A Sense of Missionary Purpose
".....As my Father hath sent me, Even so send I you." John 20:21
If it is true that men are eternally lost without Christ; if it is true that eternity is just a breath away; if it is true that we are a heartbeat from standing before God then we must go as Jesus commanded into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.

In order to do so we must develop a:

1. Sense of Identity (John 17:18) - We must identify with the hurts, the frustrations, the failures of mankind. We must hear Ezekiel as he said, "I sat where they sat."
2. Sense of Difference (John 17:16) - We must stand out as changed by the power of God. Our hatred for sin must be apparent. Our love for the sinner all consuming.
3. Sense of Fulfillment (John 4:34) - We must feel as our Lord that there is nothing that brings greater satisfaction or greater joy than serving the God of Heaven!
4. Sense of Consecration (John 17:18-19) - We must experience that moment of complete consecration; of total surrender; of yielding our talents and abilities to Him!
5. Sense of Consecration (John 17:18-19) - We must experience that moment of complete consecration; of total surrender; of yielding our talents and abilities to Him!
6. Sense of Urgency (John 9:4) - We must realize how late it is; that the darkness of Judgment is soon to settle upon this sinful world; that those without Christ will spend eternity in hell.

A special sense of missionary purpose is the need of the church. May God help us to be about our Father's business.
Rev. W. Scott Lockard
©2003 Pastor Lockard's Living on the Bright side Ministries