By: Stephen Saucier
Don’t be casual about your life. It’s a gift from God. Sense of destiny pulsates through every great carrier of the Gospel.
David had it. He said “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Jeremiah had it. He said “Before the world was created You gave me a job to do.”
Paul had it. He said “You set me apart for the Gospel before I was born.”
Jesus had it. He said “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because You’ve called me to proclaim the Gospel.”
When Billy Graham was in Bible College he went into a field one night to pray with a few of his closest friends. At some point they lost track of Billy and began to look for him. They found him face down in the grass, pounding the ground with his fists, crying out “God, let me do something great for You. Let me do something great for You!”
One thing that drives me crazy, one thing that makes me rant, one thing that seriously causes me to twitch is when those who don’t know our great Jesus have a greater sense of destiny for their short life than we do. These people who know nothing of the eternal purposes of God, who don’t know Jesus, they have more passion, more zeal, more fire to live out their short lives than a thousand christians. That’s something to get fired up about.
Winston Churchill wrote to his mother from the front, “Today I rode into the enemy and dispatched two with my revolver. I turned my pony around, rode back in and dispatched two more. n’er a bullet touched my person, my tunic, my pony. I believe I was preserved for higher things.”
That gets me! Churchill had a sense of destiny that we often lack. We have been preserved for higher things… for the advance of the Gospel.
If you’re reading this you were probably born upside down in a brightly lit room. You came out and the first thing that happened to you was a solid slap on the bum from a nurse. WHACK! You started crying. At the sound of your cry the Doctor would have thought “Good. That’s one more successful delivery.” The nurse would have thought “I better get something to cleanup this mess.” A social worker may even have been thinking “Great! One more mouth to feed.” Your mother almost certainly thought “I’m glad that’s over!”
At the sound of your first cry, your Father in Heaven silenced the angels and said to them “Do you hear that cry? The plan has begun.”
This is not an accident, you being on planet earth. And it’s certainly not an accident that you’re in Marin, a part of Epic Faith, reading this blog right now. Live like you’re set apart for, and called to, the Gospel. You are.
Today, Stephen Saucier joins the Epic Rantings writing and contributing team. Stephen is the Director of Student Ministries at Epic Faith. A Santa Rosa native, he moved to Marin County in April of 2010 to assume his current role. Stephen is a gifted songwriter/musician and father of two beautiful children. He is currently attending Dallas Theological Seminary and brings a scripture-centric worldview to the discussion. He and his wife Anya have been married since 2004.
Epic Rantings is a production of Epic Faith Church.
Epic Faith is a non-denominational, Christian church located in San Rafael, CA. We are a community following Jesus Christ, committed to embracing our mission of engaging culture. We are living to see its redemption, to be known by love and to be a voice of hope in Marin County. The diversity of our members represents a broken and fragmented humanity which can become a work of beauty under the artful hands of God. We welcome people from all walks of life, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey.
Persecution in India: Francis’ Response from Cornerstone Church on Vimeo.
*Footage courtesy “The Voice of the Martyrs”
*Music courtesy “The Champion and His Burning Flame”
Orissa has one of the worst records for violence against Christians, due in part to the activities of a religious fundamentalist group. Many churches have been destroyed and Christian workers continue to be attacked. There is a law prohibiting conversion and, since 2000, baptism requires the permission of the government. About a year ago, Hindu radicals went on a “bloody rampage that left 50,000 Christians fleeing for their lives into the state’s forests.” (GFA, 2009).
LINKS:
Voice of the Martyrs: www.persecution.com
Gospel for Asia: www.gfa.org
Our Brother’s Burden: www.ourbrothersburden.org