This time my tears did not stop.

Monday  2-15-16 (Home in Modesto)    

 

Scripture reading for today:    Lev 25    Psalm 25 - 26   Acts 22

S=Scripture  O=Observation  A=Application  P=Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S.  Acts 22:21 Then He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.'" NKJV

O.  These were the key words.  Until this point these fervent Jews listened, but this was too much.  “Rid the earth of this man!”  It was these very words that gave you and me the chance to know Jesus.  These are the same words that drove me to distant nations abroad.  Jesus insisted that we GO into ALL the world.  His message and His sacrifice were not to intended to be only for the Jewish people.  They thought they had Jehovah God just for themselves, but they were mistaken. 

A.  A missionary that returned from China visited our church when I was a little child.  I saw the pictures and listened to the message.  I was just a kid, but I found myself kneeling at the altar bench and saying with tears, “Lord, I will go.”  And I thought God was calling me to China.  Then I rose off my knees and ran outside to play with the other kids and forgot all about China.  We had a different missionary visit about every three weeks it seemed... from India, Africa, Central America... wherever... I would weep a little and tell the Lord I would go.  But after years of this I knew God was not going to really send me anywhere.  He just wanted me to say “yes” and I could forget it.  It got really easy to say yes... because I wasn’t going anywhere.

P.  But one day, Lord Jesus, as I was serving as a pastor of a church... my tears did not stop.  The burden did not lift.  And I knew what you were saying, “Okay, Ralph, you said ‘yes’ so I am sending you to Argentina.  Now 53 years have passed and once again, Lord, I hear you say, “GO”.  So once more I am going.  Today I board the plane.  And I am counting on Your daily and hourly presence.   Amen.

Ralph