The results are in.
The decision has been made.
We have just been given the official word that we have passed our assessments and are accepted as church planters by the North American Mission Board!
Thank you for your faithful prayers over the last several months as we have gone through this process
Where does that leave us now?
We want to be obedient in serving God and the people of the world where He desires without worrying about, or knowing, the how or the when.
We want to obey Him at ALL costs.
Rhonda and I have always had a special place in our hearts for Genesis 22. If you remember, God asks Abraham to place his only son, the son it took so long to have, on an altar as a sacrifice in obedience of his enduring faith in the promise of God.
That passage is special to us from a particular time in our lives when God clearly asked us for the same faith….to place our sweet, newborn child, Rachel in His care. We obeyed, and God’s promise to us was fulfilled, just as they always are.
But after hearing a sermon on the same passage at church recently, a separate part of this passage has become our new test of faith and obedience.
Genesis 22:3 says Abraham rose early in the morning.
Early.
He knew he was going to sacrifice his son.
Yet, he didn’t delay.
He immediately obeyed.
We find the parallel to telling our own children we expect “immediate obedience” a bit uncanny. God asks us for the same type of obedience!
We know we are at a new altar.
What is God asking us to put on that altar?
Is it the children? Or our families? Or our comfort? Or our possessions?
We cannot say we are willing to obey God’s calling and still take along a ‘token’.
We recently had a friend tell us, “If you go there, you have to be willing to give up everything.”
That wasn’t the first time we had heard that advice. That won’t be the last time, I’m sure.
Regardless of where there may be, are we willing to give it all up in order to advance the Kingdom of God?
Or have we simply been spouting meaningless words?
And how long is it going to take us to obey?
Do we already know what God is asking us to do and are delaying, or are we still trying to determine God’s there for us in order to go forward in obedience?
Regardless, God gives us the same promise He gave Abraham:
Genesis 22:16-17: “By myself I have sworn…because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring…”
Pray with us this week:
- Continue to pray for us as we seek God’s will about where He is leading us to serve. We currently have 2 specific opportunities. Pray He makes it clear quickly, and that we do not delay in responding.
- Pray for our friends, Matthew and Heather Bond, who will be NAMB church planters on Vancouver Island, B.C. They are still in need of final funding, but in a short time period.
- Pray for the people of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas, TX. Pray they are a light to one another, and the rest of inner-city Dallas.
- Pray for us as we go on vacation to southern Colorado and northern New Mexico next week.
