This is the Friday post from Prayers for IMB:
In the first chapter of Acts we encounter our sending God. I’ll begin in verse 3, “After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the Kingdom of God.”
God sent His Son. He sent His Son, not for the purpose that so many wished for, but to suffer and die for our sins. This was planned from the beginning of creation. Our God has always been a sending God.
“While He was with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise.” Wait a second, didn’t he tell His disciples to “Go therefore into all the world…” in Matthew 28? Yes He did, but I believe this is Matthew’s version of what we see in Acts chapter 1. Jesus is sending them into the world, just as He has sent us into the world.
It does no good for us to be sent into the world without The Holy Spirit. That promise was made back in John 16:7, “Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I am going away, because if I don’t go away, the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes , He will convict the world about sin, judgment, and righteousness.” The Holy Spirit is sent to us.
We are then sent to be His witnesses in every corner of this world. Jesus says we will be His witnesses in four locations. These four locations can be viewed in terms of city, state, country, and world. I, however, believe Jesus is telling His followers that they will be sent into the world and they will have an influence on all four of these locations. We have no idea how much we influence our city, state, nation, and world.
Our church has been praying for the Candoshi people group, a UPG in Northwestern Peru. There will be some of my church members who meet a tn skinned Amazonian Indian in heaven. That person will thank them for praying and having an influence on their world. We have no idea how much our sending affects our world.
I love hearing how Dave and Bart work with unreached peoples in Senegal. They’ll meet people in heaven because of their faithfulness to follow God’s sending. We don’t have to go to another country to follow God’s sending. There are some of you who have boldly shared the gospel with your neighbors. You have followed God’s sending.
Is it any wonder that we follow God’s sending? He did create us in His image. We follow our sending and we are a sending people made in His image.
That’s not the best part though. Our God is a sending God, and in Acts 1:9 we can be encouraged by His last act of sending. “After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. When He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood before them. They said, ‘men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”
That is glorious news. The final sending will be God sending Jesus back.
Three questions and three prayer requests:
- Are you living sent?
- Are you encouraging others to live sent?
- What do you need to do to live sent?
Prayer requests from Japan
- Pray for M-San’s mom. M-san is a believer, and her mom just received a Bible and started reading it immediately. Pray that she will come to believe the truth of the gospel.
- Pray for T-san and his family who have been witnessing to their new neighbors. Pray that their new neighbors will accept Christ.
- Pray for H-san, a high schooler who has a fire in her heart to tell others about Jesus.
Take some extra time today and click over to Prayers for IMB and spend some ore time praying for IMB prayer requests.
