God's ways.

This morning we visited a church we don't normally attend. We've visited there a few times before and really like it. One of my good friends and her family visited there a few weeks ago, and she said the message was phenomenal. We've been niggling to go ever since.

When we walked through the front doors today, I was handed a bulletin with this picture on the front:



When we sat down, I looked up and on the wall directly in front of me was a huge banner with a similar picture and this verse, "Therefore GO (in capitals) and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded you. And surely I am with you ALWAYS, to the very end of the age." (Matt. 28:19-20) Oddly enough (uh-huh), this is also a key verse used by David Platt in Radical. I looked around, and similar banners lined the front wall of the sactuary. I started having that weird twisting feeling in my stomach.

After praise and worship, a lady came to the platform and began to explain that today was the first day of a month-long focus they would be having on missions.

Well of course it was. I looked at the Mister and said, "Are you kidding me?"

They had a guest speaker today - a missionary - who spoke on Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43, the parable of the weeds. He specifically focused on verses 37 & 38, in which Jesus explained that He is the sower in the parable, the seeds are the sons of the kingdom, and the field is the world. "Notice the field is not your home, your church, or even your city," he said. "The field is the world."

"When does a grain of wheat become a seed?" he asked. A grain of wheat is still connected to the stalk and rooted to the ground. Rooted to its here and now. Rooted in its home, its job, its day-to-day life. When Jesus uproots us, detaches us from our here and now (maybe literally, but not necessarily), then we become a seed that can be sown in the field of the world.

"Jesus was calling them to abandon their comforts, all that was familiar to them and natural for them. He was calling them to abandon their careers... Jesus was calling them to abandon their possessions... Jesus was calling them to abandon their family and their friends... Ultimately, Jesus was calling them to abandon themselves." -Radical, pp. 11-12.

At the end of the service, the speaker asked anyone who was feeling a stirring in their heart (or a churning in their stomach, if you're me) for missions to raise their hand. Anyone who was willing to say, "Here am I, Lord, send me." He explained that being "sent" means:

• Jesus might call us to GO.
• He might call us to GIVE.
• He might call us to PRAY.
• He might call us to SPEAK OUT.

Usually in those situations I hesitate, looking around first to see if anyone else is going to raise their hand before I commit. Today, my hand was in the air before I knew what was happening.

He asked those of us who had raised our hands to come forward. I was out of my seat before you could say "StopAreYouCrazySitDownWhatAreYouThinking?!"

He prayed that God would begin the process of turning us into seed. That He would mark us as those who had said Yes.

He spoke a blessing that we would have feet to go (oh.my.gosh.), hands to work, and mouths to speak.

He said, "I'm not here to help you. I'm here to mess you up." (see previous post)

And then he said,

"Now go do something."