Trust is an important part of mission work and discipleship. Trust is the antidote to the viruses of control and fear, along with many other pitfalls for pastoring in the Lord's pasture. For the missionary, trust is key.
Trust the Word We plant the word by sewing it carefully, row by row. A garden has rows of carrots, corn, and tomatoes. In the same way, we plant rows of Biblical doctrines. Week by week, month by month, we carefully plant the Word. We teach creation, the Fall, redemption, and God's purposes for humanity. We teach man's depravity and need for regeneration and the Holy Spirit's power to save. God's holiness and Christ's sufficiency for justification and sanctification are carefully sown. Row by row, we plant, weed and water. Are they listening? Will they remember? Will they be deceived by a false teacher? We answer all of these doubts with trust. Trust in the living word of God, while trusting in the Living WORD of God! Trust in the Spirit The Holy Spirit is our guarantee, teacher, comforter, peace-giver, love-depositor, gift-giver, fruit-bearer and wisdom-granter. All of the Father's will in evangelism, discipleship, and gathering & growing saints is done through the Holy Spirit. Evangelism is like calling out to all of the dead people in a graveyard to resume life. With the Holy Spirit, youth and adults come to life, repent and follow Jesus with faith-filled hearts. Discipleship is the process of growing believers into mature disciples. All spiritual growth is dependent on the timely touch of the Holy Spirit, as He teaches and impresses truth into the souls of His saints. Every single spiritual thought and powerful realization of truth comes through the Holy Spirit's anointing. All spiritual growth and maturity is a direct result of the Holy Spirit's power and blessing. Trust the Means of Grace Means of grace are pipelines or channels through which the Father's will powerfully flows into the lives of believers. Having already discussed the Bible, which is a means of grace, I'll set forth a couple of other means of grace. Prayer is a valve that releases the protection of the King of Heaven. There are many pitfalls for sheep to fall into. Fear of those pitfalls creates humanistic reactions in the pastor, such as manipulation, agendas and anxiety. The antibiotic to prevent those infections is prayer, and ultimately the trust and peace that prayer produces. Another means of grace is fellowship, especially in a church body. Fellowship is essentially relationships that are built through humility, honesty, and love. Trust the Relationships This last one gives us something to think about. Can relationships be built on fear and distrust? Of course not. The key to healthy discipleship is to trust the relationships. Knowing as Jesus did that people will hurt us at times, we still trust the relationships. This means that we look at those who we disciple and fellowship with through the eyes of love. Love hopes the best from people. Love is not skeptical or fearful. In fact, perfect love casts out all fear. We trust the people that God has given us to plant and harvest with. We look at them with love and hope-filled eyes. How is this possible? It's possible because we are children in the same Family, citizens in the same Kingdom, friends in the same Fellowship. This trust pivots back and rests on the first two: Trust the Word and Trust the Spirit.
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The SwansonsWe're a family on mission to bring the good news of Jesus to the Philippines. |