants throughout El Salvador. Please be praying for this trip as well - that we would receive all of the medicine that we are trying to collect (if you know anyone who is a pharmacist, or works in a hospital or a drug rep that could help in donating medicine please let me know), also pray that the Lord would continue to unite our group as we meet and pray, and prepare for this trip.

I really appreciate all of your prayers, and please feel free to pass this link on to others who can be praying for us. In a couple of days, I'll be posting on

"The Great Commission, the Great Commandment, and the Great Compassion".

blessings,

Carlos