His Mission

Text: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27).

Jesus was sent on a mission by the Father. He was sent to do a work that would give man an opportunity to gain a right relationship with the Father. This mission trip was planned long before man appeared upon the face of the earth.

Jesus was more than a missionary as he walked upon the surface of the earth. He was the Messiah. He was God in the flesh. He was sinful man’s salvation. He was mankind’s Savior. He was the “Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:12).

During Jesus 3 years of ministry, many people refused to accept Him as the Messiah. Their idea of a Messiah was a military or political type leader who would free them of Roman rule.

Little did the people realize that freedom from Roman rule would not bring them into a right relationship with the Heavenly Father. They would still be dead in their trespasses and sins.

God calls people today to go forth as His representative to propagate or spread the Gospel message. As a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, each one of us should be just as concerned for the lost as was Jesus. It is our duty and responsibility to go forth and tell others about Jesus and what He has done for us and that He can do the same for them.

Jesus gives us the same message He gave His disciples when He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19, 20).

Many have gone forth into other nations to spread God’s Word. These missionaries have given up the comforts of home here in the United States and have moved to remote areas of the world to carry the message of the Cross to those who are perishing. Salvation comes only by the Cross.

Story: “John G. Paton’s Well”

John G. Paton was the hero missionary of the New Hebrides islands in the South Seas. The people were savages, wore little clothing, and lived in a terrible state of sin. Mr. Paton had a time at first getting the people to believe that he had a message from God.

Finally the water supply ran out on the island because of lack of rain. The natives had never seen a well. Paton proceeded to dig one and the digging of this well was really the beginning of the conversion of the people.

On beginning the well, Paton told the chief that he believed God would give them rain from the hole in the ground. The only fresh water the natives had was that caught when it rained.

When Paton made this statement great excitement prevailed. The chief and others declared that if Paton could bring rain from the hole in the ground, his must be the true God.

Finally the missionary, by digging to some depth, found a spring of living water. The effect upon the people was wonderful. The old chief asked the privilege of preaching a sermon at the Sunday services concerning the well.

This he did, emphasizing his earnest appeal by excitedly swinging his tomahawk. In the midst of his sermon he cried, “People of Aniwa, the world has turned upside down since the Word of Jehovah is come to this land. Whoever expected to see rain come up through the earth? From this day I must worship Him who has opened up for us this well and who fills it with rain from below.”

During the week following this remarkable sermon great heaps of idols were burned in front of Paton’s house. The Christian teaching grew quickly and before many years there was not a heathen left on the island.

-----Missionary Ammunition

Isn’t it amazing that all it took to convince these natives of Almighty God was water from a hole in the ground. This earthly water led these natives to the water of everlasting life.

During Jesus’ ministry, He performed many such wonders. He changed the water into wine at a wedding in Cana, which was His first miracle (John 2:9).

A nobleman, whose son was sick, came to Jesus in Cana and requested Him to come to Capernaum and heal his son. Jesus said to him, “God your way; your son lives” (John 4:50). The nobleman had great faith and believed Jesus; the result was the healing of his son. This was Jesus’ second miracle.