Speak and Assume! It’s Biblical.
When the Apostles Peter and John were arrested and threatened after healing a crippled man in Jerusalem, it’s fascinating to see what they were commanded not to do, and to consider what was ignored. It is also fascinating to read how they prayed and what they asked God for once they were released.
They were told NOT to speak or teach any more in Jesus’ name (Acts 4:17). The miracle that they saw God perform through their faith seems to have been ignored. This is congruent with my experience in missions in closed countries but also here in free-and-lovely New Zealand: Governments and non-Christian authorities are quite happy with healings, health facilities, and educational give-aways of course. But the minute you start clearly articulating your allegiance to Jesus and the motivation for your acts of kindness …. you’ll meet resistance. That’s life and we need to get used to it.
It is also interesting to consider how and what they prayed once they were released: they raised their voices and said “Sovereign LORD – you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…” Their first thoughts were for The Almighty nature of God. The focus was on the greatness of God to create. Then they asked for two very important things …
and not one of them was “protection.”
They asked God for the ability to speak boldly, and for God the Almighty to continue performing miracles.
God gives ability to speak. We cannot say to Him or others “O I could never say that”, or “I could never do that” because the ability to speak boldly in Jesus name comes not from ourselves, but by the Spirit of Christ Himself (Acts 4:29).
Secondly, they did not so much ask God to stretch out His hand and perform miracles, but they assumed He would continue to do so! (v.30)
Mission Radio has a unique ability to speak very boldly into nations and hearts, but we too need to trust the Spirit of Christ to enable us to open our mouths and make known His goodness and grace. For some very helpful commentary on The Importance of Using Spiritual Gifts see Lloyd Rankin’s latest Vineyard Leadership Letter.
Take Home:
- When persecuted, pray more for ability to speak boldly than for protection;
- Remember our God is the Sovereign Creator of the Universe! Assume He will do great things in your world.
Matt
What do you want?
It’s only just occurred to me that there is something more primary to spiritual life than prayer. Desire. It comes before everything. Before I pray, speak, or move, I must first want something, and desire it enough to act or utter. Jesus said that we will receive what we desire in prayer (Mark 11:24). The Canaanite woman who asked Jesus to heal her daughter was commended for her faith and given what she wanted (Matthew 15:28). “What do you want me to do?” is one of Jesus power questions.. (Matthew 20:23).
Another role of mission radio is to stir up desire. Not create it, God did that (Ezekiel 36:26-28). Mission radio speaks to the whole person and evokes the God-given longing for purpose, eternity, acceptance before God, well-being …
So, what do you want? Today? For your life? If we want to want more of Jesus in our lives, I guess we should pray that way J “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
Simply – get involved
I know it’s a simplification to say this, but I think simple is good. I often tell people that what God is doing with the world can be summed up in two categories: Discipleship, and Missions. I invite you to suggest a Christian activity that doesn’t fit into one of these…
He is at work reaching out to people from every nation, every single people group. It is a gracious and systematic work according to His Grace and Purpose (Matt 24; 14; 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 1: 8-9 etc.).
He is simultaneously shaping the community that is His Church. Growing (in number and character) His Church into a Christ-like people, disciples. (i.e. Ephesians 2:11-22; 5:1-2).
But God is most definitely not doing this on His own, it is a mystery how it all works, but He has definitely called us to be involved (the above scriptures are so full of commands to US: go, make, teach, be, join with me, be imitators, live, .. I won’t add any more). So here’ the thing – when I talk about going to other nations or sending Christians to work and share and be Christ followers among other peoples, it amazes me that so many can say “Oh I could never do that..” or “Wow, that’s amazing” as if it takes extra super powers to obey God internationally.
The truth is participation in worldwide missions is as essential as participation in discipleship. We are not all called to go overseas, but we are all called to actively participate in the missional community that is the body of Christ. If you struggle with excuses for participation (or know someone else who does ..), I suggest that missions and discipleship engagement takes many forms:
- Some need to travel,
- many need to resource the going, the communicating,
- all need to pray specifically for the hearts, the activities, the outcomes.
By the way, just to prove that I don’t take myself too seriously I offer you this hilarious video of how to overcome excuses in life… there’s some real truth in Bob Newhart’s approach..
Hard to imagine
Imagine you are a young soldier in the military.
Imagine you serve under a totalitarian regime who regularly murder and abuse innocent civilians.
Imagine your unit enters a village and the people scatter out of sheer fear for their lives.
Imagine that the one man who is forced to stay behind and cook for you, hands you a tract about the One True God, and His Son Jesus Christ.
Imagine you tune in to Christian radio and discover that they talk about the same God – and you become deeply convinced, deeply happy.
Imagine you start praying to God, but you don’t really know how.
Imagine writing to the radio station and asking for help.
Imagine your delight when they write back, answering your questions, and send you a pocket Bible, in Burmese.
“I was shaking and my eyes were full of tears. I was so happy.”
Just Add Audio
I’ve been reflecting on one of my earlier blogs and some new thoughts came to mind!
Psalm 19 is still fascinating me. There’s a verse I mentioned last time that totally deserves more attention – and it’s all about audio communication.
Verse 3 says “There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” This is a nifty little ‘double entendre.’ A single sentence with two meanings:
Firstly, it is literally saying that even though verses 1-2 are loaded with communication terms (declare, proclaim, pour forth speech, display knowledge) there is no actual speech from creation or God. The heavens and skies almost shout the glories of God, yet there is no language or audible talk of any kind.
And secondly, it is saying no people (language group or ethnicity) are unable to perceive God’s communication!
So what for us mere mortals? Loads – this means God is communicating, everyone can perceive there is a great creator behind it all, AND OUR JOB IS TO ADD THE AUDIO!!
The role of the church is to go and make disciples, teach people to enjoy and obey God, announce the Good News and to give human voice to the announcement of the heavens! Adding voice is a huge and vital part of the mission of the church on earth, and we have the vocal cords and the technology to do it incredibly well. We just need to get on with it 
Are you involved?
Vocal cords - very helpful in missions
When is talking to people about Jesus biblical?
I’m at a mission conference with numerous people who represent dozens of countries and thousands of hours per week of missional broadcasting, and one topic that’s popped up a bit is “What is the scope of the Good News? When is Christian mission radio missional? Or we could ask “When is talking to people about Jesus biblical?”
I happened to read Acts 17 this morning and I find it helpful. This is a fascinating story of a missional conversation. Firstly, in spite of their lostness Paul complimented the Athenians for their religious pursuit! But what really amazes me is that Paul (actually the Holy Spirit) has included in scripture a piece of “pagan” poetry! It is declared as “truth,” and is now Biblical. Before it was made Biblical it was simply human. So what is most important here is its truthfulness. Its source is not a problem (even though it’s pagan!)
The Greek hero Odysseus, from Homer's Odyssey.. a 12000 word poem (plenty to choose from!)
From Mumbai to Moscow our listening audience’s lives are different, their circumstances, problems, struggles, hopes, languages, interests all vary enormously …
When sharing the love of God and the salvation of Christ with people, the form of the Good News for them is determined by their understanding (the recipient’s )and not the messenger’s preference. So in Thailand that may include some known truth wrapped up in Buddhist forms, in Mongolia it may be wrapped in nomadic culture, in China there may be a proverb that says it well, and in Iran perhaps a Farsi song captures a Kingdom concept. Whoever we’re communicating with, wherever they’re from, look for key truths within their current understanding that you could include in your communication about Jesus Christ.
But none of these things say it all. Paul included new truths for his audience to connect the conversation more to God. He discussed both the known and the unknown. In this case he declared God to be creator (17:24), giver and sustainer of all life (v. 25), sovereign (v. 26), not silly and soft (29-30), but our judge (v.31).
So, when is talking to people about Jesus biblical? When it is true.
Jesus invites us to backpack …
I’m about to head off for two weeks of work (read: conference and exploring) in South East Asia. I get to explore behind the Bamboo Curtain (is it still called that?) and meet the people who follow up with those who respond to our broadcasts. I can’t wait!
In one SEA country of nearly 100 million people, we received more than 260,000 responses in 2010! Of course that’s the tip of the listening iceberg, so we’re confident that millions are listening to FEBC in that country alone. These responses are people expressing their interest and gratitude for the joy and lightness they experience when they hear about Jesus. In some way, every message about Christ expresses the idea of Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Enjoy the adventure
Jesus invites us to backpack with him, to drop the heavy loads that get us down and adventure with God himself. When I read the testimonies from our listeners I hear relief in their words – many have laid down the weight of communism, tribalism, atheism, Islam, Hinduism, whatever-ism, and picked up rest, gentleness, and humility.
This is how it should be. This backpacking is not a one-off OE (Kiwi for Overseas Experience) thing we do as 20-somethings. It’s a lifestyle.
Bon voyage, if I’m online I’ll post some pictures from the adventure J
Don’t give up communicating across cultures!
Do you ever feel like the effort to communicate across cultures is too hard? I do. I’ve been communicating cross-culturally for a few years and while it does get easier, it doesn’t really get any easier!
Whether you are engaging face to face with people of other languages and faiths, or praying from a distance for God’s love to be enjoyed by a tiny ethnic group in Timbuktu, let me encourage you with this rock solid promise of scripture:
God has made himself understandable to EVERYONE! It’s true. Read Psalm 19 ..
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” Psalm 19:1-3 (emphasis added).
The reality of the goodness of God in creation, day and night, IS TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE to every linguistic people group on the earth.
The church on earth is getting out and rubbing shoulders with the nations, radio missions are broadcasting 1000s of hours’ worth of Good News messages every day, Christian satellite TV networks are beaming truth constantly…. AND GOD IS 100% comprehensible in it and beyond it all. So yeah, keep going.
The heavens declare ... the skies proclaim ...
World Radio Day 2012
Did you know it’s World Radio Day today? February 13th 2012.
It’s good to celebrate major milestones and it’s good to recognise the value of technology. I really really really believe that God allows things to be developed because they WILL be used to announce His awesomeness in some way shape or form. While almost anything can be used for evil (radio, television, planes, knives, internet, rope…. you name it) I am determined to stop and remember the God-glorifying intention that allowed it to come in to existence. Radio is being used to reach and bless people everywhere – in cities and remote villages, the rich, and the poorest of the poor, the smart and the illiterate, people in comfort and those sheltering from disaster…
How many radios and audio receiving devices do you have?
Have you ever considered gifting a radio (or two) to people with little or no access to the Good News of Jesus? Next month I will be personally visiting some underground churches (or behind the bamboo curtain – whichever metaphor you prefer) where we fund radio distribution and ethnic language broadcasting in South East Asia. Please check out FEBC’s NZ web site and give it some thought. I can personally guarantee these radios and broadcasts really get in! Thanks
Radio crosses every boundary
Think about Thinking!
Think about your hopes for those who don’t follow Jesus. What would be the most common way you pray for them to turn their lives to follow Christ?
For me it would be revelation, faith, a receptive heart, dissatisfaction with the world and the status quo … etc. etc.
Jesus said “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.” John 6:44-45 (I added the emphasis)
So, as FEBC broadcasts go out into the listening ears of people in China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Iraq, Yemen, India, … I am now praying for “thinking” and “learning” among other things – that millions would gain real knowledge as they engage their reason and logic, as well as their heart. This sits well with Jesus’ other command in Mark 12:30 to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.” (I added the emphasis again J )
(After 25 years of praying for people to find their ultimate satisfaction and eternal life in Jesus Christ, I just enjoy exploring intelligent biblical options in order to stay fresh and stay true.)
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