by Ryan Shaw
Greetings to you all from Dorchester, Ontario in Canada, where one of the SVM2 offices is located! I trust and pray that all is going well with each one of you as you continue to prepare your hearts and lives for serving Jesus in various places around the world.
Update from Lausanne
I just returned last week from a week-long forum or conference along the coast of Thailand consisting of leaders from all over the world committed to seeing, strategizing, and praying for global proclamation. It was an incredible gathering for one of the most influential and historic, mission-focused movements in the Body of Christ in our era, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. The theme of the Forum was "A New Heart. A New Vision. A Renewed Call."
There were over 1500 people there from over 130 nations around the world. The breakdown from regions proved that there were more non-western leaders present than western leaders, something that is indicative of what God seems to be doing globally in our day.
Some of the overall “trends” that seemed to emerge from the Forum included the following:
1. A more clear understanding that global leadership is shifting from what was termed the "North" to the "South". This means that Latine America, Africa, and Asian leaders are emerging as this is where the majority of global "fruit" seems to be coming from today. It is interesting to note that these are cultures that have not yet bought into the postmodern way of thinking.
2. There was a heavy focus placed on children at risk and youth generally around the world as the "Great Omission" in the church's outreach. All kinds of statistics were thrown around to show that this is the most receptive age group to the gospel and yet hardly any of our evangelistic focus is on them. Also, the marginalized of society was a main point of focus. As we were meeting in one of the prostitution capitals of the world, there was discussion about how to reach prostitutes and many other "most at risk" people with the gospel.
3. A focus on AIDS also emerged as a trend from this forum. With the incredibly heart-wrenching numbers of those dying from the disease, many expressed that the church has missed a golden opportunity to love the "least of these" and we were again challenged to take up their cause as our own.
Challenge
This morning during my time of prayer and seeking God, I found myself praying over and over again, “Lord, raise up this generation as faithful sons and daughters!” I caught myself at one point, and began to think about what this really means, what I was really asking, and what it will take to see this take place in the lives of the younger generation. In our generation today that seems to have lost so much of its capacity to live faithful lives for God, firm to the end, we must ask ourselves the hard questions regarding ongoing faithfulness to the Lord. We must then be willing to do the hard work, getting our hands dirty, to live a faithful life in the service of the King.
As I continue to get older (I’m 29) I’ve come to realize that more and more people around me are not running their race well, have taken themselves out of the race for a host of reasons, or maybe have been taken out of the race by others or the enemy. In watching this happen to others, I have come to recognize that I am not immune to the possibility of falling away from God or not remaining faithful to God throughout life either. I used to think, “Ahh, that stuff could never happen to me, I’ll never stop loving God!” Now I’ve come to see the power of the sinful nature and how it must be destroyed and killed within me if I am going to have a chance to effectively live for God. I’ve come to see how subtle temptation and eventual sin is in all its forms (lust, greed, gossip, complaining, criticizing others, pride, etc) and how, when not repented of immediately, it grows and can become out of control in no time. It also has the power to eventually keep me from even calling sin, sin, and influencing me to justify my behavior. This is the thing that scares me! I never want to get to a place where I begin to walk in the flesh and see no problem with it or worse justify it as righteous living. One of the ways I have sought to guard myself from issues within that I cannot see is to give those closest to me complete freedom to call me on anything they might see within me that they think is a character flaw or fleshly behavior or action.
Another Biblical way to guard our hearts in this arena and press on to live a life of faithfulness before God is to consistently embrace brokenness. What does this word mean? It simply refers to our “learning to have our wills broken to His will.” I encourage you to buy the book “The Calvary Road” by Roy Hession as this is the most powerful book on this subject I’ve ever read. www.Amazon.com has it for quite cheap. I will quote him many times in this writing. He says, “To be broken is the beginning of revival. It is painful, it is humiliating, but it is the only way.” He goes on to say, “Brokenness is simply that the hard unyielding self, which justifies itself, wants its own way, stands up for its rights, and seeks it own glory, at last bows its head to God’s will, admits its wrong, gives up its own way to Jesus, surrenders its rights, and discards its own glory – That the Lord Jesus might have all in all.”
The purpose of God for each of us is to form us into the image of Jesus, who was absolutely perfect. God is longing to live His life through each one of us, but cannot do so if there is all kinds of “self” in the way. We are born with a rebellious and stubborn nature and want things our own way (self). But as believers we now are called to lay all that aside and by God’s empowering strength and grace, lay ourselves down, dying to self and all the other “stuff” that gets in the way of God working. Does this mean we will be perfect? No! But we should have an attitude of seeking wholeheartedly after God and repenting and adjusting of everything that He might show us that is in the way. Why? That He might have room to form and build Himself within us.
Jesus’ example of living shows us that the way to the abundant life and fruitfulness is to die to self and give up on all that you are and think you can do on your own. Do we really believe what Jesus said about not being able to do anything apart from Him? As we consider serving the Lord among Forgotten people around the world we must embrace this Biblical truth. The only way up is down! To humble ourselves and not push our way to the front! To surrender our perceived rights of marriage, financial security, safety, comfort, etc., for the sake of following Him to the hardest places around the world. This is how Jesus won. He did so through a perceived loss. Satan thought he had pulled a fast one on God by killing His only Son, not having any inkling of a clue that the ways of God are not the ways of man. This was God’s plan all along to redeem all of humanity. Through this “loss” on the cross came the greatest victory ever recorded in human history!
Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to search us and give Him the freedom to come and shine His spotlight on every area of our hearts and lives that is not yet submitted to His lordship. Tell Him that is your heart’s desire right now.
“Lord, we choose brokenness. Shatter us to pieces in order that you might put self to death within us and cause your life to have its way in us and through us. We choose this because it was the example that you gave to us. Though painful and hard on us we know it’s the best way for us in the end. Form us and make us like Jesus that we might touch and influence a dying world with your power, love, and forgiveness.”
*Feel free to pass this memo on to anyone you think might be ministered to through it.
2 Year Go Follow–Up
How are you doing in terms of making headway towards going into the nations for at least 2 years? If you never received an SVM2 “2 Year Go” list that includes various organizations that provide 2 year opportunities and how to contact them, please email or call Paul at paul@SVM2.net or (626) 817-4579 and request one and it will be sent to you right away. Feel free to contact us for any other needs that you have as well. We want to support you in every way possible to see you launched into the nations to impact people with the love of Jesus Christ.
Together for the Nations,
Ryan Shaw
Director
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