"So Send I You"

"'Peace be unto you.'  And when he had so said, he showed...them His hands and His side....'As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. (From John 20:19-21, KJV)

Notice that it was only after Jesus showed the disciples, "His hands and His side," that He said, "so send I you."  The message I'm sure was clear to them; this awaits you.  Jesus was not introducing something new here.  He had told them very clearly before, "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble....The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service."   

There is an old hymn of the Church entitled, "'Come and Dine,'the Master Calleth."  Brother Andrew once said that according to the call of Jesus, maybe it should be, "Come and Die."  What is it about us that cannot or will not face the reality of the call of Jesus, and, I might add, the experience of the majority of the Church throughout the ages?  Perhaps it is that insatiable desire for what the hymn writer called, "flowery beds of ease." 

The Bible says, "People who are at ease mock those in trouble.  They give a push to people who are stumbling."  The CEV says, "It's easy to condemn those who are suffering, when you have no troubles."  The NASB translates this, "He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, as prepared for those whose feet slip."  Too much of the so-called modern "faith movement" has passed this on to their generation.  They infer that if there is too much suffering in your life, something must be wrong, you're missing God, or there is sin, disobedience, something down deep perhaps which you should confess, and, if you just confess and repent, the world will love you, God will smile upon you, you will be rich, healthy, have a great ministry, no troubles.  The only problem with such a mentality is that irritating thing called, The Bible, the life of all the Apostles, who died violent deaths, and again, Church History--------------------- right up to this moment.  I have met people in Eastern Europe who were personal friends of those killed for the Name of Jesus. 

My dear Fellow Believer in Jesus, this is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, a Kingdom in a fight to the death, yes, "not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places"-------- yet nevertheless in a fight.  One of our Lord Jesus Christ's last words to His Followers was, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  In this great promise is the reality of life and the reality of victory, "In the world you will have tribulation," but, "in Me," and in, "these things I have spoken to you--------------------------------- you...have peace."   

Father, in Jesus' Name,                      
          "Must I be carried to the skies
          On flowery beds of ease,
          While others fought to win the prize,
          And sailed through bloody seas?
         
          Sure I must fight if I would reign;
          Increase my courage, Lord.
          I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
          Supported by Thy Word."  Amen.
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Eighteen year old Norwegian, Peter Torjesen, "when he heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"And My Life"

"For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or I die." (Philippians 1:20, NLT)

     

You may have noticed in recent months that at the bottom of my e-mail page is a brief note about a young 18 year old Norwegian, Peter Torjesen, who, in 1910, when "he heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"  An Australian newspaper wrote of Peter-- "In 1918 he arrived in China as a Norwegian Evangelical Free Church missionary, under the auspices of the China Inland Mission" (the mission begun by Hudson Taylor).  After two years of language study, Torjesen's childhood sweetheart, Valborg Tonnessen, was able to join him (They married in 1922).  They were dispatched, at their request, to the toughest place on the map: Hequ, a city of 10,000 alongside the Great Wall, on the Yellow River, the gateway to Inner Mongolia, on the edge of a fearsome desert.  It took five days to reach it by mule from Taiyuan.  The previous missionary had been killed there by the Boxers.

 

"They survived civil war, famine, and, in Peter's case, typhoid.  Then came the Japanese invasion of China in 1937.  The Torjesens sheltered large numbers of Chinese refugees at their mission station....On December 14, 1939, they were bombed by Japanese warplanes.  Peter died soon after, killed by the centre-beam of the collapsing house.  He was the first missionary to die in that war."

 

"And my life," is not an addendum to the call of Jesus Christ.  It is the call of Jesus Christ.  "If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and if need be, in dying also]."  How can anyone be proud in light of all this?!?

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I want to "disown, forget, lose sight of" myself  "and [my] own interests, refuse and give up [my]self"--- to You.  Amen.

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When 18 year old Peter Torjesen "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

EverGreen China - History

EverGreen China - History

 

When 18 year old Peter Torjesen "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"Science Falsely So Called"

"O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called 'knowledge'--" (1 Timothy 6:20-- NASB)

The KJV says, "and oppositions of science falsely so called."  I submit to you that this is the modern expression of, "the fruit of the tree," in Genesis three. 

George Barna, well known researcher, recently reported, "In America, 3500 to 4000 churches close their doors each year.  Churches lose an estimated, 2,765,000 people each year to nominalism and secularism."  And, I may add, for so very many people who sit in church services week after week, not only in America, but around the world, their church has already "closed." These people already have been secularized, willingly dominated by colleagues, media, and their culture.  Americans recently affirmed this in the past national elections.  Most people voted their race, ethnicity, gender, and social status.   It was not the Democrats who won the election; it was, "the opposing arguments of what is falsely called 'knowledge." (!!) 

The central reason for the reign of, "falsely called 'knowledge,'" or, "science falsely so called," is that for generations now, American universities and seminaries have willingly embraced all forms of Darwinism to the almost total exclusion of the Word of God.  Here is how "amazon.com" describes the book, Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science, and the Visual Arts: "Charles Darwin's revolutionary theories of evolution and natural selection have not only had a profound influence on the fields of biology and natural history, but also provided fertile territory for the creative imagination."  I have no doubt that the plague of closed church doors and secularized Christians is due to the fact that American churches have replaced the Bible with, "creative imagination." 

The battle is raging ferociously, and it is only those who are radically, yes, radically obedient to Jesus Christ, Word of God, and His "God-Breathed" Words who will survive in such an environment.  If you are not in such a church------------------------------------ change churches.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for the promise of Your Word, "which also effectively works in [us] who believe."  Amen.
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Eighteen year old Norwegian, Peter Torjesen, "when he heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2