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G’day Everyone and welcome to another weekly newsletter of “The Holy Go!” This newsletter is here to equip and mobilise you to fulfil the Great Commission in your every day life!
Last week we were challenged to listen, have compassion and love. How did you go?
I found myself in a situation during the week where I was leaning towards judgment… However once I realised, I stopped and made an effort to listen and understand. It gave me understanding then great ideas of how to practically love them.
This week I have been thinking of the saying, “actions speak louder than words.” It reminds me of the story of Frederick Booth-Tucker and how revival came to a village in India…
EQUIP
Born in India to a well-placed colonial family, he studied law in England but was converted through The Salvation Army and joined its ranks in 1881.
Booth-Tucker was an adventurous missionary, serving in India from 1882–1896 where he adopted local dress, customs, and even a new name, “Fakir Singh,” to identify with the poor and outcaste communities he served.
One day he was travelling and preaching, with little success. He decided to have a nap and fell asleep under a tree. The locals came by and saw him sleeping. They noticed his feet were badly bruised and cut.
Impressed by the sacrifice, the villagers said something along the lines of: “If this man can do this for us, we must follow that way.”
Later Booth-Tucker would say, “I never preached a better sermon than with my feet that day!”
Changing Minds
Growing up I thought that if I or others, “repented and believed,” that God would change His mind, and instead of seeing me to hell, He would now send me to Heaven. However “repentance” in the original language literally means “change your mind.”
Repentance and belief does not change God’s mind, it changes our mind!
Therefore, when we are sharing the gospel we are aiming to change peoples minds. We are telling them the good news of what God has already done in Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection. We are telling them that God has already decided what He wants for them: Life and life to the full!
So if we are to change people’s minds to agree with God, then how do we do this?
The Apostle Paul says it like this in Romans 2:4, “God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.”
Of course people can hear about God’s kindness, but as followers of Jesus we have been instructed to love people just as Jesus loved us. (John 13:34-35) That love is practical. John tells us, “let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
Our actions are just as important as our words…
The villagers who saw Booth-Tucker, didn’t care too much about his message until they saw something… They saw his actions were self-sacrifical, he was suffering in order to bring them good news.
When they don’t match
So what happens when our actions don’t match our words?
What message does it send if we are “Pro-Life” for babies but not for those suffering a genocide?
What message does it send if are “Pro-Family” when it comes to debates on sexuality but not for immigrant, asylum seeker and refugee families?
We may think “it doesn’t matter” but the truth is the world is watching. I love how Brennan Manning says it,
“The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
Moving Forward
For Charles Finney, the father of modern day revival, revival looked like spiritual renewal within people, that caused them to go and transform the world. After the altar call the converts signed up to abolish slavery.
I’ve seen revival that looks like this. The movement I was brought up in, The Salvation Army, had such a revival and their history is glorious! I’ve seen it in Mozambique at Iris Ministries. Again, glorious!
There is something so beautiful when revival looks like the very message we are preaching: The Good News of the Kingdom of God!
So the questions I want to ask you today are:
What message are you conveying with your words?
What message are you conveying with your actions?
Do your words and actions align?
When the villagers saw Booth-Tuckers feet they saw an alignment of word and action. His sacrificial kindness, brought them to repentance! May it be so for us too!
Activate
This week’s activate challenge is to: Sign up to “Grace Bomb” and do a random act of kindness motivated by the Love of God.
Here are the instructions: Click Here
I signed up and they sent me some cards straight away for FREE. It’s a great way to start thinking about how your actions can align with your words.
Have a great week and may our actions and words be aligned and spark revival!
Let’s Go!
James
I think I sent this newsletter out a few minutes too early... I should have included
1) more around our personal relationships... If we are declaring God as good, kind, generous, merciful, forgiving, all embracing and so forth, are we treating those in our relational world that way as well?
2) are we willing to "bruise and batter our feet" for the sake of others?