16 August 2009 - PLMC

On Missions Sunday Rev James Chan
Talked about Nehemiah, a very prayerful man
To us God speaks in the context of life
This is true in good times and during strife
In the heart of God missions begin
To ignore that would be to sin
Blessings result from obedience to God
Disobedience leads to punishment and the rod
The Israelites did not repent
So to Babylon in exile they went
In a foreign land Nehemiah was born
But to Israel his allegiance was sworn
Nehemiah became a man the king did trust
Ensuring the king did not drink some poisoned dust
Nehemiah was quite well to do
But Jerusalem he wanted to view
His true identity he did not forget
He was one of God’s chosen set
For all nations Israel was to be the light
But they continued to deviate from doing right
Back to the original purpose Nehemiah wanted to return
A passion for God in his heart did burn
In the same way we should ask
What is out true identity and our main task?
We are children of God, we often say
But are we really living that way?
Too often we want benefits without responsibility
Citizens of earth instead of heaven it seems to be
[The nasty reference to PRs by the pastor
Was rather insensitive, but not a disaster]
Mission work is our corporate calling
We really need to stop stalling
If we do not help with missions
In heaven, we will have no positions
Different rules we have in rebuilding the wall
But none should say they can do nothing at all
Many times Nehemiah did pray
About Jerusalem, every day
In our prayer life God we should seek
And His vision for us we can peek
About what we can do for God we should not fuss
Instead, think about how God can use us
In addition to the issue of worldliness
Many of us are also guilty of prayerlessness
This highlights our lack of intent
And explains why so few missionaries are sent
Without leveraging the Holy Spirit we do too much
So with God’s full power we are out of touch
We need to love each other and read His Word
Going on a mission trip is its own reward
If God calls us, He will us equip
With everything we need to make the trip
With prayer we need to listen and act
Our age and quals mean nothing, that’s a fact
And as to God we do draw near
We relaly do have nothing to fear
If we believe the words of the song
We want everyone on earth to belong
Then all could sing praises to Him
And his presence will be far from dim