{"id":308,"date":"2018-04-22T22:53:24","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T02:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/?p=308"},"modified":"2018-04-22T22:53:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T02:53:24","slug":"that-mission-trip-it-really-changed-my-life-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/2018\/04\/22\/that-mission-trip-it-really-changed-my-life-really\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThat mission trip\u2026 it really changed my life!\u201d Really???"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our newsletters of late are more focused on the challenge of missions than they are on reporting mission news and what\u2019s going on in our global enterprise of mobilizing harvest laborers.\u00a0 These articles, usually placed at the beginning of our newsletters, are thoughts I\u2019ve penned as a vivid reflection of our work to engage believers with the mandate of missions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never forgotten an impacting message I heard from the book of Matthew nearly forty years ago. That message, \u201cWhat in the World Are You Doing, For Heaven\u2019s Sake?\u201d<\/em> was the turning point of our embracing what Paul describes in Romans 20 as reaching beyond the reach of the gospel.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t long after that that we left our careers and stepped from a local ministry to embrace church planting efforts in areas around the world without a gospel witness.\u00a0 What follows is another of my journal writings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat mission trip\u2026 it really changed my life!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s amusing how we define elements of our lives, whether love of a particular item, a favored place, a valued person or treasured object.\u00a0 We sometimes roll things off the tongue without contemplating what we truly mean.<\/p>\n

As a mission\u2019s mobilizer I continually have people telling me of mission trips they\u2019ve participated in \u2013what they liked, what they disliked, and then they\u2019ll usually add \u201cIt really changed my life.\u201d\u00a0 Hmm\u2026 I\u2019ve always wanted to ask \u2018how\u2019 it changed their life though I cower beneath the fear they may think my questioning is disparaging.<\/p>\n

What really are<\/em> \u2018life changing\u2019 experiences?\u00a0 Let\u2019s think about it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I embraced the gospel at age 22.\u00a0 Literally, a one-hundred-eighty degree turnaround from a path straight to hell to stepping into the fresh light of Christ that changed my life forever.\u00a0 –That\u2019s the life-changing power of the gospel!<\/p>\n

A life changed by the gospel means an about-face from the self-driven downward ways of\u00a0sinful man to the upward \u2018set-your-eyes-upon-Jesus\u2019 path to righteousness, all because of what Jesus did on the cross.\u00a0 I still remember the feeling of the weight of sin lifted from my shoulders the night I became a new creation in Christ.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a flashy public display but\u00a0a humble bowing beneath my sinfulness in a dingy little barbershop where I recognized the generous grace offered by Eternal God as I read through the first five chapters in the book of Romans.\u00a0 Jesus <\/strong>changed my life!<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t recall how many books I\u2019ve seen with a by-line that says \u201cRead this book; it will change your life.\u201d\u00a0 My friend, books don\u2019t change lives but the gospel does!\u00a0 Oh sure, books may give us insights to put us on a more determined path \u2013the Bible does that<\/em>, but it is the message of Christ crucified, buried and risen that puts the Light of Life into darkened hearts to awaken our soul to the life of God in Christ.<\/p>\n

Nowadays I hear a lot of comments from people returning from mission trips who say \u2018it changed my life.\u2019\u00a0 But if such ones continue doing what they\u2019ve done before the trip without ever actively getting involved to deliberately reach those outside the hearing of the gospel, then I question whether the trip changed their life.\u00a0 Yes, perhaps mission trips stir our hearts to a deeper level of compassion but compassion without action produces nothing.<\/p>\n

While it is true that mission trips enlighten us with fresh information about the needs of lost people, that knowledge has no practical application in our lives unless we embrace it.\u00a0 It\u2019s no different in education; knowledge without action makes knowledge knowledge, and nothing more.<\/p>\n

Case in point: Some years ago while speaking on the willingness to \u2018go\u2019 I offered to take the entire church gathering to a local restaurant for a steak dinner. \u2013I was willing to do that although I didn\u2019t have the resources to pay the bill.\u00a0 But I was willing!\u00a0 Compassion, like willingness, needs action if it is going to change the eternity of another.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While it is our desire to heighten the awareness of the need for laborers to reach the 3 billion people who never heard of Jesus, we realize that all our pleading, all our motivation, all our stimulating the interest of God\u2019s heart for the nations will never produce a single worker outside such individuals coming to grip with the fact that every believer is responsible in the task Jesus gave us to do.\u00a0 That\u2019s pretty stark, yet true.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to see Jesus return during my lifetime as has every generation of believers before me.\u00a0 \u2026And I believe it\u2019s very possible as long as we follow God\u2019s plan to declare Christ to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.\u00a0 The job is doable\u2026 we can finish His work but it\u2019s gonna\u2019 take believers stepping to the plate to engage the effort of declaring Christ among those who never heard the gospel.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re looking for those whose lives have been so transformed by Christ that all they can say is \u201cI can\u2019t stay; I must go.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps you know of some young people and some not-so-young people \u2013individuals or families who need a little nudging\u2026 some encouragement to step out and embrace what Jesus commanded us to do.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been challenging churches to look among their flocks with the intent of recognizing those with the potential to serve in missions, and then to invest in such ones with instruction and equipping to deepen desire among those whom they can send in reaching one of the 3,000 people groups waiting to hear the gospel.\u00a0 That, my friend, has more prospective possibility in bringing, to lost people, the message able to change lives for eternity.<\/p>\n

Just as the gospel changes lives, we desire to see people who will make a deliberate choice to make an about-face and do something in respect of the gospel.\u00a0 We meet people who express to us that they would like to do something with the gifts & abilities God gave them.\u00a0 But when it comes to doing it they shy away.\u00a0 There are many able-bodied-people with gifts that could be invested for God\u2019s glory and hasten Jesus\u2019 return.\u00a0 \u00a0We\u2019re here to assist you if you desire more info.<\/p>\n

What is it that changed your life?<\/strong>\u00a0 And \u2018what in the world,<\/em> for Heaven\u2019s sake\u2019<\/em> can you do in declaring the life changing message of the gospel to those who sit in darkness.<\/p>\n

–from my April 2018 Journal Notes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our newsletters of late are more focused on the challenge of missions than they are on reporting mission news and what\u2019s going on in our global enterprise of mobilizing harvest laborers.\u00a0 These articles, usually placed at the beginning of our newsletters, are thoughts I\u2019ve penned as a vivid reflection of our work to engage believers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":276,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[448],"class_list":{"0":"post-308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-ethnos360","8":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-hilt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}