Missions Paul

Lessons from a girl with no name
Join us for a few days as we explore a very old story of a girl who was caught in a situation not of her own making but who grows from her place of discomfort to be very influential.
2 Kings 5: 1-14

2. My pain gives me the opportunity to serve people I would never have met, v2.
Why did Naaman’s wife listen to her? On being told what this slave girl had said, why did Naaman think it worth considering? How did this young Israelite girl become a trustworthy confidante?
It was because she was teachable in her painful circumstance.
Your response to pain will either be to shrivel up or to serve. How you respond is based upon how teachable you are.
Many of you will know the Peanuts cartoons full of Charlie Brown stories. One story has Charlie Brown at the beach building a magnificent sand castle. When he had completed it, he stands back and admires his masterpiece. Suddenly there is a down pour of rain and it flattens his brilliant structure. The last caption has Charlie Brown standing looking at levelled ground and saying, “There must be a lesson here, but I don’t know what it is.”
Nothing is ever pointless.
One of the questions so often asked is “Where is God in this pain and suffering?”
The question indicates the spiritual blindness of the person asking the question. God entered into this world as the suffering servant, born into a broken humanity, entered into sin yet sinless, took on death and brought resurrection life. Where is God? Open your eyes. Seek Him and you will find Him.
This pain seems like a curse that must be cast out! Whilst you must carry the faith to believe God can heal and deliver you from pain, you must also have wisdom to know that Jesus became the curse for us and His presence is so often at the centre of the gravest pain and suffering that you endure.
Will you shrivel or will you serve?

Lessons from a girl with no name
In the next few days we are going to explore a very old story of a girl who was caught in a situation not of her own making but who grows from her place of discomfort to be very influential.
2 Kings 5: 1-14

1. My pain will never determine my purpose.
V2 the girl had pain from being taken from her family and friends. She had pain from being in a place that was not worshipping God. There was also the pain of not having a future.
This insignificant girl could have been overwhelmed by pain. Her pain could have determined how she lived. Pain can torment or it can teach.
What is your pain teaching you? What is the lesson?
Romans 5:3 “We know that suffering produces perseverance”.
What is your pain?
Before rejecting it, ask what can it teach me?
Never allow your pain to set your pace and plot your cause. Why?
Because there is no guarantee that your pain will leave you.
This story would have been nice if the king of Aram had returned some captives including the slave girl instead of giving a monetary gift. But she stays in her pain. She may never have left Damascus. Your pain may never leave you. So are you going to let it dictate to you how you live, think, speak, what you do?
Or while you are in the middle of this pain, will you let the pain teach you? Will you let it re-shape you in the image of Christ and be ready to fulfil your purpose?
Show me someone who has known real physical pain and they will either be a person who is embittered or who has been taught true empathy for others.
I can show you someone who has known emotional pain and I can also show you that person is more loving and more understanding.
The pain does not have to determine your purpose in life.

6. Knowing why He came and why He didn’t

Mark 2: 17 Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

And finally …!
I have come to those in the valley of war.
I have come to those in the valley of past blessing.
I have come to those in the valley of giant-sized problems.
I have come to those in the valley of fear.
I have come to those who are locked in.
I have come to those with a stigma.
I have come to the disfigured.
I have come to those with no voice.
I have come to the nameless and faceless.
I have come to the lost and silent.
This is why I have come!

Find yourself in the lists from the last 6 days and know: This is why I have come and it is for you why I am here now!

5. Knowing why He came and why He didn’t

Mark 2: 17 Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Enough of why I didn’t come. Let me tell you more of why I did!
I have come to the beggar.
I have come to the crippled and the wounded.
I have come to those crying today.
I have come to those with no self-worth.
I have come to the insecure.
I have come to the suicidal.
I have come to those who have been dropped.
I have come to those traumatised by the accidents of life.
This is why I have come.

4. Knowing why He came and why He didn’t

Mark 2: 17 Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I have not come to the know-it-all Bible scholar.
I have not come to the look-at-me skilful orator.
I have not come to those with prejudice.
I have not come to those who look down on others.
I have not come to the stone-throwers of the guilty.
I have not come to those who entrap.
NO
I have come to those who need mercy.
I have come to those in prison.
I have come to those in exile.
I have come to those in ruin.
I have come to those who are destroyed.
I have come to those who are desecrated.
I have come to those who are abused.
This is why I have come.

3. Knowing why He came and why He didn’t

Mark 2: 17 Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I have not come for those too busy to ask for help.
I have not come for those who think they can make it on their own.
I have not come for those who want to be the greatest.
I have not come to look at money.
I have not come to look at your achievements.
I have not come to gaze at your obedient children.
I have not come to be entertained by your ministry.
I have not come to the professional cover-ups.
I have not come to the vain.
I have not come to the powerful.
NO
I have come to those trapped in slavery.
I have come to those who feel unworthy to be in Church.
I have come to the hurting.
I have come to those who are beating themselves up.
I have come to those troubled in heart.
I have come to those addicted to sin.
I have come to those who have not merited anything.
I have come to those who can only receive.
I have come to the incompetent.
I have come to those who need grace.
This is why I have come.

2. Knowing why He came and why He didn’t

Mark 2: 17 Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I have not come for the worthy.
I have not come to those who look good but who are not good.
I have not come to the proud.
I have not come to the reluctant to Go.
I have not come to the observers.
I have not come for those who reason out everything.
I have not come to those whose goal is to break no more rules.
I have not come to those who are emotionally unattached.
I have not come to those who cross the road from the sick and destitute.
I have not come to those who do not admit their need.
NO
I have come to those in mourning.
I have come to the humble.
I have come to the leper.
I have come to the paralysed.
I have come to the rejected and dejected.
I have come to the disturbed physically, mentally and emotionally.
I have come to those with nothing to live for.
I have come to those who are not the person they should be by now.
I have come to those who smile on the outside but cry on the inside.
I have come to those whose eyes are on the floor.
This is why I have come.

Knowing why He came and why He didn’t

Mark 2: 17 Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I have not come to call the righteous.
I have not come to those who swing from the victory chandeliers of their temples.
I have not come to people who tick all the right boxes.
I have not come to those who have meticulously accomplished every Christian experience.
I have not come to those who cannot be taught anything.
I have not come to those who know all there is to know.
I have not come to the caretakers of Christianity.
I have not come to the ghostbusters for God.
I have not come to those who snuff out the sinner.
I have not come for those who demand justice.
NO
I have come to call the sinner.
I have come to those who have missed the mark.
I have come to those who have missed their purpose.
I have come to bring peace to the broken.
I have come to the bruised reed.
I have come to the smouldering wick.
I have come to the diseased.
I have come to those in severe pain.
I have come to the demon possessed.
I have come to the poor in spirit
This is why I have come.

The end is another beginning! – Ruth 4: 13-22
Final part: the end is another beginning of a brighter future.

We hopefully will be renewed and sustained in our old age and run the race to the finishing line. But then what?
The end is another beginning.

All their life in this world … had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
C.S.Lewis on heaven.

There came a day when Ruth went home to Naomi and said “Naomi I’ve seen him, I’ve seen Boaz!’
At the beginning of our end, on that day we will see him, we will see him whom we have given our lives to.

Oh, that will be … glory for me …
Glory for me … gory for me …
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me
Charles H. Gabriel

There came a day on seeing Boaz when Ruth dropped to her knees and bowed down with her face to the ground.
John writes: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!” Revelation 1:17-18
Ruth’s destiny was Boaz and yours and mine is Jesus. He is alive and he is waiting for us.

Friends I hope these thoughts from this amazing story of Ruth have blessed you.

The end is another beginning! – Ruth 4: 13-22
Part Three: the end is a new beginning for our future
v14 Praise be to the Lord who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer… He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.
How will you end your days? Will you be renewed and sustained so that you cross the finishing line as a faithful servant of Christ? Age is not the issue. Jesus finished his days at 33. The finishing line is not controlled by a chronological date. It is controlled by what your ordained and allotted years have been decided upon before one of them came into place. Every day is another day spent of your life. The finishing line is drawing near. The time of your life is right now, the opportunity is now. This is not a rehearsal for something else. No one can run the race for you. You are not racing against any other runners. Your greatest opponent is yourself. The race is against yourself to be all that your Creator designed for you to be.
The Apostle Paul was fast approaching the finishing line. In his final hours as the curtain was coming down on his life he gives once again, he reaches into his life one more time and he finds there’s one more thing he can do, he can write some more advice to his son in the faith, Timothy, the next generation. He writes ‘Timothy don’t you give up, keep going, reach for your destiny’ 2 Timothy 4: 6-8
It doesn’t matter how you start. It only matters how you finish.