Carry on the Mission
Genesis 12:4-5a
So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out…
Pondering Point
Abram (later re-named Abraham as part of the covenant language) steps into the beginning of this covenant relationship with God by taking Him at His word and beginning a journey God describes to him. With family in tow, he starts off to an unknown destination. In Genesis 17, when Abram gets a new name, God adds the sign of circumcision to the covenant for generations to come. That sign remained a key element of life with God – until Jesus instituted a new covenant with a new sign.
The Apostle Paul, a circumcised Jew himself, informed the Jewish and Gentile Christians of his day that the old covenant’s sign of circumcision had been superseded by the new covenant and it’s sign of baptism. Paul went so far as to call baptism "the circumcision done by Christ" (see Colossians 2:11-12).
Baptism
For anyone who has been baptized in Christ and being taught to obey all that Jesus commanded, you are now called to carry on Jesus’ mission to make disciples of others. This is also known in the bible as “fishing for men” or “saving what was lost” (Matthew 28:19, 4:19, Luke 19:10, 15:1-32).
It was part of the plan from the beginning, that as God’s workmanship in Jesus (Ephesians 2:10), we would share the good news of Jesus wherever we go in life. You are encouraged to initial this part of the covenant today:
God's Workmanship
Journal Prompt:
Having been baptized in Christ and being taught to obey all that Jesus commanded, I too am called to carry on Jesus’ mission to make disciples of others. This is God’s plan from the beginning, that as God’s workmanship in Jesus, I would share the good news of Jesus wherever I go in life.
Initial _______
Prayer
Father God, as I think about Abram’s willingness to step into a covenant journey with You, I want to share that kind of readiness to go to unknown places with You – even if it is just around the corner. I embrace that I am Your workmanship in Jesus. Help me carry out Your plan in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Micro-Meditation
Psalm 23:1-6
- The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
- He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
- He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
- Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
- Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
- Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Read the versus of the Psalm.
Mark the words or phrases that catch your attention.
Meditate: talk (or better, write) with God about those words. Ask him to impress things upon your heart and mind; expect responses.
Teaching or Command of God
Isaiah 55:1
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
The Promise
Psalm 107:9
The LORD satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things
Pondering Point
Where is your place of “quiet waters” that Jesus uses to refresh you? Where is it physically? Maybe you have more than one place. PLAN to go there.