Go!

I just love it when God's perfect timing smacks me in the face. It just makes me smile at how good He is and how easily we can forget that sometimes.

We are now starting the last third of this semester and in my BE (bible exposition) 101 course the first third was on Observation, the second third was Interpretation and this last third is about Application. Our professor was talking to us today about applying what we read and study in scripture to our lives. He reminded us that we should be different from the people we are ministering to, we should stand apart. We are examples of change that Jesus can do. He also reminded us that sometimes people know what scripture says, but don't know how to apply it to their lives and we need to be examples of that for them and aware of areas of our lives that we are not applying it. He made a great comment, he said, "if you are wondering what area of your life you are not applying scripture, just look at the cleanest pages in your bible". He went on to say that sometimes things are not always black and white and we should always be prayerful that we are staying in the will of God. If God calls you do something or to go somewhere and you don't listen and follow you are out of the will of God. He went on to give an example about when he came to this seminary and they would not allow blacks in. The seminary was biblical but not in the will of God. This is something we all need to be aware of. He also gave the example of people leaving church and telling the pastor that the sermon was great and then never doing anything about it. He said he gave a sermon one time about sharing the gospel with your neighbors and people in your community and this young couple told him they were convicted by it. So they went home, prayed about it and immediately walked across the street and invited their neighbors to dinner. A couple of weeks later they lead the entire family to Christ. This family continued to invite people over and lead hands full of families to Christ. This is such a reminder that we have a responsibility to share the truth with those around us. They may never hear it if we don't.

Here is where God's timing comes in. . .
After class I went to chapel and a young man spoke about what it means to live missionally. He made a great point that you don't have to go over seas and yes there is a need in your back yard, but that need does not always include people just like you. He made a joke about himself saying he was just looking for white, middle class, republicans. Then he gave stats on the number of Muslims living in Dallas and the number Asians and Russians and so on and so on. He made the good point that we feel safe in the comfort zone that we have created for ourselves. He really challenged us to pray and not just pray for missionaries, but to pray that God will be glorified and worshiped in south Dallas, the poorest area, North Dallas, the rich area, the Muslim area of town, that God will be glorified in parts of Northern India where they have not heard the gospel and parts of Saudi Arabia where we are not legally allowed to go. You get the idea. He made fun of all the excuses we make to not go and evangelize and it they do seem silly, but they are excuses we have all used including me. Then he talked about how if God is calling you to go overseas then listen. If you say to God I think that maybe you are calling me to Muslim Iraq, God may say that is wonderful that you have a heart for Muslims, but I really want you to go teach to them in northern India. Either way God will honor that desire. Maybe you have seen Monty Python and maybe you haven't, but in that movie there a group of knights called the knights who say ni. If you say the word "it" in front of these knights they run away into the bushes, (you really need to see the movie). He made a joke that if God says "Go" in front of a group of Christians they all run into the bushes. Then he challenged us (without knowing what we talked about in class) that if God is calling us somewhere and we aren't listening or aren't going then we are out of the will of God. It was a very convicting morning, but I loved it. I know my words are not doing my professor and the chapel speaker justice, but hopefully you get the point. If you are interested you can download the chapels off of the school's website. www.dts.edu. I hope this post ministers to you today.