scripture
Matthew 9:35-38
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
quote
The command has been to 'go,' but we have stayed -- in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth ... but 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland.
Robert Savage, Latin American Mission
thoughts
A Christian friend of mine just called. He mentioned that someone in his church shared with him that he received a call from God to be a pastor. He mentioned that he has doubts if God speaks this way now that we have the Bible. However he said that he’d support him in this pursuit nonetheless. I was reminded of a message by Brad Buser, a missionary who spent 20 years with his family serving in Papua New Guinea, called For God so Loved the World. In it he explains that he never received “the call”. His experience was that 90% of the missionaries he met never got “the call”. They simply read the Bible and said, “Okay, Lord. I will go”. He shared a story about a man he knew that had received a call. This man was welding in the bottom of a ship and out of the metal God said, “Serve Me now or I will strike you dead”. I shared this message with my friend and we agreed that if God wants to speak to someone like this then that’s wonderful. We are in no position to question God’s means. But we fear for those Christians that use the “I haven’t been called” excuse to evade service.
