Welcome to the heat and the heart of summer . . . Soul Harvest Time!
Summertime is vacation time—leisure time—recreational activities, diversions, distractions, fun! And I hope you have plenty of enjoyable moments in this summer season.
At the same time, there’s no diversion from our calling in Christ. The book of Deuteronomy focuses on focusing—always remembering God’s precepts. The people of God seem to have a way of forgetting what God has said we are always to keep in mind!
The main thing is that
the main thing always remain
the main thing!
It was quoted to us in class by our late Professor, Dr. Joe Aldridge, as an old German proverb. But we do find this principle in God’s Word! He calls us to remember where we’ve come from and where we’re going, as a result of our salvation.
Look at the message of First Peter —the apostle reminds us in this book about our status as aliens and strangers in this world, because our citizenship is in heaven. (Aliens are often held in contempt by the natives among whom they dwell!)
Our heavenly citizenship impacts our demeanor, our attitude in this world. The Holy Spirit through Peter says:
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a Holy Nation . . . so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of the darkness into His marvelous light . . . I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul!” (1 Peter 2:9 & 11)
In essence: our calling as Christians is never to settle in this world as if it is our final destiny, but to be aliens and strangers until we are finally home. It’s as the old familiar song says:
This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore!
But our citizenship is not simply a badge of distinction. You have received your heavenly citizenship “so that you may proclaim the virtues of the One who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” We are called as the church of the Lord to the ministry of reconciliation. Each one of us is designated as an agent of this ministry.
Yes, summer pulls us in many directions, but we must remember who we are, and what God calls us to be about. Even throughout baseball season, beach season, and vacation season: we must keep the main thing the main thing. No matter where we are this summer, our status is unchanged: we are His ambassadors to this dying world.
The need has never been greater. The harvest opportunities have never been greater.
Through your generous support, we are now mapping out ministry to tribal groups in the Amazon rainforest! I was stunned and grateful to learn that numerous tribes, from the eastern end to the western end of the region, have heard about our church-planting strategy—training and deploying local leaders, not injecting outsiders into the culture.
- The few believers in the rainforest tribes already have a vision to plant hundreds, possibly thousands of churches to reach their own people groups!
Most recently, we’ve connected with the Warao, Yanomami, and Quechua peoples—more than 20 other groups in the region are asking to participate in our train-and-deploy programs. And even this is just the tip of the iceberg. More than 100 isolated tribal groups populate the vast rainforest. The potential for harvest work in this remote part of the world is almost beyond imagining.
Our God-given strategy has never been more essential. The tribes of the Amazon have suffered unspeakably down through the years at the hands of white people. Deadly epidemics have been unleashed on them. “Indian Bureau” personnel have essentially sold some tribes to lobbyists, and into slavery and prostitution—the people of these tribes have been on a path to extinction.
Accounts of corruption are abundant. Many outsiders want to exterminate tribal populations to clear the way for more and bigger logging operations. Farmers want to burn more and more of the rainforest to develop more and bigger farming operations. The Waraos have been raided by Westerners who have killed their men and kidnapped their women and girls, taking them into prostitution.
Hundreds of tribes have already been “integrated” and are now suffering a sad fate, thrust aside by those who duped and/or overpowered them, took most of their lands, and then eradicated their way of life.
The tribal groups asking to participate in our ministry plan are among those badly abused, devastated by the European peoples who came to the South American continent. Of course these tribes want to train and deploy their own leaders, to reach out to their own people, in their own languages.
It won’t be easy to mount an undertaking of evangelism and holistic help for so many groups. A pastor friend who identifies as “Gypsy” sings a song about “the ordeal we get into when we put on the sandals of the gospel of peace.” The Great Commission is not without challenges.
But we know our citizenship—we know our calling—and we know to keep the main thing the main thing. Our willingness to serve is key.
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” came the question from heaven—and Isaiah replied, “Here am I. Send me!” We must respond with the willingness of Isaiah . . . especially now.
The enemy has never fought harder to consume and destroy a generation.
I just saw a television news report that the U.S. has now become the world’s #1 consumer of child prostitution. The official being interviewed hesitated before saying it—but then accepted the unpleasant but unavoidable fact that this tragic data point is no longer a secret.
The official went on to reveal that the multitudes of children coming illegally into our country, across the southern border, are likely to end up in child prostitution through a collusion of corrupt politicians, some at the highest levels, and other interested groups.
Many American non-profit organizations share heart-wrenching stories of exploited children here in the U.S. The true stories of sex-trafficking survivors can be downright depressing.
And yet. . .
- We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a Holy Nation—
so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has
called us out of darkness into His wonderful light!
Thank God we are aliens and strangers in this caustic, corrupt world! But the main thing is STILL the main thing! Our role is not to withdraw in horror.
- We have the privilege of proclaiming the One who called us out of darkness into light.
- We are to live as salt and light.
- We can offer hope to the hopeless . . . and to those in despair, the potential of a better life, made possible by the grace of God.
This is what you do as you pray, as you give, as you serve in our ministry family. You are sharing the Good News.
You are revealing to lost people the amazing truth that they can walk with God—they can live beautiful lives, by faith—they can attain to eternal life through a “great salvation” made possible by the sacrifice of Christ!
So I challenge you, with my own personal paraphrase of 1 Peter 1, to embrace your God-given purpose—even in the casual summer season:
Fasten your seatbelt, so as to not be encumbered by any loose ends. Prepare for action. Be cool, calm, and collected.
Keep focused on the strength to be received at the appearing of Christ.
Because of the obedience that should emerge from the new position in Christ, we should not give way to the former lusts we had when we were ignorant.
We should be holy—and wholly—consecrated unto the purpose for which we have been redeemed. We must keep the main thing the main thing!
The hymnwriter Frances Ridley Havergal also said it, and said it well, in another way—in a song the church congregation sang at my baptism (all six stanzas!), when I was 15 years old:
Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. . .
Take my hands and let them move / At the impulse of Thy love; take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold. Take my heart; it is Thine own. It shall be Thy royal throne.
Consecration? That’s being holy: “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which He prepared before the foundation of the world that we might walk in them.” (Main thing? Main thing.)
The dramatic needs of our world—and our home country—spur us to action. Sure, it’s summer. School is out. We spend more time with our loved ones, and make memories with them for yet another season, by God’s grace. It is also by God’s grace that we have been saved! And because of this, we have the joy of serving as channels of His grace to peoples far and near.
The stakes are high. As Peter says, we must prepare for action. We must cover the bases, by God’s grace, by His ample provision, and with confidence that His grace is sufficient for us and sufficient for them . . . sufficient for all!
Yes, grace is the unmerited favor that God extends to all, even though none of us deserve it. But grace is also the desire, and the enablement, to do God’s will. His grace reached us, and as we join Him, His grace will reach others through our lives . . .
We are channels of that grace! God help us to keep the main thing the main thing!
Please stand with us in giving today, so that His grace may flow freely . . . and those living in despair may receive the treasures of His love, just as we have received them ourselves.
For the love of God,
Dr. Manny Fernandez
P.S. Please hear my heart. I hope you have a great summer. Enjoy it all! But I also invite you to keep praying and giving. Because even in the summer season, people are facing eternity without knowing Jesus. Your gift today can reach someone before it’s too late.