11/9/14 YEAR OF EQUIPPING TO SERVE

The Take-Away From Our Fall Emphasis on Missions

    Where is Brittany Maynard today?
Some thoughts from Jim Denison (edited)
    Brittany Maynard described how she learned that she had terminal brain cancer and her decision to move to Oregon so that she could take advantage of its ‘Death with Dignity’ law to end her life.  Brittany ended her own life recently at her home in Portland.  She was 29 years old.  She left this message on Facebook:
    “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love.  Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me . . . but would have taken so much more.  The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers.  I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type. . . . Goodbye world.  Spread good energy.  Pay it forward!”
    It would be hard to find a person who lived a more active life than Brittany did.  She traveled to Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, and Tanzania.  She climbed Kilimanjaro a month before her wedding, took ice climbing courses in Ecuador and was an avid scuba diver.  She taught in orphanages in Nepal and spent a summer working in Costa Rica.
    However, I can find nothing about her religious beliefs.  In describing her decision to end her life, she invited those who love her to “come say goodbye as I pass into whatever’s next.”  It’s hard to know what she believed about Jesus or salvation.
    Nonetheless, I would guess that most in our culture think Brittany is in heaven, since our culture is convinced that all good people go there.  Eighty-nine percent of Americans believe in heaven; 85 percent of them believe they’ll go there.  Three in four, including two-thirds of Protestants, do not believe that access to heaven is limited to Christians.
    But opinion doesn’t change reality.  What humans think about heaven and hell is mere speculation unless our beliefs are based on something besides belief.  . . . . . .
    The difference between Jesus and all other religious authorities is the resurrection.  There is abundant evidence that Jesus lived, was condemned and crucified by the Romans, and was seen alive by his followers and worshiped as Lord.  Apart from the resurrection there is no compelling explanation for his empty tomb, the changed lives of his disciples, or the impact of his movement on the Roman Empire.
    If he is raised from the dead, he must be God.  If he is God, his word must be true.  And he clearly states in his word, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  Peter agreed: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Why does this issue matter?
    I worry about the apparent loss of evangelistic passion among many in Western Christianity today. . . . .
    I’m convinced that one reason for our lack of evangelistic effectiveness is that many of us have lost sight of hell. We’ve adopted our culture’s distaste for eternal perdition, ignoring or even rejecting the biblical facts about those who reject our Lord.  But Jesus said more about hell than heaven.  He warned us that “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction”.  The apostles paid the ultimate price to get the only hope of salvation to their dying world.
    It seems so unkind to even consider the possibility that a beautiful, suffering young woman like Brittany might be in hell.  I deeply & sincerely hope she is in heaven with our Lord.  However, there’s nothing I can do to influence her commitment to Jesus today.  But every person I meet this day is another Brittany.  We are all dying.  And we have only today to be ready for eternity.
    William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once took a group of volunteers through an extensive evangelism training course lasting many weeks.  When it was done he said to them, “I’m sorry our training took so long.  If I could take you to hell for five minutes, none of what I’ve taught you would be necessary.”
    Who is your Brittany Maynard today?
http://www.denisonforum.org/morality/1224-where-is-brittany-maynard-today
Some thoughts:
God is the Judge and is the only one who can answer the question of where she is today.
It is extremely sad that people think the best solution is suicide.
Many of these laws are sugar-coated with a positive sounding name to hide what is really going on.
Even in the worst of medical conditions, taking your life is never the answer.
    Questions about what we can take away from our missions convention –
□    Why put all this emphasis on missions?
□    Why put the emphasis on reaching people with the message of Jesus?
□    Why would some of the most gifted people risk life and limb and go to places that are not attractive places to be?
□    Why would they work so hard to raise their support and then come back every four years to replace the support they lost and increase it due to inflation?
The answer is found in a series of verses.  There are many more we could look at, but look at these.
Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 NKJV
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:1 NKJV
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 10:9-10, 13 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
II Corinthians 5:17, 21 NKJV
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Revelation 20:15 NKJV
15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
    The Take-Away: because people are lost in their sin, we are accountable before God to reach people for Jesus.  Without HIM, they are lost in their sins.  People around here without a personal relationship with Jesus are just as lost as someone in Africa.
    We have just shown the need of Jesus through the verses we looked at.  And now this very challenging question.
Romans 10:14-15 NLT
14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
    We can never force or trick a person into believing in Jesus.  We must give them the good news, pray that they will receive the tugging of God in their hearts and respond to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
    So many people don’t realize they are lost.  Listen to this strange but true story.   Man Discovers He Was a Missing Child
    Imagine one day discovering that you were a lost, missing child.
    Marx Barnes—now named Steve Carter—born in 1977, had no inkling he was a lost, missing child until January 2011, when he did a search on missingkids.com. He found himself staring at a composite image created to show what Marx would look like as an adult.
    “I got chills,” Carter said.
    A DNA test ultimately confirmed his identity.
    Marx went missing at 6-months-old on June 21, 1977, when his mother placed him in a stroller and went for a walk on one of the Hawaiian Islands. Through a strange series of events, Marx’s mother was placed in a psychiatric hospital, while Marx was placed in protective care, ultimately becoming a ward of the state. Marx was placed in an orphanage only 30 miles from where he lived with his parents. As an adult, Carter “never had any strong desire to locate his family.”
    By contrast, his half sister had only one desire in life: to find out what happened to her brother. It was her efforts—convincing officials to reactivate the investigation—that led to the composite image Carter discovered online. An official from the Missing Child Center in Hawaii said, “If it wasn’t for her, it would still be a cold case.”
Joey Bartolomeo, “Alive, 34 Years After He Went Missing,” People (4-30-12)
    Here is a critical issue for us to grasp: most people don’t realize they are spiritually lost.  It takes the work of God to speak to their hearts for them to realize their need of Jesus.  I believe most people believe something is missing, but they don’t recognize the need as Jesus.
John 16:7-8 NKJV
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
John 6:44 NKJV
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Chicago Man Discovers His Real Name
    The headline in the Chicago Tribune was poignant: “Living a Life Unknown.” The subhead said, “Dozens of John, Jane Does turn up yearly at Illinois police stations and hospitals. Most are identified. These 5 weren’t.”
    Despite all the efforts of social services and police, no one seems to know a woman who calls herself Seven. She says she is 71 and that she’s gone by that name since 1976. She’s been in state care since 2003 and has dementia. Even her smiling picture on the front page of a Chicago paper is not likely to help.
    Sometimes an identity is discovered. A man they named Carlos has been a ward of the state since 1998, longer than any of the other John Does in Illinois. According to the Tribune, “He doesn’t speak and likely had a stroke that caused brain damage. He uses a wheelchair and wears a medical helmet to prevent injuries. His only reaction to people is a wide smile and a giddy giggle.”
    On November 29, 2011, the staff at the facility where Carlos lives discovered his identity and that it was his 53rd birthday. According to the story, “That day, caretaker Azucena Herrera went to Carlos and uttered the name Crispin Mareno. The usually giggly man fell silent after hearing his real name for the first time in at least 13 years. Then tears ran down his cheek.”
Lee Eclov, Vernon Hills, Illinois; source: Becky Schlikerman, "Living a Life Unknown," Chicago Tribune (2-21-12)
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound . . . I once was lost but now am found, t’was blind but now I see.
DISCUSSION
The tern take-away refers to what a person can take with them to make a difference in their life after they partake in an event.  What are the take-aways you see from our missions convention and the emphasis on missions?  The personal impact?
What are the take-aways as we look to the next year and our involvement in working for Jesus?  (This is both personal and corporate involvement.)
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once took a group of volunteers through an extensive evangelism training course lasting many weeks.  When it was done he said to them, “I’m sorry our training took so long.  If I could take you to hell for five minutes, none of what I’ve taught you would be necessary.”
PRAYER