1994 Joseph L.

Cannon
All rights reserved
Printed in New Zealand

Published by
The Last Stop Printing Service
P.O. Box 8077
Tauranga, New Zealand
 Foreword
My first introduction to the man whom we know as Joe Cannon
was at a church get together on the island of Okinawa. I was not a
member of the Lord's body at the time but was in attendance because
my wife Kathy was a member.
Many of you have been in Joe's presence when he regaled audi-
ences with his 'hold the nose, beat the throat and bleat noise' bagpipe
routine. I was embarrassed because I thought this missionary repre-
senting the churches of Christ had imbibed a bit much in party juice.
There were others in the group who didn't really know what to think
either as they had not had much association with Joe because he
worked primarily with the Japanese people and this was a gathering
of mostly English speaking military personnel.
I grew up in a religious family and from an early age had dreamed
one day of being on foreign fields preaching and sharing the Good
News of Jesus Christ. This was fueled by my love of reading especial-
ly the National Geographic magazine.
When I joined the Air Force and left home I left my faith at home as
well. I blended very well with the world during my tours of military
duty in Texas, Vietnam and Okinawa.
Upon Kathy and I getting married (1969) and moving to Okinawa
I honored her desire to worship with the church by taking her and
picking her up from services. I had no thoughts of re-establishing my
faith even though my mother encouraged me in that direction in her
letters.
It was during this period that I met Joe. I had questions and he
patiently gave answers. He accepted me for who and where I was and
did not push. After my initial embarrassment and proper introduction
to this wild Canadian, I thought, "If this man can be a missionary in
God's service then there is hope for me."
The Ojana church of Christ on Okinawa was the English speaking
group, primarily made up of us military types. I soon found out that
they were not a bunch of religious fanatics but loving, serving people
of God.
In October 1969 over a few short days, Kathy had a miscarriage and
I was admitted to the hospital after blinding myself while welding.
During those days the church looked after us and even stocked up our
pantry when we arrived back home.
 Shortly after this the Ojana congregation had a Gospel Meeting
with Maurice Tisdale. Joe's wife, Rosa Belle, wanted me to be exposed
to Maurice so she gave Kathy $5 so we could have Maurice over for
hamburgers before the evening meeting time.
We did, he did and I did!
Maurice came over for dinner, he answered my questions in regard
to my prior religious convictions and I decided that my relationship
with God was not correct. That night I made that relationship right, I
asked Joe to assist. That night I became a son in the kingdom!
When Joe & Rosa Belle and family left for Papua New Guinea in
1971 my desire was to go with them when we were discharged that
year from the USAF. Kathy and I (and little Terasa) had stayed with the
younger Cannon children while Joe and Rosa Belle returned to the
USA prior to going to PNG in August 1971. I was heartbroken when
that was not the case. The Lord worked in our lives so that trip to PNG
went through Sunset School of Preaching/Missions before we finally
landed in Papua New Guinea in February 1975.
Initially we had thought of working closely with Joe in Lae but
ended up working in the Highlands. Joe and I walked and drove
many miles on patrol - Saruwaged Mountains, Chimbu, Rockamunda,
Waipi, etc. If ever I have been in the presence of a person with the mind
of Christ. It is Joe Cannon.
As I proofed this book prior to printing I could see my "Father in
the Faith" saying these things (just as I saw him live it in Papua New
Guinea and as he continues to live).
I would that this book be required reading of all Christians, espe-
cially those wishing to make their vocation a "full time missionary"
(Shouldn't we all be, as we are but sojourners?). Those who serve as
elders, deacons, mission ministry members and supporters of missions
should have a test after reading this.
Until we get serious about our "Orders from Headquarters" (see
Chapter 28) we will never see the urgency of the task of World
Evangelism. Maybe the reason we are having the problems of faith-
fulness in Christians is that they haven't been convicted that they are
truly only "bond servants" of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Its a funny thing about the human side of creation. Sometimes we
don't exhibit as much sense as the animal world. My experience with
hens as an example. When by reason of time (maturity) hens should
be laying eggs. I didn't have to bring in motivational speakers to
encourage them to lay eggs or even continue to lay eggs. Even diet
didn't excuse not laying (just the quality is effected). Lay eggs they
will - because it is their nature - their reasonable service!
Need I make the application: we are redeemed from the world -
have the nature of Bond servants (slaves) - to "go and teach" - only our
reasonable service!
I'd better quit now and let you start reading - it is Joe's book after
all.
As one who has the privilege of working with a true servant of God
I commend this book to you the reader. May you too be filled with
"The Heart of the Missionary".
Tobey Huff
P.O. Box 1345
Port Vila
Vanuatu
 INTRODUCTION

After twenty years in Japan, I wrote For Missionaries Only. It

was, in the main, a compilation of experiences written to encourage
and help struggling missionaries. This present effort, written after
twenty-two years in Okinawa, Papua New Guinea, and Irian Jaya, has
essentially the same motivation. I seek to address all missionaries and
their mentors. I speak only for myself with the hope that based on my
experience and encouragement, someone will be set on course or
remain more firmly on the course of God's grace in a missionary
career.
Much of the content has been used in a paramissionary training
program that I direct called Mission/1000, sponsored by the Highland
Street Church of Christ, Memphis, Tennessee.
As with most books, there are many helpers for whom to be
grateful. First, to my Lord without whom nothing in this book would
have been possible. More than anything, I want Him to be honored
and loved by those who read this book.
Next, my dear wife, Rosa Belle, who has continually urged me to
write something and has been a friendly critic of this resulting manu-
script. Corrections have also been kindly made by Aileen Boyce,
Duane Morgan, Catherine Gould, and Catherine Wood. The burden of
typing and finishing things up fell to Betty Whitworth, an efficient,
first class church secretary.
Now I send this forth with the prayer that God may use it for His
glory and for the edification of His servants.

Joeseph L. Cannon
c/o "Mission 1000"
Highland Street church of Christ
443 South Highland
Memphis Tn. 38111
901-458-3335
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Grace Is The Method
2. Who is a Competent Missionary?
3. The Missionary Disposition of Christ
4. Christ Works Only With Meek Missionaries
5. How to Become a Missionary
6. He Became a Nobody (A. Emptiness)
7. He Started at the Bottom (B. Slavery)
8. He Looked Like Everybody Else (C. Humanity)
9. He Lived As a Kosher Jew (D. Conformity)
10. He Rode the Elevator Down (E. Abasement)
11. He Did What He Didn't Want to Do (F. Obedience)
12. He Died a Miserable Death (G. Suffering)
13. The Missionary's Reward
14. Seeing Things As He Sees Them
15. Throne of Grace
16. Prayer Comes First
17. Supply Lines
18. The Spiritual Life of a Missionary
19. Cannon's Law
20. Cast Your Two Dollars on the Waters
21. I'll Work With Anyone the Lord Sends
22. Ascending the Heights
23. Why Missionaries Burn Out
24. Why Missionaries Don't Burn Out
25. Blood Brothers
26. Nameless Graves
27. Kill Me First
28. Orders from Headquarters
29. Missiological Contextualization
30. Emotional Rocks and Missionary Wrecks
31. The Way to Win
32. MK's (Missionarys' Kids)
33. Taming Wild Horses
34. Beg for Missionaries
35. Global Strategy
36. God's Methods are Not Our Methods
37. Tests and Measurements
38. "Old Soldiers Never Die"
39. A Wife for All Seasons
 1. GRACE IS THE METHOD

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. "
Titus 2:11

In looking back over my life as a missionary, I see a lot of activities:

Busy days running here and there; hassles about government regula-
tions; transportation; fund raising; studies about mission methods;
conferences; seminars; lectureships - "so many balls to juggle," so
much to do and so little time to do it. Mistakes, errors, sins, ambitions,
successes, failures - sometimes, I think we accomplished a lot; some-
times little; sometimes I wonder how anything could have been done.
I have been queried by others and have asked myself as well, "If
you had it all to do over again, would you change anything?" Yes,
everything - well, almost everything. One thing is most important:
There is reason for it all. There is that which stands central and makes
it all worthwhile - the grace of God. This is the inside story, and it is
the inside story that counts. The surface stuff of life only finds coher-
ence and meaning by the sanctification which comes from within.
What on the surface seemed so important for the progress of the
gospel had little to do with its progress. All the ballyhoo and hoopla,
all the gimmicks and gadgets, all the methods and money did not do
the job. These did not build the spiritual kingdom of Christ.
The church is built by the grace of God. The worldwide ministry of
evangelism must come from and depend upon this grace. Workers
accomplish God's will on earth only to the extent that God grants
grace. The key is grace. But wait, grace is God's gift to the weak and
helpless. It is mercy upon people who cannot be helped in any other
way. It is true! It is God's vehicle to bring salvation. It is only by its
power that powerless people can do anything pleasing to God.
Christ's estimate of what disciples can do without grace is summed up
when He says, "Without me you can do nothing."1 This truth can leave
us all alone, as we try to do our own thing our own way. Unless Christ
has mercy upon our plans, programs, and abilities, we will not end up
with what Christ wants. It will only be an exercise in man-centered
futility. It is only in the process and progress and power of grace in our
lives that Christ accomplishes in us and through us what he really
wants.
What I want to do, and that only by God's grace, is to turn missions
inside out to have a look at what is really going on. To see what our
Lord is really doing with us, and to see how He really gets things done.
Grace and missions are inseparable, fundamental, right on target, pre-
dicted on our weakness, not our strength; understood more by the
heart than the head. Grace is more important than methodology, more
essential than missiology. To miss grace in missions is to miss it all.
All the ideology of missions, philosophies of evangelism, and theories
of church growth will never get a handle on the workings of grace.
God's thoughts and God's ways will still be above ours.2 He will still
do above what we ask or think.3 We must still wonder, saying, "His
ways are past finding out."4 And He will still confound the wisdom of
the wise5 and contradict even the philosophies of Christian philoso-
phers and theologians. Through grace, God will still bring, as it were,
"something from nothing."7 His strength will still be the humbling dec-
laration, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."9

2. WHO IS A COMPETENT MISSIONARY?

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in
Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of
Him... And who is equal to such a task? (NIV) And who is sufficient for
these things? (KJV) Not that we are competent to claim anything for our -
selves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as
ministers of a new covenant. " – 2 Corinthians 2:14, 16; 3:5-6

Once during a discussion of the not so virtuous aspects of my char-

acter and conduct, the statement was made: "How did you ever
accomplish anything in New Guinea?" That poses a good question,
because I do not think I accomplished anything worth very much.
Any real, lasting good was accomplished by the grace of God. He
made it happen. I am glad, though, that I was there when He did it
and that He was gracious enough to have me in on it.
We have the idea that God uses only competent, talented individu-
als. We tend to put our confidence in the abilities of men, believing
that that is how God gets things done. We do this so emphatically that
it almost seems wrong or accidental if it happens some other way. We
presume that our schools, our training programs, our system of doing
things will automatically be blessed of God as the means through
which He will work, but even as God does not dwell in temples made
by hands, neither is He committed to work through the art and device
of man. That which is manmade must be sanctified by God for God's
own uses. When sanctification enters the picture, we have immedi-
ately involved a free act of the grace of God. When it becomes some-
thing of grace, then we are talking about the way in which God works
to accomplish His will and glorify His name. This is not done by those
means that have the strength, power and pride of men up front.
Notice the the missionary ministry of Paul and his companions was
triumphant because "GOD always leads." "It is done IN Christ." "HE
spreads the fragrance everywhere."1 True, this ministry is done "through
us," but only as vessels of GOD'S GRACE. When considering the enor-
mous significance of this work, the question is asked, "And who is
equal to such a task?" The answer is definitely, "No one." No one is
qualified; no one is able to do this; and this is why it must be of God's
grace and recognized as His doing. World evangelism can only take
place by the grace of God, and it is only by faith in this grace that
makes it possible for us to be part of it. We cannot claim it for our-
selves. We are insufficient. Sufficiency and competence comes from
God. He gives them. He makes them happen. He makes us compe-
tent as missionaries of a New Covenant. Only to the extent that we are
given to Him, depending on His grace, will we be led in triumph. We
are weaklings engulfed in the power of His grace. The fragrance is of
HIM, the "aroma is of CHRIST."2

3. THE MISSIONARY DISPOSITION OF CHRIST

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might
become rich. " – 2 Corinthians 8:9

There is no doubt that grace motivated our Lord's mission to "seek

and save the lost."1 He became the world's greatest missionary, but such
an ambition was not what moved Him from heaven to earth. His love
for us did that. He had no ambition to become the greatest of anything
in this world. When He became poor, He cut Himself off from all the
avenues of power and importance that money could buy. He, in prin-
ciple, gave us all His money and became bankrupt. He gave up the
riches of Heaven for the poverty of earth. What kind of thinking do
we have here? What disposition of mind do we find in our Lord?
What does it mean when the scripture says, "Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus?"2 - "Your attitude should be the same as that
of Christ Jesus?" 3
What we often overlook when we consider the first coming of our
Lord and what prompted Him to come is the relationship He had with
the Father before the world was created. Naturally, we tend to think
that we are the center of the universe; and that, of course, Christ would
love us, and in fact, really be obligated to love us because we are need-
ing it and, therefore, in some way deserving of it. However, what
Christ did for us originated in the love between the Father and
Himself which they had before the creation of the world. Jesus said,
"For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." 4 Out of this love,
we are loved.
"The grace of God that brings salvation to men"5 and benefits them,
comes from the wonderful, loving relationship of the Father and the
Son, "To let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as
you have loved me."6 This love of God, powerful, never ending,
unselfish, reaching out in creation and redemption, is what God really
is and what he is all about. We see this divine agape (love) of the
Godhead Trinity, the power behind everything God does, and it must
certainly be the motivating force behind worldwide evangelism.

"I have made you known to them (disciples) and will continue to make you
known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself
may be in them." 7

See the purpose of revelation. It is to draw us into the loving fel-

lowship of God and Christ. It is the crowning purpose of the gospel of
grace. It is the underlying reason for missions. Nothing is more
important than this. Nothing needs to be taught and practiced more
than this. True discipleship is based on this, and the impact that
Christianity should have on the world should come from this love. It
is what salvation and the church are all about.

"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, AS I
HAVE LOVED YOU, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men
know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another."8

This is not just any love. Neither is it the love found in the law of
Moses. It is a new kind of love revealed from Heaven, manifested in
the life of Christ. "As I have loved you" is the key to understanding
the kind of love that Christians should have. It is learned from Christ.
"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ."9 The grace and truth is the fullness of God in Christ. "God is
agape love." 10 This is the glory of Christ. "We have seen His glory, the
glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth."11 Through Christ is the fullness of God's love and being. "For
God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him."12 When this hap-
pened then the work of reconciliation went forth "and their words unto
the ends of the earth."13 The fullness of what is in God breaks forth in
Christ.

"And through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or

in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross."14

Now we see the power, the glory, the fullness of the Godhead, the
fullness of the love of Christ, the grace of God. It is what we are to be
filled with. "For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and
you have been given fullness in Christ."15
Now we can see the missionary disposition of Christ, what filled
His heart and dominated His thinking, what motivated the Great
Commission and what enables the church to carry it out. It is only the
person filled with the love of Christ that becomes a vessel of the world-
wide ministry of reconciliation.16 only the church, sanctified by the
fullness of grace and truth, has this "treasure in earthen vessels to show
that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."17

4. CHRIST WORKS ONLY WITH MEEK MISSIONARIES

"But He gives more grace. Therefore, He says, "God resists the proud but
gives grace to the humble." Therefore, submit to God... humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord. " – James 4:6, 7, 10 (NKJ)

A working relationship with God is accomplished when we are

humble. Our pride prevents God from blessing and developing us,
because pride frustrates God who wants to give much grace to us. It
is not that God is proud and demands that we be humble, but because
God Himself is humble. Only a humble person can enter into a deep
and meaningful fellowship with God.
Notice the connection between Moses being "the meekest man in all
the earth" 1 and God's mutual relationship with him: "I speak with him
face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the
Lord."2 Do you not think there is a connection between the meekness
of Moses and his having a face-to-face fellowship, namely, a compati-
ble relationship with God? In another place scripture says, "So the Lord
spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."3 Here is a level-
ling relationship where the two speak man to man. Is not the "form of
the Lord" seen by Moses none other than the humility of God? Does
not God show a form not easily grasped by us as He humbles Himself
to speak with the meekest man in all the world?
Again, in the darkness of the cave, to His servant, Elijah, worn out
and depressed - did He not speak in a "gentle whisper," 4 a still, small
voice?"5 Are we not taught that God was not in the wind, earthquake,
and fire, but in the "gentle whisper?" is not the life of the coming
Messiah described by the prophet in the lowliest terms: "Tender shoot,
no beauty or majesty, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him,
despised, rejected, suffering, stricken, pierced, crushed, punished, a lamb
oppressed?"6 The basis of Christ's invitation to weary, burdened people
is His humble nature. "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy
laden... for I am meek and lowly in heart..."7 The heart of Jesus is gentle,
and to learn what He is really like we must learn His humility first.
The first "I am" of Jesus was "I am meek." When we learn what Jesus
is like, we learn at the same time what God is like.8 If the cross tells us
anything at all about the love of God, it does so in the form of a suf-
fering, humble slave. Can we picture God this way? In the meeting
place of the cross, are we not face to face with God? Do we not meet
with one "like unto Moses" 9 - "who is greater than Moses?"10 Are we not
seeing on the cross the humble form of the meekest man in all the
earth? Is not this a gentle whisper in the hearts of the worn and
weary?
But what has this got to do with missions? Everything! This is mis-
sions! This is the crux of world evangelism. This is where the heart of
the missionary must be found. Any mission methodology that does
not arise from the humility of Christ on the cross is not worthy of the
name. It is here, and only here, that evangelism is not worthy of the
name. It is here, and only here, that evangelism is sanctified and
purged. Only at the bloodstained throne of grace is it authorized.
Message and means must be validated here. Missionary work is sanc-
tified by the lowliness of this mind of Christ and washed in the blood
of the cross. Everything must be based on, and come from, the grace
of a humble Christ and the faith of a humbled sinner. How strange all
of this becomes when placed side by side with the self-proclaiming,
self-exalting claims of some modern means of evangelism! What a
double tragedy to miss both the form and the power of godliness!11
Can it be that we miss the Holy Spirit of Christ altogether by our great
dependence on money and the means of securing it? Do we sacrifice
the humility of Christ and the broken heart of repentance for the pub-
lic relations image of success? Do we succumb to the practical theory,
to the ideas that rotate around the need for fund raising such as, "We
cannot do anything without the money," or "The budget will not allow
us to do any more?" Do we think the world will be evangelized when
we can afford it? Does money build the spiritual kingdom of God? I
wonder how the New Testament church evangelized the world with-
out all our modern means!
I think we can be sure that God still resists a religion and its means
of propagation that is based on pride, the wisdom of the world, the
pragmatic mind if the flesh, and the ego-supporting systems of adver-
tising. God works by grace, and His grace is dispensed to the humble
ones. He does not work any other way. Whatever lasting good is
accomplished is accomplished by God through the avenues of His
marvelous mercies - surprising us here, confounding us there, ever
teaching us that He will not use the proud means but only the humble.
He spoke not through the powerful but through the weak. He does
not dwell with the arrogant but only with the meek. "I live in a high
and holy place, but also with Him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive
the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."12
Let us submit ourselves humbly to the uses of the grace of God. Let
all of our means and money be brought low. May we in lowliness of
mind learn from Him who is meek and lowly. May our plans and
goals and money and means be emptied out before the cross and be
sanctified in the Holy Place by the sprinkling of blood of Jesus13 in
humble and contrite hearts where grace upon grace is ministered by
the gentle Lamb of God.

5. HOW TO BECOME A MISSIONARY

"But made Himself of no reputation... "(KJV) "Made Himself nothing "
(NIV) – Philippians 2:7
 There are a lot of books about this matter written by men who are
scholars and better men than I am. However, I would like to say this,
that the Bible is the best missionary handbook ever written, and the
power it promises can make a good missionary out of any Christian
and a good Christian out of any missionary.
If we want to be missionaries, we need to follow in the steps of the
one who was the world's greatest missionary - the one who started it
all when He left Heaven for earth. It is essential and central to what
we are talking about to hear Christ when He says, "As the Father sent
me, so I send you."1 Knowing the way in which Jesus was sent is the key
to knowing how He sends us. Experiencing how He sends us is what
a missionary's life and work is all about. As we delve into these mat-
ters, we will find that we are not dealing with surface techniques and
methods but with inner spiritual realities that should empower all
who seek to save the lost.
There are seven steps that Jesus took to become the Savior of the
world. The process is described in Philippians 2:5-8. It is also a
description of the spiritual process through which one grows in
Christ's likeness and by which also one is qualified by the grace of
Christ to become in the most complete sense a soul winner, evangelist,
or a missionary. The steps are (1) Emptiness, (2) Slavery, (3) Humanity,
(4) Conformity, (5) Abasement, (6) Obedience, (7) Suffering.

6. HE BECAME A NOBODY
A. Emptiness

"But emptied Himself" - Philippians 2:7 (KJV)

It can be a traumatic experience to leave home and loved ones, to

venture into known experiences, leaving behind safety, security, and a
settled life-style. how different it must have been for Jesus in leaving
Heaven! He is a thoughtful, sensitive person, and we find Him rea-
soning about His mission in this way:

"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from
this hour. No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify
your name." 1

Christ's wanting to do the will of God more than His own will is the
motivating power in emptying Himself of Himself. The self is made
nothing, and His own will is put down in order to glorify the Father.
He empties Himself to be filled with God in order to do anything God
wants. From the beginning, His heart shared the love of God for lost
men and women and now is filled by God's own love.
To have this mind in us which was in Christ, we must become
empty of our own desires and ambitions. Jesus says, "I can of mine own
self do nothing... I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
hath sent me."2 He made room in his heart for the will of God to be
done. His emptiness was filled with God, as He did nothing out of His
own desires. Is not this emptying process a prerequisite to, and basi-
cally essential for, all missionary movements? Do you think it is pos-
sible to represent Christ and do God's will in all the countries of the
world without this mind, this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? Is not
this the first thing to be taught and learned by us in order to do God's
will on earth as it is done in heaven? It was in this frame of mind that
Jesus came into the world:

"Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said, "A body you pre -
pared for me"... then I said, "Here I am - it is written about me in the scroll
- I have come to do your will, O God."3

It is in this frame of mind that we are to go into all the world. But,
is this humility, this lowliness the main thrust of our training pro-
grams? Do we not tend, instead, to be pumped up and puffed up with
knowledge4 and, as a result, go about our tasks short of the humble,
self-sacrificing love of Christ? When we see how Jesus became the
Savior of the world, can we do anything less if we want to save the
world? The Christian life, and especially world evangelism, must pro-
ceed from our emptiness and the fullness of the love of Christ in us.

7. HE STARTED AT THE BOTTOM

B. Slavery

"Taking the form of slave..." – Philippians 2:7

The net result of the foregoing was complete, abject slavery. Most
translations render it "servant," contrary to the original language,
watering down the force of the meaning, protecting us from the
unpleasantness of realizing that following Christ means we are ear-
marked, bonded, bought and paid-for salves. By all means, we must
preserve the delicate ego, protect ourSELVES, maintain a health SELF-
image! (Is this image an idol to be worshiped?) Yet, is it not the mind
of the flesh, our worldly instincts of self-preservation, that prevents us
from being Christ-like and hinders God's new creation of us into the
image of His Son? God uses humble, despised elements to glorify
Himself. It was through salves of Christ that the Roman world was
evangelized.1 We are all familiar with the teaching of Jesus,
"Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoev -
er will be chief among you, let him be your servant."2
The term "minister" has become so professionalized and so exclu-
sive as to misrepresent what Jesus was teaching. It has come to repre-
sent a superior, managerial position rather than one of servitude.
"Servant" here should be translated "slave," and to the credit of the
NIV it is, but in most translations, "slavehood" is frowned upon and
translated around. If Christ is depicted as a "slave" and it represents
the basis of His life style, then we too must gladly appropriate both the
term and the life-form to ourselves. Note what Jesus says in the con-
text of washing the disciples' feet: "I tell you the truth, no slave is greater
than his master."3
If we want to be like Jesus, then we must follow the Master Slave.4
I know that slavery under Christ is a joyful privilege and that Christ
treats us as His friends. "I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does
not know his master's business."5 Let us see, though, that the "master's
business" involves slavehood. Since the Master's major business is
world evangelism, the slave not engaged in this business will be beat-
en with many blows, for: "That servant (slave) who knows his master's
will (The Great Commission) and does not get ready or does not do what his
master wants (an evangelized world) will be beaten with many blows." 6 Are
many of us going to be beaten because of our neglect of world evan-
gelism? Think about it: pray about it.
A slave has no rights or privileges of his own. As slaves, we cannot
claim comforts, business success, money, pleasure, or position as our
right or purpose in life. We only exist for the pleasure of our Master.
Evangelizing the world or any other work a slave would do does not
have reward or payment forthcoming. This comes only if the Master
bestows grace.
We can be sure that when we have done what the Lord wants us to,
the following will be true:

1. We will not have done a good job of it: "You should say we are
unprofitable slaves."7
2. It was what we should have done anyway: "We have only done
our duty."
3. We are not due any thanks for it. "Would he thank the servant,
because he did what he was told to do?8

All right then, what makes the slave a slave? It is a debt of love,
making us debtors to preach the gospel.9 The love of Christ compels
him.10 He seeks no reward. He seeks only to do the Master's will, only
to be with Him, only to be like Him. Yes, He will reward His slaves,
but this comes by His gift of grace. It comes as a gift of His love for us,
so that in all things the glory, honor, and power will be God's.11

8. HE LOOKED LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE

C. Humanity
"Was made in the likeness of men..." (KJV) "Being made in human
likeness..." (NIV) – Philippians 2:7
Science fiction makes fascinating reading, and movies such as "Star
Wars" make visual excitement, too. Imaginations are turned loose as
weird-looking characters are created. Since I was a Buck Rogers and
Flash Gordon fan of years ago, I have never seen a shape or body
invented by artists that I would care to live in. In fact, the real shapes
of lower life forms do not appeal to me either. I feel at home with the
"likeness of men." 1
What is hard for us even to imagine is what happened when the
Son of God took on a lower life form exchanging "Godlikeness" for
"human likeness." We would hardly consider changing our human
form for the lower life form of a dog or cat or any other animal.
Neither would I want to die in order to benefit an animal. When Jesus
took on human life, it was in a form not only lower than the "form of
God" that he previously had, but also "lower than the angels." 2 Can we
understand what Jesus went through? Not only did he take a lower
form of life but also a life form of those that would despise Him and
eventually kill Him. Only a profound love would do this. The apos-
tle of love exclaims, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us..." 3 The word "manner" means in this "a foreign matter," 4 "a
strange thing," something we are not familiar with. Can you see in a
sense Christ's love is from "outer space," "from above,"5 yet now made
real in human experience? He called himself the "Son of man," shar-
ing our human nature bringing himself close to us. It put him on the
inside track with us and enabled him to reach us and us to reach him.

"Who in the days of His flesh, when he had offered up prayers and suppli -
cations with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from
death... was heard because of his reverent submission."6

Here we see the "Word made flesh"7 sharing with mankind fear and
suffering, pain, and death. But what an example for us! Reverent
submission, bowing humbly to the will of God, though under stress
and grief, bearing it like a true man, willing to endure all.
As this was the key to Christ knowing us and sympathizing with
us, so it is the key to successful missionary ministration. To be joined
in a common humanity with other races and strange people, becomes
a real bridge to more cross-cultural communication and understand-
ing. Christ knows us and represents us at the throne of God because
of He suffered as a son of man "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obe -
dience by the things which He suffered."8 This is what qualified Him to
be our great High Priest. This is what qualifies a missionary to be a
missionary. This identification with and sharing of common humani-
ty equipped our Lord to minister on our behalf and represent us in a
real way in Heaven. In like manner our sympathetic involvement in
the culture and customs of others will qualify us to intercede for them
and minister to them in the same way our Lord did.

9. HE LIVED AS A KOSHER JEW

D. Conformity

"And being found in fashion as a man..." – Philippians 2:8 (KJV)

When I was a young missionary (twenty-one) in Japan just after

World War II, I was suspicious of anything Japanese as being contrary
to the gospel. I felt that our new Japanese converts were obligated to
see things as I did and appreciate my ways as I did. Though interest-
ed in Western ways, they continued to think as Japanese, and it took
me quite a while to understand this. I had had good training in the
Bible, for which I thank God and all my mentors, but I had had no
studies in missionary anthropology, missiology, methodology,
Oriental culture, linguistics, etc. I found that there were other things
to learn besides what I had in mind, for instance, the Oriental mind in
general, and the Japanese mind in particular. I had to start just as a
baby does to learn the language, the same with customs and culture.
Not only that, I had never seen Christ in a different skin before. It
began to dawn on me that the "Word became flesh" was one thing, and
"living for a while among us" was another 1 - definitely related, but dif-
ferent. When Jesus "dwelt among us,"2 it was as a Palestinian Jew with
all of his garb and customs. I know I had heard this before I left the
shores of my homeland, but I had not learned it by its true significance
bursting upon my real life.
Here is Jesus, sent to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel," 3 "becoming
all things to all men that he might by all means save some."4 He regularly
attended the synagogue worship and participated in it. "He went to
Nazareth where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went
into the synagogue, as was His custom. And he stood up to read." 5 He was
well acquainted with the games,6 songs,7 sayings,8 traditions,9 and
proverbs10 of the people. He ate their food,11 wore their clothes,12 and
honored their customs13 As Paul said in imitation of Christ, "To the
Jews I become like a Jew."14
"And Jesus, tired as He was from the journey..."15

"Come with me to a quiet place and rest awhile."16

"Oh, unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you
and put up with you?"17

"Do you still not understand?... Don't you remember?... How is it you
don't understand...?"18
As Jesus conformed to being a Jew, He experienced many conflicts
with their culture. Did Jesus suffer culture stress as a result? All mis-
sionaries do, and the nature of some of it is such that one must endure
the conflict without compromise in order to preserve one's integrity as
a Christian. Jesus was the Son of man, but He was also the Son of God.
He could not subvert His commitment to God in order to live like a
man. Conflict was inevitable for Christ and it is also with all mission-
aries. Notice conflicts in the experiences of Jesus:

"A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but
none will be given it..."19
 "You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition."20

"In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of

men."21

"Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buy -
ing and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the
benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchan -
dise through the temple courts."22

"Contextualization of the gospel" has its limitations, it would seem.

Even so, Jesus is not a foreigner doing these things, but one immersed
in Jewishness, yet not overcome by Jewishness. Jesus did not lose his
divine identity but experienced and demonstrated his new identity as
the Son of man in an exemplary way.

"But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He
did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man."23

10. HE RODE THE ELEVATOR DOWN

E. Abasement

"...He humbled Himself..." – Philippians 2:8

What can this mean? After "emptying Himself," then "taking the
form of a slave," and becoming human and culturally identifiable, it
would seem that He had already fully humbled himself. We have to
look at it from the standpoint of starting on a top floor and going down
floor by floor, finally reaching the basement. I think of "a basement" in
that way. Jesus humbled Himself to the last degree - complete humil-
iation! It was the lowest floor possible. What does this mean? He
emptied Himself, but He began a new and different life form as He
lived from day to day. Even that which He took to Himself was also
humiliated. "Emptying himself" was the humanity. He divested
Himself of everything, turning Himself completely over to God that
God might be all in His life.
We have to see Christ's daily struggle with himself to understand
what He is all about. Little do we seem to appreciate His personal
struggles, though he was "tempted in every way just as we are."1 We
wonder why He prayed so much, yet we know He lived as it were
"under the gun," his life constantly threatened, always in danger. "He
offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who
could save Him from death."2 He struggled daily with God's will for
Him, as seen in Gethsemane. He did not struggle against the Father,
but rather, with Himself to subject Himself to what God wanted
accomplished. After all, when scripture says, "He humbled Himself,"
it precludes an action taken to bring Himself down, to change His sta-
tus. For to be humble means "... having or expressing a sense of inferiori -
ty, dependence, submissiveness" or "... to lower in rank or dignity."3
As we know, we cannot suffer being humbled, either by ourselves
or by others. We struggle against this. In an age where our "self
image," or "feeling good about ourselves" is emphasized, humbling
oneself would seem to be an act contrary to our own best interests.
What is at stake here are the interests of God, and whether or not He
will be the God of our lives. Missionaries must struggle to humble
themselves in order to do God's will in a struggle daily, living in a
world not subject to God, dealing with self-pride and the mind of the
flesh. "Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not
wise in your own conceits."4
Our pride, our own conceits must be struggled with. The Christian
life is to be as Jesus was, who "came down to equal terms with an inferi -
or."5 It is a commitment to be like Him in His humiliation, to go down
with Him to the "basement". This lowliness of mind is little stressed
and is not a common characteristic of Christians. Yet, we cannot real-
ly fellowship with Him and understand what our Lord is really like
except in His humility and humiliation.
Out of His humility comes obedience to the death of the cross. The
gospel is born out of His lowliness of mind. The revelation of what
God is like is seen here. Is it not the virtue that manifests the love of
God most? It is paradoxically the most unattractive and offensive fea-
ture of the Christian life. It is the one we step around with fancy foot-
work, excusing ourselves from relinquishing our self-pride and natu-
ral conceit, always pushing to move up, fighting anything that would
bring us down. Yet, it is here in the basement where we sinners must
meet the Lord. The cross is on the lowest level, and it is the way of the
cross that leads us home to Christ! His cross is to be reflected in the
crosses of our lives.
 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me." 6
I see daily negations of self as the painful struggle that constitutes
a Christian's cross. To be one with Jesus who is "meek and lowly in
heart," we must be as Jesus, when he said, "I can of mine own self do noth -
ing... for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me."7
This is the greatest necessity for a Christian who participates in the
mission of Christ to save the world: "Take the lowest place."8 This is
where the cross is, and there is no Christian life without it. It is con-
trary, have security, seek social and job advancement, have a "conven-
ient" religion, preach peace and prosperity. I am afraid that we have
Christians who are not Christians, people who cannot be Christians at
home or abroad, and Christians who cannot be missionaries because
of the stumbling block of the cross.

"And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple."9

"Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disci -
ple."10

11. HE DID WHAT HE DIDN'T WANT TO DO

F. Obedience

"And became obedient to death.." – Philippians 2:8

The Son's trust in the Father knows no limits! Nothing is held back.
We know that it is Satan who has the power of death,1 so it would
seem that obeying death would be obeying Satan. Not so. This is an
invasion by Christ of the rule and authority that Satan has had over all
mankind through sin. 2 Though weak because of His own humanity,3
He was confident that this was what God wanted Him to do, so He
committed Himself totally to God, making Himself completely avail-
able to Him. He said:

"I will put my trust in Him."4

But then also completely vulnerable to Satan...

 "... him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil."5

How repulsive and suicidal it seems to let Satan have his way.
Though Jesus was sinless, He was "made to be sin,"6 and though death-
less, He was made to die.
"Yet, all of this is by the grace of God. It was by God's love, God's will
and God's power that the Lamb was slain."7

"For He hath made Him to be sin for us."8

"Christ died for us." 9

"So that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone."10
Oh, the wonder of it - grace bringing death! Yet, what love there is
in Jesus' submission to the Father and in the Father's heartfelt love for
the lost! It was God's love bringing about this death, and it was the
Son's love for the Father that prompted his submissive obedience.

We who would be missionaries must see that to be sent by God is

to be sent by grace and that this grace leads to death! We must see that
obedience to God is being completely available to Him and vulnerable
to death. Yet, by faith we have already died with Him when, in the
obedience of baptism, we were "united with him in the likeness of his
death."11 "As my Father has sent me, even so send I you."12 We are sent in
the obedience of death by the grace of God. We cannot go in any other
way, or we are not sent by God. A deathless entrance into the realm of
"bringing many sons to glory"13 lacks the will, grace, and power of God.
There is no easy way into the harvest field. It is the way of sacrifice
and death, unpleasant and unappealing. This is why laborers for the
harvest have to be "forcibly ejected"14 into the harvest. It takes an act of
God, an intervention by the Lord of the harvest. One has to leave all,
namely, die to all in order to follow Jesus into soul-winning work. This
is true whether you leave your home community or not, for it takes the
same dedication and sacrifice to reach the lost there also. But moving
out into foreign cultures for the sake of Jesus, putting distance between
yourself and everything you have been doing brings you into a new
"conformity to His death," 15 a type of obedience unto death. It can be a
losing of one's life that results in getting real life.
"The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life
in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow
me."16
The story is told of 19th century missionaries in England whose
destination was "the white man's graveyard" of West Africa, who
packed their belongings not in suitcases but in their coffins. So certain
was it that most of them would die very soon, they made this prepa-
ration before leaving. This is the point of "obedience unto death";
everything is committed in trust to the Heavenly Father. Our self-will
must die for the will of God to be done. There may be all kinds of
preparations made by those seeking to go into the harvest fields, but if
this is not made, the rest are in vain. This commitment to death for the
sake of Christ is what makes a missionary, and losing it is what breaks
one.

12. HE DIED A MISERABLE DEATH

G. Suffering

"Even the death of the cross..." – Philippians 2:8 (KJV)

I get the impression that many Christians think it was easier for
Christ to die than for other folks, because he was the Son of God.
Divinity is equated with immunity - immunity from the lot of common
man, from his worries and woes, failures and fears, sickness and suf-
fering, dying and death. We sometimes think that if Christ were pres-
ent with us now as He was with his disciples of old, that things would
be better for us. However, when we see that in a relatively short min-
istry, He and the disciples suffered many things - such as opposition,
persecutions, and eventual failure leading to the cross - we can under-
stand that the personal presence of Christ does not guarantee a trou-
ble-free life.1 Religious conmen who tell us that faith means freedom
from sickness and poverty have trouble understanding continuous
suffering and insufficient resources, pain and death, yea, even the
death of the cross!
Read how the Savior of the world is described by Isaiah, the Prince
of Prophets:

"Tender shoot - no beauty or majesty - unattractive - despised - rejected -

man of sorrows - familiar with suffering - infirmities - stricken - smitten -
afflicted - pierced - crushed - punished - wounds - oppressed sin bearer..."2
 It is not a very encouraging description, but it is here where the
Lord does his redemptive work. Is not this the description of a lost sin-
ner, a description of those he came to save? It is at the cross where the
suffering of Christ culminates, where sin, guilt, judgment, punish-
ment, pain, and death are met head on by the power of the suffering
love of Jesus. His cross becomes our cross, our cross becomes His
cross. You see, Christ not only became obedient to death but obedient
to a particular kind of death. A death for the sins of others, namely, an
undeserved death, 3 a death also that carried the curse of God on it;4 a
death not only painful physically, but the insufferable emotional bur-
den of carrying within His body the sins of the whole world;5 a death
to be suffered as one forsaken and alone,6 a sinner's death.7 If you
have ever suffered because of the sins of the ones you love, son or
daughter, husband or wife, you can begin to understand how Jesus
felt. If we have been pushed or have pushed ourselves to the limits of
mental, spiritual or physical endurance, for the sake of Christ, we can
have fellowship with the suffering Christ as never before.8 The real
test of obedience comes when, under stress, we choose to do what is
right or continue doing what is right. This is a voluntary choosing, not
one forced upon us, but one we seek out.

"No one takes it from me (His life), but I lay it down of my own accord." 9

To do this meant great suffering, a suffering we know not of, an

obedience which we seldom experience.

"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through the things which

He suffered.10

For Christ to choose obedience to death, and that the death of the
cross, because of His love for the Father, brought Him into the deepest
possible harmony with God's love for the lost, making it possible for
Him to forgive all sin, to become in reality the Savior of the world.

"And once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all
who obey Him." 11

This perfection as Savior and High Priest came through suffering on

the cross.
 "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation per -
fect through sufferings." 12

Though it cost Him everything, His loving obedience shows now

that He could and would forgive all sins. Thus, He became the perfect
Savior through His suffering in the shedding of the blood of His love
for every man.
We must see that what Jesus did does not stand isolated from us, as
if we are only to gaze upon the cross. No, rather, if we are to be saved
from our sins, we must partake of Him, eating as it were, His flesh and
blood,13 suffering crucifixion with Him14, that we might live as He
does, with Him forevermore. Thus, "all those who obey Him"15 enter
into the experience of eternal life.
When by the obedience of faith,16 we begin His life with Him, we
begin a process of being made perfect through suffering. This leads
deeper and deeper into the fellowship and experience of His cross.
This power of bearing suffering in loving obedience is manifest in the
blood of the cross, the total complete sacrifice of the Lamb of God. To
the extent we identify with and experience this kind of suffering and
obedience, we partake of the love of God which eternally saves us.
The power of the gospel is recapitulated, that is, repeated in us every
time we suffer with Him.
The Lord's supper reminds us and makes us alert to grasp all
opportunities to have fellowship with Him in the daily meaning of His
death and resurrection - to be like Him, to love, to sacrifice for the sal-
vation of others. This is where motivation and power to live the
Christian life comes from. This is what makes real soul-winners. This
is what makes real missionaries at home or abroad. This is where we
need the most training. This grace of God makes possible real world
evangelism, and the lack of it makes it impossible. It is not difficult to
put one's finger on the reason why Christians and churches are not
evangelistic. Frankly, they are not full of grace and truth. The power
of the love of God is lacking. The truth of the gospel is not present. An
individual or a church not growing is undernourished, suffering a
malnutrition of grace and truth. Weakness keeps them from a loving,
sacrificial response to the Lord. Unwillingness to suffer with their
Lord and for their Lord keeps them from evangelizing. Disobedience
thus replaces obedience, and they cannot go on to perfection, which is
completeness in Christ.
 13. THE MISSIONARY'S REWARD

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him." – Philippians 2:9 (KJV)

After complete humiliation - after complete trustful obedience -

after grace upon grace - now the fullness - now the crowning glory.
What a wonderful contrast! The missionary Christ followed the
rugged seven-fold path down, down, down, but now:

In the place of emptiness - fullness

In the place of slavery - freedom
In the place of humanity - divinity
In the place of conformity - authority
In the place of abasement - exaltation
In the place of obedience to death - resurrection to life
In the place of the suffering of the cross - the glory of the crown

For Him it is all worthwhile, "Who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of
the throne of God."1 Oh, what a glorious victory, the man once despised
is now the greatest of all! The one who knelt to the lowest task is now
knelt to by all. The one who suffered indignities, insults, and blas-
phemies is now honored by every tongue; and what he accomplished
is now praised to the glory of the Father!
We have seen the end of the sevenfold path of Jesus, the Savior of
the world, paradoxical to us because of our ignorance of the mind and
nature of God: A downward path that leads upward, seeming failure
becoming the greatest success, debased humanity hiding exalted
divinity, powerlessness being most powerful, lowliness becoming
highness, death becoming life, mortal suffering carrying the seeds of
eternal joy. Oh, the wonder of it all!
If it is so with our Lord, is it not so with us? Is there any other way
for the Christian to go? Is not this the secret of it all? Has it not been
always so?

"He has showed you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require
of you but to act justly and to love marcy and to walk humbly with your
God."2
 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O
God, you will not despise."3
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in
spirit."4
The closest walk with God comes with the meek and lowly heart,
because God Himself is like that and can be seen only by such a heart.
The way to be like God is down the path of our Savior, to have our
rebellious, obstinate pride burned out of us by the fires of pain and
humiliation, washed away by the blood of a humble, meek lamb.
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."5 Grace upon
grace for the humble heart. "The grace of God that brings salvation"6
comes through the humiliation of the cross and the humility of the
cross-bearer. The world is not going to be evangelized by the strong
and powerful but by the meek and lowly. A famous missionary once
said:
"In encouraging other young men to come out as missionaries, do
use the greatest caution. One strong-headed, conscientiously obstinate
man would ruin us. Humble men of sound, sterling talents (though,
perhaps, not brilliant), quiet, persevering men; of decent accomplish-
ments and some natural aptitude to acquire a language; men of ami-
able, yielding temper, willing to take the lowest place, to be the least of
all, and the servant of all; men who enjoy much closet religion, who
live near to God and are willing to suffer all things for Christ's sake,
without being proud of it, these are the men"7.

'Likewise, you that are younger, be submissive to the elders. Clothe your -
selves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the
proud, but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under
the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anx -
ieties on Him for He cares about you."8

The humbling process is the true missionary-making process. To

humble ourselves and to be humbled by God is the basic stuff out of
which successful missionary work is made. Successful in God's sight;
to be rewarded by Him; to be lifted up by Him - the meek in heart will
wait until the time is due when they will share in the Glory of the
exalted Son of God!
"Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and coheirs with
Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in
His glory."9
 14. SEEING THINGS AS HE SEES THEM

"Because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should
follow in His steps." – 1 Peter 2:21

The Christian lives and dies, dies and lives on the cross with Christ,
into the tomb and out with Him in resurrection power.1 We cannot
stand apart from the cross as if we are merely spectators observing the
suffering of Christ. Do we not often only "observe" the Lord's supper
and taste but a little of the body and blood of the Lord? The suffering
of Christ on the cross is an example for us. The church is His body -
bleeding, suffering, dying - a nail-scarred body, a body of people meet-
ing and defeating sin and Satan. The church is a sacrifice,2 an offer-
ing,3 water poured out on the alter,4 the blood stained garment of our
Lord.5 It is the continued incarnation of Christ, "the church which is His
body."6 Therefore, it should come as no surprise that His mind should
direct and control the body that He is the head of, also, that His inti-
mate indwelling of the church would result in the church being like
Him, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,"7 and that His loving
Spirit would fill the church with the fullness of God's own being.8
Let us remember that basically the heart of Jesus, filled with
encouragement, comfort, Holy Spirit fellowship, tenderness, and com-
passion,9 is reaching out to others. This disposition of Christ - His
"customary frame of mind... the normal or prevailing aspect of His nature,"10
His "manner of acting, feeling, or thinking,"11 His "personality, the sum of
physical, mental and emotional qualities"12 - is missionary in nature. It is
what moved Him from Heaven to earth taking Him through the seven
phases of His becoming the crucified Savior of the world described
previously: emptiness, slavery, humanity, conformity, abasement,
obedience and suffering.
It is impossible to have the mind of Christ in us and not be mission-
minded. It means that when all Christians are called upon to have the
mind of Christ in them, they are called to be missionaries. There is no
doubt about it. The wonderful burden of world evangelism falls upon
the shoulders of every Christian, and one cannot be truly Christ-like
without being a missionary. Do I mean that every Christian should go
overseas? No, every Christian is already overseas. We are strangers,
pilgrims, sojourners, foreigners, and aliens10 wherever we are - seek-
ing the lost as our Lord did,15 loving the world as our Lord did,16 dying
for the world as our Lord did,17 living to save others as our Lord now
does,18 and most certainly, going into all the world and preaching the
gospel to every creature as our Lord commanded.19 It is God's will
that Christ be the "light of the world".20 It is Christ's will (mind) that
Christians be the light of the world.21
Isn't the cross of Christ to be our cross? Isn't that the example
there? Doesn't walking "in His steps"22 mean being like Jesus was on
the cross? If this is true, then we must also die with Him for the cause
He died for23 and live with Him for the cause he lives for,24 "bringing
many sons to glory."25 Doing this with the same thinking, the same
mind, the same love, and the same power of Jesus Christ.

"Then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love,
being one in spirit and purpose."26

15. THRONE OF GRACE

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
– Hebrews 4:16

Often prayer is something we do when all else fails. We try our

own abilities, the help of others, money, hard work, and the wisdom of
the world. When none of these alternatives work and we get in a tight
squeeze, we pray. Some folks' concept of salvation is similar. We must
do what we can, and then God takes up the slack. We do not seem to
realize that the source of all our abilities, the origin of all our faith and
the fountainhead of all that empowers the Christian life is at the throne
of grace. We cannot "live and move or have our being"1 unless God
grants grace. We cannot, yea, must not, do the work of Christ without
the sanctification of His grace. There is no success, no increase, no
growth, except by the kind intervention of providential grace.

For the power to do anything is Christ: "Without me you can do any -

thing."2

For the power to get to the harvest fields: "Pray ye the Lord of the
Harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest."3
 For an increase in the fields: "And the Lord added to the church daily
such as should be saved."4

For growth in the church: "But God made it grow."5

For the abilities and power to do God's will: "May the God of peace...
equip you with everything good for doing His will."6

For the power to do the work: "May He work in us what is pleasing

to Him, through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."7

Need I say more? It is obvious that we must go to our Lord for the
grace to do and be anything. This is what it means by the following
exhortations:

"Let us then approach the throne of grace."8

"We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place."9

"Let us draw near."10

There is one place and one place only where we can be sanctified,
strengthened, and equipped to do the work of Christ. It is at the mercy
seat. It is where our High Priest intercedes for us. It is the place where
we pour out our heartfelt needs in prayer, the place where we fellow-
ship with the Father through the blood of the Lamb on the throne.
Should we take one step without prayer? Must not world missions
be based on prayer? Can we be used by God in world evangelism
without effectual, fervent prayer? Do not many of our frustrations and
the logjam of our activities come from a lack of prayer? Haven't doors
closed that could be opened by prayer?

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, And pray for
us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim
the mystery of Christ." 11

Could it be that large populations of the world are not hearing the
gospel because we are not really praying for them? Are we bringing
them continually to the Throne of Grace in private and public prayer?
Do we have a dearth of workers because we are not really praying for
the Lord of Harvest to send them forth?
Oh, the power we do not have! Oh, the blessings and joy we miss
because we do not spend time at the Mercy Seat! Let us draw near our
Father's throne. Grace is there. The blood is there. The Holy Spirit
interceding in us takes us there in prayer. It is there that our hearts are
made fit for the work of the Kingdom. Power to do the will of God on
earth as it is done in Heaven is there at the Throne of Grace. We are
taught by our Lord to pray for the kingdom to spread. It comes from
prayer at the throne of grace.

"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."12

16. PRAYER COMES FIRST

"But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of

the Word." – Acts 6:4

"So much to be done and so little time to do it." That is the way it
is with us: Day after frustrating day never getting everything done.
Interrupted schedules - activities, activities - so many demands placed
on our time, desks piled high with unanswered letters, messages, tele-
phone calls, appointments. In the midst of the troublesome state of
affairs, "Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord."1
"But I don't have time, and when I do, I don't have the energy," we
protest.
So there we are again, men of God with no time of God. But we say,
"All this work hassle is for Jesus." Actually, we have no time for Jesus.
How can we expect the energies we spend working to mean anything
if we are bankrupt spiritually? Our work will not be acceptable - it is
not holy. Can we forget to pray, when there are 371 references to
prayer in the Bibles and forty songs of prayer in our hymnals?

"When the pressure of work for Christ becomes the excuse for our not find -
ing time to seek and secure His own presence and power as our chief need, it
proves that there is no tight sense of our absolute dependence upon God.
There is obviously no deep grasp of the divine and supernatural work of God
in which we are only His instruments. There is not true entrance into the
heavenly, other-worldly character of our mission and aims, nor is there full
surrender to, and delight in, Christ Jesus Himself."3
 The priority of prayer in the lives of Christ's workers is seen when
they would not allow serving on tables to interfere with first, prayer,
and next, preaching. Prayer is first in this statement of strong com-
mitment. Can we do any less? We see here that prayer is never to be
neglected though other activities may be. Martin Luther said, "If I fail
to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory
throughout the day. I have so much business I cannot get along with-
out three hours daily in prayer." 4
Whether we pray or not can determine the quality of our work and
the kind of results we get. The calming, thought-cleaning, eye-clear-
ing effects of prayer will be an infallible guide to sorting out the wheat
and chaff of our daily doings. When God is brought into our aware-
ness, what He is and what He does can profoundly influence the
course of our daily living.
"Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?"5

17. SUPPLY LINES

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you
have." – Hebrews 13:5

Haunting the post office is a favorite missionary pastime. There

always seems to be more month than money. When checks have been
mailed, it is impossible to tell when they will arrive. I found a lot of
things could happen over the 10,000 miles to Papua New Guinea from
the United States. Letters could go to Africa instead of the South
Pacific (Old Guinea is in Africa) or sometimes to Mexico, of all places!
Any kind of strike in Australia will hold up the mail. Unions there
strike in sympathy with one another. And, you have to believe it,
sometimes mail will get diverted here and there in New Guinea, and
it will take more time running inside the country than getting to the
country.
I have always tried to keep money from interfering with the work
of the Lord, but it is hard sometimes to get banks and business estab-
lishments to have faith that all will be well and paid for. It is natural
to love money, and I am afraid I have exaggerated its importance from
time to time, especially during fund-raising efforts. I remember one
time I determined not to return to the field until we had the funds
wanted. I cancelled our flight and sulked, prayed, and fasted for a
week in the backyard garden of a friend until I read the above scrip-
ture and decided to "cool it" and get back to work. As it turned out,
the grace of God provided for our needs in God's good time and in
God's good way.
One of the most marvelous promises in the Bible and one written
by a missionary is 2 Corinthians 9:8:

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at
all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

What more could he say? What more could He promise? All of the
grace of God is made available to us: all of its kindness, all of its suf-
ficiency, all of its comfort, all of its power, all of its discipline, and yes,
all of its money! The context concerns the gathering of funds to help
the impoverished saints of Judea. So grace does work through monies
to supply needs. Our great supply line is the grace of God. Grace pro-
vides help in all things, at all times, to supply us for all good works.
We must remember also that grace withholds, delays and frustrates in
order that it can be seen to be grace when the blessing is given. "My
grace is sufficient for you"1 tells us that limitations of the unlimited are
for our spiritual growth and teaches us to "be content with what we
have."2 Overwhelming amounts of money inspire covetousness and
profligacy and do not always result in good works. We need to
remember that all good works are not determined by money supply,
but many good works can proceed from contentment. "Godliness with
content is great gain."3 After all, the Kingdom of God is spiritual in
nature, and it is really built, not with money, but with the materials of
the Holy Spirit. We must remember also that it is better to have faith
at all times - "that God will never leave us or forsake us"4 - than to have
everything we want when we want it.

18. THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE MISSIONARY

"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty."
– Zechariah 4:6

If we only had the men, if we only had the money, we could evan-
gelize the world! So on we go, seeking human means to empower the
divine, when it should really be the other way around. Actually, I have
seen the men for the job, plenty of them. I have seen the money; it is
all around us. But the men with the money pass on, and the valley fills
with dry bones. A vast number of men not equipped for battle are
lying there...

"But there is no breath in them"1 - great potential, doing nothing, lacking

the power of God to do His will on earth as it is done in Heaven. Equip them,
Lord! Make them stand up! Make them a mighty army! Only the breath of
God can give life to these slain.2 Prophesy to the breath! Pray for the revival!
Pray for the Spirit in us, Lord.4 Bring us to life, make us stand up! So I
prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life
and stood up on their feet - a vast army."5

We know that the only spirituality that pleases God is that which is
given by the Holy Spirit.6 The Spirit gives us life7 and empowers us to
meet righteous requirements.8 We are to set our minds on what the
Spirit desires 9, be controlled by Him10, putting to death the misdeeds
of the body through Him, and be led by Him in our daily living 12. All
this then confirms that we are the spiritual children of God.13
The most important relationship that a missionary can have on the
field is with the Holy Spirit. This is what makes him spiritual and
what equips him for his daily tasks. It is absolutely certain that all of
the talents, abilities, and qualifications that one possesses will be to be
avail if he lacks in basic holy-spirituality. The missionary will become,
in the final analysis, ineffective. Basic study of the word of the Spirit,14
prayer in the Spirit,15 fellowship with the Spirit,16 and partaking of the
Holy Spirit, 17 issuing forth in living by the Spirit,18 means more when
the "rubber meets the road" than all the missiology rolled up in one big
lump.
Pay attention to a trainer of missionaries:

"The best preparation a person can make for missionary endeavors,

yea, for living the Christian life anywhere is that which is of the heart
through the Holy Spirit." 19
 19. CANNON'S LAW

"Though I am trained in linguistics and can interpret and translate into

many languages, and understand all the principles of church growth, and
practice sound missiological methodology; and though I have preached on for -
eign fields, and have established churches, benevolent and educational insti -
tutions for many years and have not love, I am and I have nothing."1

Don't think that I misspelled "cannon" when referring to religious

law. The law is mine, but I must give credit to an older missionary by
the name of Paul.1 He wrote the original to a new, problem-ridden
mission church across the sea in Greece. It seems no church had as
many crises going on at the same time as this one, unless it is some of
our churches in New Guinea. You name the categories: divisions,
intellectualism, worldliness, man worship, immorality, lawsuits, mar-
riage and divorce, idolatry, worship, attitude, and doctrine. 2
Being besieged with innumerable problems by new converts in
New Guinea, it took awhile for me to see the forest for the trees. Paul
gives us the right perspective when he leads the Corinthian Christians
through the maze of their many problems and shows them "the most
excellent way"3 - love, agape love, the love of Christ.
A loving attitude "covers a multitude of sins"4 and is the greatest pre-
vention of, and solution for, most of our problems. The best kind of
training for the mission fields is heart-training. A loving disposition
should be at the top of our list of missionary qualifications. People-
lovers are needed. Without love of others, all other qualifications
lumped together will not suffice. As foreigners in the countries of the
world, we will communicate almost immediately whether we love
them or not. They will sense it right away. New converts who expe-
rience the love of Christ for the first time can be destroyed by a harsh,
unforgiving missionary. I know we get worn out. I know problems
drive us "up the wall". I know people draw on us until we run dry.
However, we will not make it as missionaries if we do not keep on lov-
ing and forgiving. The Corinthian Christians were still called the
"church of God" 5 in the midst of all their weaknesses and woes. Good
news is not just what we preach but what we give to others when we
forgive them and when we love them. How many times can we do
this for them? Seventy times seven? 490? Loving others is what the
missionary work of Christ was all about. Loving one another is what
we should be all about.
 20. CAST YOUR TWO DOLLARS ON THE WATERS

"Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it
again." – Ecclesiastes 11:1

"Joe, Jack and some of the brethren are drinking beer and are drunk
up the road by the church property!" Greatly disappointed by this
word from Tanike, I headed out to find them. Drunkenness is a major
problem in Papua New Guinea society, and it affects the lives of all
Christians too. Finding them as reported, I gave them a stern rebuke
and told them to leave. In the evening, I was talking with Tanike, and
Jack strode up and punched Tanike in the forehead, knocking him fly-
ing into nearby bushes. I hauled off and hit Jack, who stood surprised
and unblinking and then turned and walked away. I was immediate-
ly ashamed of what I did, and upon reflection realized my good for-
tune that Jack had left so soon. You see, Jack was tough, muscular, and
strong with some experience in boxing. Knowing the New Guinea
custom of paying compensation for any violence done to anyone's per-
son, I found Jack and apologized for my unchristian behavior and
gave him two dollars. Jack then went out and found Tanike saying, "I
wronged you, my Christian Brother," giving him the two dollars.
Tanike then came to my house to thank me for taking his part against
Jack and gave me the same two dollars as a payment of gratitude.
Well, the three of us got together and had a good laugh about how the
two dollars had gone full circle, carrying a message of apology and
forgiveness. Although it did not take many days for my bread to
return to me, I will always remember the lesson I learned.
I have seen missionaries have disagreements or a falling out with
New Guinea brethren, sometimes for the right reasons. But "it takes
two to tango and two to tangle." I have tangled a few times, but I have
never had the experience of being unforgiven by Papua New Guineans
when I have said, "I'm sorry." They forgive readily when you apolo-
gize and follow their customs. They understand what the gospel
means in brotherly relationships. I had to travel a long way to learn
how to forgive and be forgiven. How sad it is when emissaries of the
gospel of forgiveness fail to practice that gospel.

"Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against
me? Up to seven times?"
 "Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until sev -
enty times seven." 1

It seems that in order to be continually forgiven by our Lord, we are

to be continually forgiving our brothers.

"In anger his master turned him over to the jailers until he should pay
back all he owed. This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you
unless you forgive your brother from your heart."2

21. I'LL WORK WITH ANYONE THE LORD SENDS

"Beg the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his har -
vest field." – Luke 10:2

I have tried to work with my fellow-missionaries according to the

title of this section, believing that if the Lord sent me, he also certainly
sent my fellow missionaries. This is easier said than done, and some-
times easier said than believed. After praying ("begging" in the origi-
nal) for more workers to be sent, we sometimes had second thoughts
when we saw the ones who came. After forty-five years in missionary
work, I am edgy about new arrivals. I have scars to show from endur-
ing withering blasts, microscopic examinations, roller coaster rides,
and bone jarring collisions. While "taking arms against a sea of trou-
bles," I have indeed "suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous for -
tune."1 I have been labelled the reason workers came to the field, left
the field, or stayed in the field. Take your choice! I really want you to
know how I feel about this matter.
First, I believe the Lord answers prayers and sends my fellow
workers. Secondly, I believe they belong in the country as much as I
do. I may not be able to work with some or some with me, but they
have the same commission and right to be there as I have. Therefore,
I do not want to place a stumbling block in their way or play God by
refusing some and accepting others. I believe that the fruit test is the
best test, and fruit does not spring up overnight. Thus, this is where
patience and waiting on the Lord come in.
 I have had some strong attacks and serious charges thrown at me,
and it really hurt the most when they were true. This is where humil-
ity and a good listening ear come in handy. It is hard to "See ourselves
as others see us."2 Maybe we can learn more truth from our unre-
strained critics than from our reticent friends. I have never tried to get
rid of any missionary just because he criticized me or did not like me.
People can go to heaven without admiring me or working with me.
They can also change their minds.
It does not take new missionaries long to become old missionaries.
Life catches up with everyone and understanding can increase. The
longer one stays in the field, the more effective he can become.
Unfortunately, most missionaries do not stay long enough to learn the
culture or establish enduring friendships. It takes about ten years to
make a missionary, but a high casualty rate prevents most from expe-
riencing fruitfulness. There is a gap that exists between new arrivals
and older arrivals. The new ones find the older ones as foreign to them
as the national culture. Being highly critical drives a wedge between
the idealistic "zealot" and the ones who have been "tempered" with
experience. When three of our team and our wives arrived in Japan in
1948, the veteran missionaries were a strange pro-Japanese lot.
Because they understood more of the Japanese culture and lived as
they lived, we had enormous difficulties in understanding them. The
fact was that we broke with them and followed our own preconceived
notions. As time elapsed and we became more immersed in the
Japanese culture, we began distancing ourselves from new arrivals
and became more subject to the same kind of criticisms that we had
once levelled at others.
You can go full circle and, therefore, meet yourself coming the other
way! Can anything be done about this? Can you speed a teenager into
middle age? Spiritual maturation must take its time. Surviving the
changes is the thing. "Maintaining the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace"1 is the urgent necessity. Acceptance of one another and patient
endurance of one another is the act of love required. When this is done
and we "let patience have its perfect work" and we refrain from injur-
ing one another, how glorious is the result! How unified the Church
becomes; how greatly the spread of the gospel is enhanced; and how
pleased it makes our Savior!
Yes, I am prayerfully going to stick with those the Lord sends my
way and do my best to be the best kind of fellow-worker I can be.2
 22. ASCENDING THE HEIGHTS

"He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to stand on the
heights..." – Psalms 18:33

The New Guinea mountaineer does not follow the path of least
resistance. Instead of gradually ascending mountain heights, he just
goes straight up. It was our third day of climbing through the
Menyamya Mountains and it was raining, with water running down
the footpaths. We were slipping and sliding on our backsides, shiver-
ing from the cold in tropical mountains. I thought, "What's going on
here? I'm too old for this kind of stuff. Somebody else ought to be
doing this. This will be the death of me." Exhaustion, aches and pains
- when will we ever get there? As we traversed the skyline summits
and stood looking down upon the valley of Aiwomba, I knew why we
were there. Columns of smoke were rising from dozens of thatch-
roofed huts and fingering through the sky, as if inviting us to the
warmth of their fired and beckoning us to preach the gospel where it
has never been preached before. We were there and God had sent us.
Forgotten were the toils of the rugged road as day after day our camp
was crowded with people who came from all around to have a curious
look at us and hear us talk about the gospel of Christ.
What a thrill to hear the confession of one of the tribal leaders as he
said, "I have lived in the darkness, but I have been brought a shining
light. I have killed men, practiced sorcery, fornicated, fought, stolen
what was not mine, but now I turn to Jesus. I want to become a
Christian."
From that time on, similar confessions would be repeated many
times as the Lord opened a door of faith to the Kabasaichak tribe.
From out of our struggles on the mountain heights came many
Christians. Scriptures came alive to me that meant little before:

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good
news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,"1

"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their
hands."2
 I have echoed this in my heart singing on the mountain tops my
favorite song:

"We have heard the joyful sound: Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Bear the news to every land, climb the steps and cross the waves..."3

I care not about the burdens, strife, conflicts, and struggles of mis-
sionary work - they melt into nothingness in the flaming sun of joy and
victory. "We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us."4 I will
go anywhere He wants me to go; say anything He wants me to say; do
anything He wants me to do; be anything He wants me to be. Amen.

23. WHY MISSIONARIES BURN OUT

"We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that
we despaired even of life." – 2 Corinthians 1:8

Some years ago the Kingston Trio sang a meloncholy, somewhat

depressing tune with the lines, "Where have all the soldiers gone, long
time passing?" When I think of the nearly two hundred missionaries
with whom I have had a personal working relationship on the field, I
can ask the same kind of question, "Where have all the missionaries
gone, long time passing?"
A lot of good research has been done and some fine books written
on why missionaries return home. I do not pretend to be a scholar of
any kind, but I would like to say a few things about a chief cause of
that, called "burnout." There are a number of other causes for burnout,
but I will narrow it down to one and call it "weary in well doing."1 Does
it sound familiar? The great missionary, Paul, knew what it was to be
working under pressure. Similar to a pressure cooker, continuing too
long under too much pressure, the contents will be completely "dried
out." In aviation parlance, an engine that "flames out" drops like a
rock.
We used the word stress nowadays, but you will find a Biblical
equivalent for it, such as "distress," found eighty-seven times in the
New International version, fifty times in the King James version.
"Anxiety" and "despair" are found twelve times each. We see the term
"suffer" one hundred forty-eight times in the Bible (NIV), fourteen of
them referring to Jesus. Speaking of Christ who was tempted in all
ways as other humans, 2 did He suffer burnout? He certainly suffered
all the stress, hardships, and frustrations that produce it. "O unbeliev -
ing and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall
I put up with you?"3
I know what it is to reach the breaking point with a load of cultur-
al stress, family problems, unfaithful brethren, churches falling apart,
marriage breakups, death, travel weariness, people at the door, phones
ringing, unpaid bills, sickness, separation, persecution, work responsi-
bility, unanswered mail, missionary conflicts, dangers, fears, hassles...
my list goes on.
I also know relief through prayer, grace for my weaknesses, and the
unfailing leading of the Lord, the love of brethren near and far, the sor-
rows comforted, the bills paid, the joys of salvation, the forgiveness of
a merciful Christ, the storms calmed, the sicknesses healed, the victo-
ries in battle... I can go on and on.
Paul said after listing hardships and sufferings that they were in
the will of God "that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises
the dead." 4 This means that we can count it a joyful thing to suffer tri-
als and misfortunes and even "count it pure joy."5 Burnout is not
inevitable; it is not terminal. There is a place of refuge.6 There is balm
in Gilead. 7 There is healing. 8 We do not have to have nervous break-
downs. We do not have to burn out, wash out, flame out, or leave the
field. We can endure long enough to see fruit for our labors. Christ
enables us to overcome the problems, tensions, and disappointments,
if we will but trust Him, keep the faith, seek the comfort and find Him
loving, kind, and attentive to our needs.
The Commission calls for our commitment. It is a never-ending
commitment. It cannot be taken lightly. Our geography may change,
but the goal should never be given up.

"Let us not become weary in doing good (let us not lose heart) - for at the
proper time, in due season, we shall reap a harvest, if we do not give up or
faint."9

When we reach the end of the road, and we see the face of Jesus and
enter into the everlasting joy of the Lord, the toils of the road will seem
nothing. Nothing. Remember, you may be down, but you are not out.
Get up and fight on!
 24. WHY MISSIONARIES DO NOT BURN OUT

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

– Colossians 3:2

A few years ago, I saw in the Wantok newspaper of Papua New

Guinea an article with a picture of nine Catholic priests and nuns cel-
ebrating sixty years of missionary work, and I thought, "How many
missionaries do we get like that nowadays?" Regardless of doctrinal
and organizational considerations, we cannot deny their commitment.
Missionaries of yesteryear made a lifetime decision to serve Christ for-
ever in the nation to which they journeyed. Now, have we progressed
in theology, missiology and psychology to where we think we can do
it without such a commitment? We try mission work to see if we like
it almost as if we are engaged in a "trial relationship" that our culture
seems to find popular. Have all our preparations, internships, analy-
ses, testing, scholarships, surveys, short terms, seminars, literature,
and apprenticeships produced committed, long term missionaries?
What is our dropout rate? Is our information explosion giving us more
and better missionaries who stay longer in the field? Or is it the same
as our trial relationships or marriages? As we increase our knowledge
in the matters of sex, are we acquiring happier and longer lasting con-
jugal unions? Is there not a vast area of neglect somewhere? Has our
emphasis moved off center? Has the mind and strength of man been
moved from third and fourth place to first and second?

"Love the Lord God with all your HEART and with all your SOUL and
with all your MIND and with all your STRENGTH."1

Did the questioning teacher drop the "soul" out of Christ's answer,
and have we followed him and dropped the "heart" out of it?2 The
heart has priority in the loving service of God. We may be straining
out gnats and swallowing camels,3 when with tests and measurements
we measure the more obvious mind and flesh and psychological pro-
files and neglect the more important and not so measurable aspects of
a missionary's heart and soul. Do we not serve and honor the intellect,
will power, and physical strength of a person more than the heart and
soul? Does our culture enrich the clever, the dominating, and the mus-
cular, most of all? There are scholarships for the intellects, the money-
makers, the sports players - none for kindness, none for virtue, none
for honesty. Who cheers for faith, hope and love? Yet, is this not what
the kingdom of Heaven is all about? Is not sacrifice to have prece-
dence over keeping church growth statistics?
I believe there is a great spiritual vacuum in our churches. I believe
as more of our Christian young people major in the business of mak-
ing money, the more Mammon moves in and takes over the church.
That is why in church "business meetings" and other aspects of the life
of the church, we cannot see to get things done, because we never have
enough money. If we think the Kingdom of God is spread by money,
then, of course, we will never have enough. Is it not strange that when
churches are wholeheartedly and spiritually motivated - centered in
grace and the love of Christ - that they never lack for funds to get the
job of world evangelism done?
The cross challenges us to a total commitment, total surrender,
complete subservience to our Lord and King. Nothing less will ever
be good enough.

"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God... Put to
death therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature."4 Amen.

Churches and missionaries who are whole-heartedly committed to

the grace of Christ will not burn out. Minds set on Christ on the throne
of Heaven will find in Him all the resources of wisdom, courage and
guidance. The power of love to carry on in spite of all the difficulties
is there. "I know the Lord will find a way." This has always been the
way throughout the centuries, in the midst of all of the changes, the
ups and downs, the dangers and privation. Finding Christ as all in all
is the key and spiritual core of missionary faithfulness and survival.

25. BLOOD BROTHERS

"There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." – Proverbs 18:24

We walked all day from Kempo to Songi in the Saruwaged

Mountains. It was not difficult. Most of the way was down hill. We
were visiting home villages of some of the Christians in Lae, preaching
here and there. We stayed overnight at Songi, where previously we
had dug up the bones of a Japanese soldier who had died there on the
retreat from Lae to the north coast. (I had helped the Japanese War
Graves Commission locate the bones of forty-one soldiers.)
The next morning, as we got ready to climb a high and steep moun-
tain face and walk across a range of mountains to Wasu on the north-
ern coastline, our carriers balked.
"We need more money to climb this mountain," they said. But they
replied, "This steep cliff will give us extra work."
"We made an agreement; you already knew you would be going
this way." I argued a little more vehemently. They continued to gram-
ble and refused to pick up our packs, so I said, "Nuts to you, then. We
will carry our own stuff."
This I later regretted, but with the help of two Christians, Zonzo
and Teo, we loaded up and toiled up the face of the mountain for six
long hours. I dragged along behind my younger missionary compan-
ions which only Teo staying with me.
When at last we got to the top, nobody was in sight. As I flopped
on my back to the ground, I turned to Teo. "Where is everybody?"
"They have run on through the rain forest because of the snakes,"
was his reply.
"Snakes? I don't see any snakes," I said, as I hurriedly looked
around.
"Sure, There are lots of them - like that one crawling on you now,"
Teo pointed out.
All I saw was a thin little worm humping along up my pants leg.
"That's not a snake."
"Yes, it is," he replied, "at least that's what we call them. They swell
up larger as they suck your blood!"
Oh, oh. I realized what he was talking about. His pidgin word for
leaches was snek. I jumped up and began scraping them off with my
pocket knife. We started off through the damp, dripping rain forest as
fast as I could go, but I could see that I was slowing Teo down. I
noticed he was bleeding from various parts of his bare body. He had
only short trousers on, whereas I was covered completely, rain coat
and all. I said, "Teo, run on ahead; you're bleeding a lot."
"I can't leave you," he said, "you will get lost."
"Don't worry," I said, "I'll be able to make out the trail."
"No, I can't leave you. You are my brother, and you might get lost,"
he told me.
So we continued on through the grey, dripping, and silent rain for-
est.
 Over two hours later, we emerged from the rain forest into the sun-
shine where our companions were waiting for us. We were greeted
with great laughter as everyone pointed at Teo. He stood there sheep-
ishly, streaming with blood all over. I didn't laugh. It was not funny.
I saw a man who had shed his blood for me. He reminded me of
another who had done the same thing.
Teo was not a gifted person. He was a bushman who lived in Lae,
doing odd jobs here and there. He helped me clear the property in Lae
when we first arrived there. He couldn't read or write or sing. He was
a humble man, but he knew how to work. He was a non-violent, soft-
spoken man, and he was among the first twelve who became
Christians in Lae in 1971. I saw Jesus in Teo. I saw in a man for the
first time the Lamb of God who sacrificed for me. The world will
never know him. He won't make any money or famous speeches or
become great as the world sees greatness, but he is etched in my heart
and memory as "a friend who struck closer than a brother."

26. NAMELESS GRAVES

"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." – Luke 23:42

It was in Zambia. There stood the old church house where God
was praised for so many years. I noticed what looked to be a fenced-
in graveyard, typically found near old meeting places. It was over-
grown with weeds and most of the graves were nameless.
I thought of other places where missionaries had been buried for-
gotten. I know a busy, present world has no time for graves and
memorials and cares little for the servants of the Lord. Even the
church forgets them when they have been buried in a far away place.
Even graves that are well marked will be forgotten in the passage
of time, but I want to honor the nameless graves. Recorded church his-
tories that I have been associated with often ascribe the beginning of a
work to the wrong person and miss altogether the founding causes of
church and benevolent works. Those whose faith, prayers, and right-
eous lives really were the impetus of a new work are lost in the pro-
motional aspects of institutions and organizations. Good things have
been ascribed to me that I had little to do with.
"Life is not fair."1 God knows and He gives us great successes
which we often claim for ourselves. "Nonetheless, for the sake of David
your father, I will not do it during your lifetime."2 Jesus said something
similar when he taught, "I sent you to reap what you did not work for.
Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their
labor."3
There are very few places in the world where someone has not pre-
ceded us. In our conceit, we tend to think that we are first or that no
one has done a good job before we arrived. Lord, help us to be hum-
ble. I have seen good work dismantled, so that we could put our own
brand on it. Much heartache has been caused, and a peaceful transi-
tion of work from one generation to another was ruined by a callous
disregard of what had gone before. Let us appreciate the hard work of
these pioneers and understand the grace that our Lord gave them,
realizing we are indebted to them as we work on in the same field. The
Lord has not forgotten those in the nameless graves.

27. KILL ME FIRST!

"A brother is born for adversity." – Proverbs 17:17

I met Simon Gerel on our first missionary patrol into the Chimbu
Mountains at a place called Kumogoko. He was a short, almost orien-
tal-looking fellow with a winning smile. Later, he came down to Lae
and became a Christian. He wanted us to preach at his home place
among the Sinasina people, so we planned a preaching and teaching
campaign.
Our arrival was an eventful one. Our team was greeted with open
hostility, which immediately was directed toward me.
"What are you doing here?" They demanded to know.
"I came to preach Jesus," I replied.
"Who sent you?" They asked.
"Jesus did," I replied.
"Well, you can't stay here." And their looks were hostile.
"Simon invited me to come," I said.
"We don't want you." It was obvious they did not.
"Then you don't have to listen," I shrugged.
The number surrounding me grew to about four hundred shouting
people. One wild-looking man carrying an axe pushed through and
confronted me. He said, "Do you see this axe? If you are here tomor-
row morning, I'm going to give it to you."
This was the first time in my life when the promise of a gift made
me nervous.
That evening, I stood on the high ground at Bil. As I prayed, the
sky turned an amazing color of silver while the sun went down in the
distant Wahgi Valley. As I watched and prayed, I took this silver lin-
ing in the dark clouds as a sign from the Lord that all would go well.
The next morning there was the excited, shouting match repeated
with all the community leaders gathered. As we went out to greet
them, there was Yusi brandishing his axe, looking down at me. He
shouted a war cry and came charging down on me. People scrambled
out of his way, but I did not tremble a bit - I was frozen on the spot.
Someone dashed in the way grabbed Yusi around the waist, hauling
him to a stop about eight feet away. It was Simon, and he was shout-
ing.
"Kill me first! Joe is my brother. If you want to kill someone, kill me
first!"
Everyone grew silent, and Yusi lowered his axe. The crisis was
over.
The community leaders put me on trial in their tribal meeting,
where Simon and a few brothers spoke in my defense. The president
of the council threatened to drive us out. They let me speak a little, as
I tried to explain that I was a preacher of the gospel, that Jesus sent me,
that I represented the church we read about in the New Testament, that
I only taught the words of Christ seeking to save the lost.
They said I was a liar and a false prophet, that they would arrest me
and take me to court of the federal patrol officer. I told them I had
done nothing wrong, stolen nothing, killed no one, not touched any of
their women. And since I had the business of Jesus to do, I would not
go with them. With that, I said, "Good-bye, I am off to preach to the
villages."
With no one restraining me, we went on with our preaching plans.
The Lord was with us and had defeated our enemies.
Today, there are many churches in Chimbu, many preachers and
strong leaders from Sinasina. There is one person I love most of all
who made me his brother and risked his life for me. His name is
Simon.
 28. ORDERS FROM HEADQUARTERS

"I did not consult any man." – Galatians 1:16

While in Australia, an older brother asked me, "Joe, do you think

there is anything a fellow like me could do in New Guinea?"
I replied, "Why don't you ask my boss?"
I said, "Jesus. Ask him about it. If it's okay with Him, it's okay with
me."
After I returned to New Guinea, I received a letter from Reg and
Ruth Coles stating, "We consulted with your boss and He said it was
all right."
Yes, I know it may sound too simplistic for some, but I have also
seen the other side. It is called "paralysis by analysis." All the options
and all the problems involved in making a commitment to serve Christ
as a missionary are considered and the end result is being stymied.
When Deborah and Barak sent out a call to arms to do battle with Jabin
and his nine hundred chariots, the men of Reuben could not make up
their minds, "there was much searching of heart."1 They sat around their
campfires debating the order and stayed among their sheep. Their
long association with their flocks had made them "sheepish." Gilead
stayed across the Jordan, Dan hung around his ships for a quick get-
away, and Asher cowardly hid in the caves along the coast.
There is no doubt that we have orders from Christ our King. One
of the great ones is called "The Great Commission." When a mission-
ary complained the the Duke of Wellington that it was futile to take the
gospel to India, he replied, "When a soldier receives a command, he
either obeys it or disobeys it." Where do all these simplistic ideas come
from? Here is one from Heaven:
"Curse Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, Curse its people bitterly, because
they did not come to help the Lord, to help the Lord against the mighty."2

The best basis for decision making in missions or in life is "enquir-

ing of the Lord" (eighteen times in the Old Testament, eight times by
David). As Paul said,

"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb,

and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach Him
among the heathen; immediately, I conferred not with flesh and blood."3
 Seeking the will of God first in our lives should be standard proce-
dure for Christians. When considering decisions about serving Christ
in "foreign missions," I know that many factors come into play; but the
major one should always be what does Christ want me to do? Where
does Christ want me to go? You see, Christ can answer our prayers
from Heaven. Christ will answer prayers of faith and trust - prayers
that unconditionally seek Him will. Get your orders from headquar-
ters. Be greatly commissioned. Paul and his fellow workers did not
work with the idea that they would choose where to work but were
always conscious of the guidance and direction of Christ. "We, howev -
er, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to THE
FIELD GOD HAS ASSIGNED TO US, a field that reaches even to you."4
Subordinate the advice of men to the counsel of God and say, "If I were
still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."5

29. MISSIOLOGICAL CONTEXTUALIZATION

"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." – 1 Corinthians 8:1

We have arrived! Missionary work is now a philosophy, a theolo-

gy, a science! You could see it coming. As we crossed the tracks and
became a force to be reckoned with, as all movements tend to do, we
began to admire ourselves and ascribe lofty reasons for God's grace
among us. We went from soul winners to missionaries to missiolo-
gists. Success in world evangelism is attributed more to methodology
than to God's working, more to church growth principles than to God's
grace. Reaching the lost now depends not on faith in the power of
God, but on the missionary's "missiological contextualization of the
gospel." Churches are being told to send only persons who have at
least a Master's degree in missiology. However, some who get a doc-
torate in missiology never make it to the mission field. They are
snapped up by our Christian universities, colleges and other training
institutions, because they will now be considered "authorities" in their
field of study. A swelled brain described in the scripture above is also
commonly called "a swelled head." It need not be so, but it may be so
as intellectualism continues to capture and enslave evangelistic move-
ments.
A veteran missionary once complained to me, "He wasn't here two
days before he knew everything that was wrong with our work and
everything that needed to be done. He wants to dismantle everything
and build it all over again according to what he has learned from mis-
siology. What am I going to do? He's driving us crazy." The young
scholar had a lot to learn. There was a lot of loving that needs to be
done by him, and for him, before he could really be effective. Alas,
when we find a way to win souls to Jesus, we soon worship the crea-
ture instead of the Creator. The method is elevated, perhaps, more so
when the principles and methodologists are right. It is a short step
from praising the method to praising the methodist, from praising the
mission to praising the missionary, from praising missiology to prais-
ing the missiologist. The glory goes to man instead of to the God who
gives wisdom and increase.
What am I saying then? That we are not to study, to research, to
learn? Yes, if we walk humbly with God. No, if our efforts are not
born out of and carried on in the love of Christ and of brethren.
Knowledge without love is worthless. Love builds up others.
Intellectual pursuits without love can serve selfish ends. God resists
the puffed up, old or young, rich or poor, wise or unwise. Christ's way
of doing missions is by compassion and tender mercies. His principles
of church growth come from working with and abiding in love for one
another, with steadfast dependence on him.

30. EMOTIONAL ROCKS AND MISSIONARY

WRECKS
"So He made a whip of cords and drove all from the temple area."
– John 2:15

The Gospel of John has more about love written in it than the other
three Gospels, so I am glad that he did not find the anger of the Lord,
mentioned in the above text inconsistent with that love. I am not try-
ing to justify anything (not much, anyway), but I can understand the
way the Lord felt. I spent good money and labor putting up a house
for a brother in New Guinea, but when I found him using it for illegal
gambling, I chased everyone out and torched it. I am not saying I did
the best thing, but it seemed a good idea at the time.
Anger is a fire, and like a fire, it can be helpful or destructive
depending on how it is used. Some parents think it is wrong to get
angry with their children, thus failing to use the God given emotion to
restrain them. The angriest person in the Bible is God, over 225 times,
but He is also the most loving in the Bible.
At the same time, we are cautioned, "In your anger do not sin. Do not
let the sun go down while you are still angry."1 Anger must not only be
controlled but eliminated within twenty-four hours. If not, it can carry
over into long standing grudges and hatred. We must not operate our
lives out of our angry impulses. We must be "slow to become angry, for
man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."2
"The white skin is a cross person. They are always angry."3 I can
understand this being said of white colonialists, and frustrated
worldlings who use native peoples for their own covetous gain, but
what are we going to do when it is said about missionaries? We could
dismiss it as being exceptional, but what if you run into it all the time,
and it includes yourself? I will not speak about the horrific things that
missionaries have done in anger. You would find it too discouraging.
I am not going to accuse anyone or whitewash myself. I will not
betray or portray my fellow preacher as being worse than others,
when the fact is he is no better than others. I can make excuses for
angry missionaries, cross-cultural tensions, frustrations, failures, con-
tinual begging by nationals, but I will not.
The spiritual resources for peace of mind, self control, and joy in all
our labor are available to all of us. We do not have to be upset all the
time. It will make us sick, give us nervous breakdowns, and keep us
from winning souls to Christ. An angry life style is a stumbling block
to unbelievers and fellow Christians alike. An angry, frustrated person
looks for someone to blame for failure (usually another missionary or
a national who is hard to control). Out of anger nationals can be brow-
beaten, physically abused, fired or disfellowshipped. Keep it up and
we will run out of fellow workers and fellowship and also be run out
of the country. Out of anger we can work to rid ourselves of uncoop-
erative missionaries in whom we find something disagreeable.
Emotional wrecks are caused by missionary rocks, hardheaded, stub-
born, angry men. At first, I thought that there was something wrong
with me when I was not getting along with co-laborers. (Sometimes
there was.) I thought that only missionaries in our area had trouble
getting along. Behold, I found similar troubles existing everywhere in
all the mission fields. I had concluded that these troubles were pecu-
liar to missionaries, but I learned that they exist wherever people try
to work together.
An old preacher once asked us in Japan, "Are you the problem or
the solution?" 4 The remark helped to put contentious missionaries on
the right track. I have always asked myself this question and found it
helps me make peace instead of war, drawing closer to being called a
"son of God."5 I have always been afraid that I might hate someone
whom God loves, and I may not forgive someone whom God has for-
given.
A fellow missionary counseled me once when I was angry, ranting,
and raving. He said, "Now Joe, let's not get all bitter and twisted."6
There needs to be a lot of understanding prayer together and
prayer for one another to see us through the changes of life. A fruit of
the Holy Spirit within us is "self control."7 This is a gift and can be
asked for and received in prayer. By the help of Christ, we can be
asked for and received in prayer. By the help of Christ, we can be what
He wants us to be. We can, through the spiritual resources made avail-
able to us, finally conquer and control our tempers and have them
replaced by the forbearance and patience of our Lord. This must be
done unless we want to continue to destroy with our anger relation-
ship that we have worked so hard to establish.

31. THE WAY TO WIN

"I have become all things to all men so that by all means I might save
some." – 1 Corinthians 9:22

My dad used to say, "There is more than one way to skin a cat." I
have never had the experience of skinning a cat, but the television
character Alf might have some suggestions. The idea is that there is
more than one way of getting a job done. I have never been too enam-
ored by argumentation about who has the best missionary method.
Admittedly, some methods seem to produce more results than others,
but more does not always mean better.
There's a missionary training school that has a motto imprinted on
their T-shirts, "Be Tough" on the front, and on the back side, "Be
Flexible." I like that. I think that would represent what Paul was get-
ting at. He was ready and tough enough to withstand a lot of pres-
sures and flexible enough to use all or any legitimate means to reach
the lost.
We may be making a serious mistake by comparing various meth-
ods and their results and deciding who wins. There is a scripture that
warns us about this:
"We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who command
themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves, they are not
wise... We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our
boasting to the field God has assigned to us."1

We do not know everything and we do not know what God is

doing when He sees and works in the "secret place."2 Our boasting
must be limited and our observations modest.
At the same time, in whatever field God has assigned to us, there is
a way to win, despite various degrees of difficulty. Therefore, "Run in
such a way that you may win."3 Paul is not just talking about the
Christian life but primarily about his missionary work and the way he
was doing it. Paul did not follow a losing strategy but worked to be
victorious. He did not work aimlessly4 but worked with plans and
goals in mind. The word for "aim" is "delos," referring to a clear, defi -
nite plan of action.5 Paul was a man of action with a plan of action.
When we try to do the work of Christ without the three-letter word
"aim," our work could end up described by the three letter word "air."
"I do not fight like a man beating the air."6
The idea or goal of missionary work is, as Paul says, to "save some."7
This must be added:

"I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more."8

You see, there is a way to win more, and a way to win less, and a
way to win none, also a way to lose what we have. What we want is
the way to win more to Christ, and this is done by the distinctive
"method" of becoming a slave to all. We can see then that the way to
win has more to do with attitude, with spiritual humility, and self-sac-
rificing service than with anything else. It has more to do with the
heart of the missionary than with his head. It takes a humble willing-
ness to use all the means at our disposal. It needs a heart to do any-
thing it takes to win souls. It demands dedication to win the lost at
any cost. Having this perspective, understanding this emphasis, this
priority, is the important thing as we in every generation use what is
at hand; in the best way possible, to win the lost.
 32. "MKs (Missionaries' Kids)

"Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."
– Matthew 10:37-38

"We are returning home because of our children's education." With

this, our experienced missionaries depart from the field, most of them
never to be seen again. I know personally and sympathetically the
soul searching that went on before this conclusion was reached, but
my wife and I do not agree with it. I know we are open to being roast-
ed on the subject with such statements as, "You're cruel! You don't love
your children. Who are you to judge?" Everyone has to make up his
own mind to do what he thinks is best. There are many reasons for
taking children back to our home countries, but we recommend what
we believe is a better way.
Education in the home country is not always the best education.
North Americans make on the average twelve job related moves in
their lifetimes and expose their children to a variety of educational sit-
uations. (The British move on the average of nine times; the Japanese
three times.) Education overseas can often be superior to the home
country.
It is the mission that makes a missionary. Being called by Christ
and being sent by the Holy Spirit and the Church involves an uncon-
ditional commitment that says, "I will go where you want me to go, do
what you want me to do, say what you want me to say, be what you
want me to be." Jesus referred to himself as being sent forty-four
times. When Christ came into the world, he said:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for
me... Then I said, Here am I - it is written about me in the scroll - I have come
to do your will, O God."1

The reason a missionary leaves his home in obedience to the great

commission still exists when he decides to return for the sake of his
children. If the children and their education supercede his commis-
sion from Christ, would it not be true before he entered the field and
be an overwhelming reason for not going in the first place? Is not the
greatest aspect of a child's education to demonstrate that your calling
and commission comes first in your life? When considering becoming
a missionary, did you not make a lifetime commitment? Do you not
think that we should do our utmost to stick to the field assigned us by
God until He makes clear a reassignment.
This is an individual family matter. But there is another alternative
to leaving the field, and I consider it a major one. By the grace of God,
we have kept to our commission for over forty years. It was not
always easy for us, but it was ultimately worthwhile. We raised six
children. We buried a baby overseas. We have been through all kinds
of educational situations, home teaching, Calvert courses, missionary
wives as instructors, hired teachers, national schools, DOD dependent
schools, international schools, and sending our children, one by one, to
schools back home. We sacrificed. Our children sacrificed. We had
misgivings, fears, and failures. We refused to leave, however, until
Jesus would intervene and commission us to leave. We serve Him
first. Doing His will on earth is what we are living for and what we
want our children and our grandchildren to live for.
This is what we did and where we took our stand. Our children
understood this as they battled their way along. There are twelve col-
lege and advanced degrees in our family. Two of our children are mis-
sionaries. We have a united, happy family. The Lord watched over us
all. Many of God's good people helped us and our children along the
way and to all we are eternally grateful. Was it worth it? Yes. Would
we do it again? Yes. We know it will not be long until we all go home
to Heaven, and when our family gets there, we will meet many
Japanese, Okinawans, New Guineans, Singaporeans, Irianese and
Indonesians, because the Cannon family cared and sacrificed for their
salvation.

We received a moving letter from one of our sons written from the
United States where he was studying. He said, "Dad, I miss you and
mother very much, but I understand why we are not together. You,
like Abraham, have offered me, like Isaac, upon the altar of sacrifice.
This you did because of the will of God for you. You did not withhold
me from God."
Today he is a missionary in Okinawa. Praise the Lord!
 33. TAMING WILD HORSES

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you
by the grace of Christ." – Galatians 1:6

When I was younger, I loved to ride the roller coaster. Now, I can
live without it. When we went to Six Flags Over Texas, I rode the kind
of roller coaster that loops the loop a couple of times. Previously, I
rode with my eyes open, but this time I closed them tightly.
Previously, I never screamed, but this time - well, I did but only in my
heart. I will think twice before I ride again.
This story has the makings of a good parable, namely, our New
Guinea experience. We worked twenty-four years in Japan before we
moved from Okinawa to Papua New Guinea. Yes, you guessed it, we
had gotten on a thirteen-year roller coaster ride. Conversions came
slowly, in Japan, but at the equator, hot, fast, and furiously. Bringing
them to Christ was fairly simple, but keeping them there was a differ-
ent matter. There were veerings to the left of us, veerings to the right
of us, ups and downs volleyings and thunderings. Into the valley of
death rode many fine missionaries. Our missionaries did not last very
long. I cannot give you all the reasons for the heavy dropout rate, but
there is one - riding the roller coaster with new converts.
A great amount of stress and feelings of failure came from the insta-
bility of the Papua New Guineans. Six months saints, six months sin-
ners again. A year would go by and you seemed to be starting all over
again. Your confidence would build up as you teach, sweat, and train.
Then after some good progress, the bottom would fall out and you
would face insurmountable problems. Some missionaries would react
by disfellowship, dismissals, and firings. There was always some
bright prospect rising in the morning and setting in the evening. It
was similar to playing with a yo-yo; up it comes, down it goes and
dangles at the end of the string. Oh missionary, it takes considerable
practice learning to do tricks with a yo-yo.
I have seen some fine work horses, race horses, and show horses.
How did they get that way? Training and practice, over and over
again. I am not implying that people are horses, but I am emphasiz-
ing continual, patient training. The answer to instability is stability. To
stabilize a wild horse, it has to be ridden more than once. You have to
get it to stay still and finally, stand still in a stable. Thus, another
meaning to the word, "stable-ize."
How does a child learn to walk? It crawls first, bumps its head,
stands up, staggers, falls, tries again. What do we do with our children
when they are doing this? Do we get frustrated and desert them?
Would not this be the action of an unstable parent or missionary? Can
unstable fathers stabilize unstable children? Won't they both fall into
a ditch?
What is to be done about wild, unstable people? We must work to
"stabilize" them and not let discouragement overwhelm us and desta-
bilize us. How long should it take? If I understand the scriptures cor-
rectly, all our lives, with all their lives.
Many Christians veer off the road of life and back again many
times. The encouraging thing about this is that they are moving down
the road of life in the right direction, be it ever so erratically. As we
train them on and on, bringing them back as a good shepherd, the
veering will be less and they will get more on track. By the grace of
the Lord and the love and forgiveness of their teachers, they will stay
on the road and finally reach their Heavenly home.
What a ride it is! The patience and love that is needed is almost as
much as the Lord has for us when He finally "brings many sons to
glory."1 For by this Jesus himself is made "perfect through suffering."
By suffering, He became the "author of salvation."2 It is a process, a
training that makes men holy. Stick to it, oh weary missionary. "Let
patience have its perfect work." 3 One final last day, you will be glad you
did; they will be glad you did; the author of salvation of all of us will
be glad you did.

34. BEG FOR MISSIONARIES

"Beg the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to force out workers into His har -
vest field.. Go, I send you." – Luke 10:2, 31

I used to think that my faith and my willingness to obey the great

commission was the cause of my entering the mission field, but what
came first and foremost was prayer. Workers are prayed into the har-
vest field. The Lord of the harvest sends out workers in response to
prayer. Those sent any other way are not sent by the Lord.
Although it is translated "pray ye" (KJV) and "ask the Lord" (NIV), I
follow Alfred Marshall who rendered it "Beg ye."2 The Greek here
means an "entreaty," a "supplication."3 It is found together with
"prayer" in the NIV translation of Philippians 4:6, "but in everything by
prayer and petition." The necessity, the urgency of world evangelism
should reduce us to fervent begging. Never will we evoke the kind of
response that is needed and that which the Lord wants to give until we
share that grieving heart of Christ for the lost. We are too blasé about
the lost. Our prayers for workers are surface rituals. Not until we
weep over the lost as our Savior did4 will we fulfill the scripture that
says:
"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out
weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves
with him." 5
It is interesting to note that the word "send" is used in translating
both Matthew 9:38 and Luke 10:2. The word, ekballo, means to "cast
out, eject by force, throw out,"6 and is used 27 times for "casting out"
demons, devils, unclean spirits, and Satan.
There is no doubt that in getting workers into the harvest fields, the
Lord of the Harvest must intervene and "force" workers to go. Perhaps
the best example of this is Jonah who was "cast forth" (KJV) into the
sea, and "vomited" out into the harvest field of Nineveh.7 There was
also Moses who was forced by God's argumentation and anger to go
to Egypt.8 in the New Testament the Jerusalem church was forcibly
"scattered abroad" by persecutors, resulting in their going "everywhere
preaching the Word."9 This led to world evangelism. Perhaps colonial-
ism had more to do with world evangelism in the 19th century than
the zeal and plans of the church. World War II may have created more
force behind postwar evangelism than anything else.
What about prayer? Did prayer have anything to do with the send-
ing and the coming of the Christ? I firmly believe so. Notice this
prayer of Isaiah:

"Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down... come down to
make your name known to your enemies and cause nations to quake before
you."10

And David:
"When will you come to me?"11
What about the following events:
 The Holy Spirit coming as Christ prayed.12
Prayer preceding the selection of the apostles.13
Prayer before the transfiguration of Christ.14
Before the Day of Pentecost. 15
Workers were sent to save sinners because of prayer:
Peter and Cornelius 16
Paul and Ananias17
Lydia and paul18

I no longer attribute the missionary work I have been engaged in to

me and my decision making ability but rather to prayer. I do not know
who all of the people were who prayed, but of one I am rather certain.
It was a Sunday school teacher by the name of A. L. Whitelaw who
was so instrumental in leading me, a former street gang leader, to
Christ. He was a strong supporter of the Lord's work in Japan. Was
he praying for me as he brought me to Christ? When he asked me to
become a preacher? When I decided to become a missionary? As he
was raising funds for our support? Did it have anything to do with
our decision to go there? I believe it did.

35. GLOBAL STRATEGY

"Open your sleepy eyes wide and look discerningly at all the harvest fields
and plan to do something about them because they are ready for you to reap."
– John 4:35 (NCP)

"When God loved, he loved the whole world."1 I like that statement. it
is true as well as Biblical. God, who from one man "made every nation
of men,"2 is involved in everything they do, "determined the times set for
them and the exact places where they should live."3 He did this, and He
still does this, "so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out and find
Him."4 But now "He commands all men everywhere to repent."5
Because God is a planner, he has a global strategy that includes
every nation of the earth. Notice:
 "The Lord Almighty has sworn, Surely as I have planned, so it will be, and
as I have purposed so it will stand... This is the plan determined for the whole
world; this is the hand scratched out and who can turn it back?"6

Though this was said about Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus,

Cush, Egypt, Babylon, Edom, Arabia, and other nations, it is still true,
and in Christ, God has plans for all nations on the face of the whole
earth.

"He had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth... to
every nation, tribe, language, and people."7

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole word as a
testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."8

We who are included in God's plans and committed to carrying

them out in the whole world to make God's global strategy ours and
his plans for each nation ours. Only a church with world vision, send-
ing men and women with world vision, can evangelize the world.
Doing no planning and doing sloppy work cannot be defended by say-
ing, "we'll let God take up the slack" or "We are working by faith and
trusting God." We cannot blame God for the church's haphazard,
planless approach to the world mission of Christ. We are expected to
do our best and honor the Lord by the way in which we do His work.
There are God's providential accidents, but world evangelism com-
manded by Christ is not one of them.

"For want of skillful strategy an army is lost; victory is the fruit of long
planning."9

We must approach world evangelism with long planning, executed

by skillful strategy in order to gain the victory Christ desires. God has
plans. Let us find out what they are. Let us humbly make plans with
God and be like our Heavenly Father.

"But the noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands."10

We can find the way to reach lost souls in any land if we will look to
the Lord in our planning.
 "Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors
they succeed."11

We must "inquire of the Lord" in order to win the victory.

"But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, First seek the counsel of
the Lord." 12

The key to success in missions is:

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans wll succeed."13
Oh, for a church that would fully commit itself to world evan-
gelism! Oh, for a church that would plan with our Lord for universal
victory! Oh, that we would all wake up, open our eyes, and look on
all the fields, everywhere, and take the gospel to every person in every
nation in every generation until our Lord comes again!

36. GOD'S METHODS ARE NOT MAN'S METHODS

"Your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."
– Isaiah 55:8

Sometimes no matter what you do, everything goes wrong. I have

worked all my missionary life in team situations where we set goals,
made plans, used a variety of methods and approaches, but as
Murphy says, "If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong." At the
same time, we became enamored with charts, graphs, committees,
planning sessions, fund raising, and were pulled up short with failures
that seemed to be God's interference with our plans. In our zeal for
our plans, we forgot to heed the warning in the song as follows: "Take
time to be holy, let Him by thy guide; and run not before Him, whatever
betide."1
When things were going well and we were having success after
success, we tended to attribute it to our Twenty-five Year Plan. "The
plan is working; work the plan" was the idea. God was not being glo-
rified by this; human pride and conceit had taken over. Problems that
brought programs screeching to a halt reminded us that it is God that
equips us.2 God enables us, He works in us, and He gives the
increase.3 It is God who has ideas, plans, ways and means that we
know nothing about. "For He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think."5
Our plans and programs need to be "sanctified by the word of God and
prayer."6 Paul wanted to go into Bithynia "but the Spirit of Jesus would
not allow them to..."7 and sent them into Europe instead.8 We can be grate-
ful for this. We need to remember that when things go badly, it can
turn out to be good. Understanding that our ways are not God's ways,
we have to decipher the negatives as positives. God is positively
showing us how he wants it done.
In Romans 9, God declares his independence and freedom.
Abraham's offspring were to be reckoned not through natural children
but through Isaac, the son of God's promise.8 Sarah tried it her way by
having a son through Hagar, her handmaiden, but God said, "At the
appointed time, I will return and Sarah will have a son."9 God told Rebecca
that the first born twin who normally would inherit would not and
"The older will serve the younger."10 God said to Moses, "I will do it in the
way I want to do it, and I will use a method of my own choosing."11 It does
not, therefore, depend on man's own effort, but on God's mercy."12
God can hate even that which He commands us to do, if in doing it
our hearts are not set on Him. "I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I can -
not stand your assemblies." 13 Can God hate and despise the way we go
about world missions? We must believe it. Our work for Christ is an
offering to God as was Paul's, "that the Gentiles might become an offering
acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit." 14 Paul follows this state-
ment by showing us his dependency on Christ and His glory in say-
ing:

"Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture

to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in lead -
ing the Gentiles to obey God."15

Have you heard it said, "We need more men, more money," relying
on mammon and human effort? What does it say to our missiologies
when "God's power is perfected in weakness?"16 If it says nothing, it says
God works through what is not obvious to bring about that which is
obvious; using what we do not see to produce what we will see; using
small ground stones to build a highway for our God; taking weak peo-
ple, insignificant incidents, illogical trivia, and using them for His
glory. What can we do about this? Work humbly with God. Judge
nothing before the time. Find the grace that is sufficient for us.
Remain in continual prayer and dependence upon God.
I have worked with a team that prayed and worked together very
closely. I also worked with another team that did not pray together or
work together closely. One hung in there and the other fell apart.
Let us watch in prayer for the working of Christ and see how the
ways of God are above ours and be grateful that they are.

37. TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS

"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God." – 1 Corinthians 2:5 (KJV)

Have you ever heard of a bright, young man of whom everyone

said he would surely do a wonderful work for the Lord? Have you
ever heard of an overlooked, not-so-bright fellow who actually did a
wonderful work for the Lord?
What made the difference? In the world of missions today, it seems
we are leaning more to psychology than to the word of God. It
behooves us, therefore, to consider a few things. I am not opposing the
science of psychology or psychiatry, but there is no 20th century sci-
ence that will save the souls of men and women, including anthropol-
ogy, philosophy, theology, and missiology. The source for this conclu-
sion is found in the scriptures which read, "The world through its wis -
dom knew not God."1 And, "Salvation is found in no one else, forthere is no
other name (or authority) under Heaven given to men by which we must be
saved."2
I teach classes and give tests, but I have learned "not to think more of
them than I ought to think."3 More and more churches are turning to
worldly wisdom to divine whether a person will be successful in the
mission field. Some of these tests are not bad, but here is a word of
caution. It is difficult to take the square root of a poem and understand
much about the poem. Tests cannot tell you how much faith a man has
or how much trust a woman has in the Lord. What the Lord has in
mind for them and what their real reactions will be in any given situ-
ation cannot always be predetermined. A resumé that shows intellec-
tual accomplishment is about as useful as a taped sermon sent with an
application for a preaching job. You can be faked out by either one. If
you are looking for a soul winner, you might ask how many souls he
personally led to Christ in the past year or how much time he spent in
prayer every day.
I know we can judge tangibles, but do we not have trouble with the
intangibles? Might not consulting the Lord who can discern the hearts
of men be the best of all the other alternatives? Jesus spent all night in
prayer before choosing the twelve apostles.4 The Holy Spirit qualified
and chose men for the work of God.5 Men were chosen for the work
of the church who were "full of the Spirit and wisdom,"6 and one,
Stephen, was "full of faith and the Holy Spirit,7 and "full of God's grace and
power."8 Let us remember as we look our own way for workers to send
out into the mission fields, God may be sending them out a different
way, His way.
Let us get together with our Lord and do it His way. The directions
are given by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Psychology and
other studies can be helpful but are not essential. Holy Spirit wisdom
must supercede the wisdom of this world in everything, and in every
way, that our Lord may be glorified in all things and in all ways.
I like the story of Gladys Aylward called "The Small Woman." In
England, she felt called by Christ to be a missionary to China, but she
was a charwoman; she scrubbed floors. She applied to all the mis-
sionary societies in the country but was flatly refused because she was
a common laborer. They failed to recognize her uncommon faith. She
saved her money working everyday until she had enough to buy a
ticket on the Trans-Siberian Railroad to China. She arrived in China
poor in funds but rich in faith. Her work with orphans, her success,
and her fame is a matter of history. Her life and work is recorded in
the book, Little Woman in China, and in the movie, The Inn of the
Sixth Happiness. A story such as this can be repeated many times and
will help us discern the workings of the grace of God that cannot
always be detected by the tests and measurements of men.
 38. OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE

"Your old men will dream dreams." – Acts 2:17

I do not think that the foregoing fulfillment of prophecy means that

old Christians will sleep a lot. To say it does would contradict what
Solomon said about old age "when men rise up at the sound of birds"1
The older I become, the earlier I rise. I think it means more than a spe-
cial gift of revelation seen in a dream. I see, instead, an incorporation
of the elderly into God's scheme of things, a dream of the service they
can do. God's use of the aged for the glory of his Name. I strongly
advise retiree's and people in their "golden years" to commit to more
praying instead of playing - to seek white raiment instead of enter-
tainment - God's treasure instead of pleasure. What about all those
things you were dreaming of doing for the Lord upon retirement from
the rat race? Have you forgotten your dream or forgotten to frame? I
am not talking about meaningless ambitions for "he that chooses fan -
tasies lacks judgement."2 I am referring to our dreams concerning the
church of Christ. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about the kingdom of
God but forget it. Daniel reminded him of what it was and what it
meant. Maybe I can help along that line.
I am talking about finding an eighty-year-old missionary like J. C.
Bailey still preaching in India. I am referring to men who "follow that
dream wherever that dream leads them." I like Caleb, who after a life-
time of travelling and fighting, took on his hardest job at eighty-five.
Everyone else had received an inheritance in the promised land, and
now Caleb asks another old campaigner, Joshua, for the mountain of
the Anak. The Anak were tall men, good fighters, and no one had been
able to conquer them. This would be the last battle of the long war,
and Caleb says,

"So here I am today eighty-five years old. I am still as strong as the day
Moses sent me out; I am just as vigorous to go to battle now as I was then.
Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You, your -
self, heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and
fortified, but the Lord helping me, I will drive them out, just as He said."3

Here is a good target for old missionaries and for those who have
forgotten the dream and the promise of the Lord. While there is one
soul unsaved, one tribe not reached for Christ, we have work to do.
Rise up, ex-missionaries, ex-preachers, you discouraged and disap-
pointed ones. Rise out of lethargy, oil the old joints, and get back in the
fight for the souls of mankind. What about this promise for our old
age?

"They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, pro -
claiming, The Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no wickedness in
Him."4

Paul, who nearing the end of his career and after three arduous
missionary journeys, dreams and writes:

"But now there is no place more for me to work in these regions, and since
I have been longing many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain.
I will go to Spain and visit you on the way."5
This spirit is in keeping with the commission Christ gave him. He
is not looking forward to a pleasant retirement. He is looking forward
to "preaching the gospel where Christ is not known."6 Here is an old sol-
dier of the cross who will never die but will fade away from this vain
world into the reality of his heavenly reward. Amen, so let it be!

39. A WIFE FOR ALL SEASONS

"How beautiful you are, my darling; Oh how beautiful!"

– Song of Solomon 4:1

What can I say about the woman who has loved me longer and
stronger than any other person? I thank Christ for this wonderful gift
from above. I thank God that our marriage was made for us in heav-
en. I cannot thank her enough or reply her enough for what she has
meant to me. Proverbs 31 is insufficient tribute.
For over forty years we have been together serving the Lord in mis-
sionary work and in the cause of world evangelism. She has uncom-
plainingly and devotedly followed the leading of our Lord into hard
place - right after the war in Japan, then to suffering, war-ravaged
Okinawa, then to Papua New Guinea, and most recently to the ocean
island and jungles of Irian Jaya. Leaving Oklahoma, she has endured
the cold of Canada and Japan, the heat of the tropics, the hustle and
bustle of urban centers, and the isolation of mountain outposts.
She has reared seven children, losing one of them in Okinawa.
Four of them were adopted from Japan and Korea. She has suffered
through operations without anesthesia and has ministered to the med-
ical needs of thousands in our New Guinea clinics.
Her home was and is always open to travellers, strangers, and
many journeying, missionaries. She had been a mother to single mis-
sionaries and a grandmother to missionary children. Her gentle and
longsuffering disposition has been a rock, a fortress, and a refuge of
strength for her workaholic husband.
Rosa Belle is the best example of a missionary wife that I have ever
seen among many wonderful missionary wives. Her influence is
being felt more and more through our paramissionary training pro-
gram, where she teaches and counsels with those preparing to serve
overseas.
She has nursed me through exhaustion, fevers, malaria, operations,
dengue fever, diabetes, heart trouble, and many other ailments with
faith, patience, and undying love.
She has braved storms at sea, traveled by airplane too often to
remember, braved dangers on rivers, mountains, impossible roads,
threats from wild men, and exposure to plagues, diseases and death.
Never has she balked at going anywhere and doing anything for
Christ. She has more grit in her little finger than most men I know
have in their whole bodies. Yet, she is a quiet, unassuming, modest,
faithful, and righteous woman. She has lived in all kinds of houses,
sheds and huts, eaten all kinds of food, worn all kinds of clothes, and
learned to speak all kinds of languages. She despises no one, never
gossips, never puts anyone down. She is not pushy. She know how to
get along without money. When we have money she is never quick to
spend it on herself. Her children and grandchildren cannot help but
love her, and neither can I.
I just want everyone to know that God makes women today as
good as He has ever made them, and I am eternally grateful and glad
to be happily married to one of them. Amen.
 FOOTNOTES

Note: All references are taken from the NIV unless shown otherwise.

Chapter 1
1. John 15:5 6. Romans 4:17
2. Isaiah 55:9 7. Romans 4:17
3. Ephesians 3:20 8. 2 Corinthians 12:9
4. Romans 11:33 9. 1 Corinthians 1:31
5. 1 Corinthians 1:19

Chapter 2
1. 2 Corinthians 1:14-16 2. 2 Corinthians 2:15

Chapter 3
1. Luke 19:10 10. 1 John 4:16
2. Philippians 2:5 (KJV) 11. John 1:14
3. Philippians 2:5 12. Colossians 1:19
4. John 17:24 (KJV) 13. Romans 10:18 (KJV)
5. Titus 2:11 14. Colossians 1:20
6. John 17:23 15. Colossians 2:9-10
7. Ibid. 17:23 16. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
8. Ibid. 13:34-35 17. 2 Corinthians 4:7
9. John 1:17

Chapter 4
1. Numbers 12:3 8. John 14:9
2. Ibid. 12:8 9. Acts 3:22
3. Exodus 33:11 10. Hebrews 3:3,6
4. 1 Kings 19:12 11. 2 Timothy 3:5
5. 1 Kings 19:12 (KJV) 12. Isaiah 57:15
6. Isaiah 53:1-8 13. 1 Peter 1:2
7. Matt. 11:28-29

Chapter 5
1. John 20:21

Chapter 6
1. John 12:27-28 3. Hebrews 10:5, 7
2. Ibid. 5:30 4. 1 Corinthians 8:1
Chapter 7
1. Romans 1:1 - Paul 5. Ibid. 15:15
James 1:1 - James 6. Luke 12:47
2 Peter 1:1 - Peter 7. Luke 17:10
Jude 1 - Jude 8. Ibid. 17:9
2. Matthew 20:26-27 9. Romans 1:14-15
3. John 13:16 10. 2 Corinthians 5:14
4. Ibid. 15:20 11. Revelation 7:12

Chapter 8
1. Philippians 2:7 (KJV) 5. John 8:23
2. Hebrews 2:6-8 6. Hebrews 5:7 (KJV and
3. 1 John 3:1 NIV combined)
4. W E Vine. An Expository 7. John 1:14
Dictionary of New Testament 8. Hebrews 5:8
Words, Revell, NJ, 1966.
Vol. 2I, p. 38.

Chapter 9
1. John 1:14 13. Ibid. 2:1-3
2. Ibid. 14. 1 Corinthians 9:19
3. Matthew 15:24 15. John 4:6
4. 1 Corinthians 9:22 16. Mark 6:32
5. Luke 4:16 17. Luke 9:41
6. Luke 7:32 18. Matthew 16:8-11
7. Ibid. 19. Matthew 16:4
8. John 4:37 20. Matthew 15:6
9. Matthew 5:21 21. Matthew 15:9 (KJV)
10.Luke 4:23 22. Mark 11:15-16
11.John 4:31-33; Mark 14:20 23. John 2:25
12.John 19:23

Chapter 10
1. Hebrews 4:15 6. Luke 9:23
2. Ibid. 5:7 7. John 5:30
3. Funk & Wagnall's Standard 8. Luke 14:10
Dictionary, Vol. 1, p. 614. 9. Ibid. 14:27
4. Romans 12:16 (KJV) 10. Ibid. 14:33
5. Op. cit. p. 272 (condensed)
Chapter 11
1. Hebrews 2:14 11. Romans 6:5
2. 1 Corinthians 15:56 12. John 20:21
3. Hebrews 2:14 13. Hebrews 2:10
4. Ibid. 2:13 14. Matthew 9:38
5. Ibid. 2:14 "send forth" here is from
6. 2 Corinthians 5:21 EKBALLO (Greek), meaning
7. Revelations 13:8 "to cast out."
8. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV) 15. Philippians 3:10
9. Romans 5:8 16. John 12:25-26
10.Hebrews 2:9

Chapter 12
1. John 16:33 9. John 10:18
2. Isaiah 53:1-12 10. Hebrews 5:8
3. Isaiah 53:5 11. Hebrews 5:9
4. Galatians 3:13 12. Hebrews 2:10
5. 1 Peter 2:24 13. John 6:53-57
6. Matthew 27:46 14. Romans 6:7
7. 2 Corinthians 5:21 15. Hebrews 5:9
8. Philippians 3:10 16. Romans 16:26

Chapter 13
1. Hebrews 12:2 (KJV) 7. The New Missionaries for
2. Micah 6:8 New Days; The Bethany
3. Psalm 50:17 Press, 1956. p. 21.
4. Psalm 34:18 8. 1 Peter 5:5-7
5. James 4:6 9. Romans 8:17
6. Titus 2:11
Chapter 14
1. 2 Corinthians 4:10-11 14. I Timothy 1:15
2. Romans 12:1 15. 1 Peter 2:21; Colossians 1:24
3. 2 Corinthians 2:15 16. John 3:16; Galatians 2:20
4. 2 Timothy 4:6 17. Romans 8:36
5. Revelations 19:13 18. Hebrews 7:25
6. Ephesians 1:22-23 19. Mark 16:15-17
7. Ibid. 3:17 20. John 1:6-9; 8:12
8. Ibid. 3:16, 18-19 21. Matthew 5:14-16
9. Philippians 2:1 23. 1 John 2:2
10.As defined in Webster's 22. 1 Peter 2:21
Collegiate Dictionary 24. Romans 14:8
11.Ibid. 25. Hebrews 2:10
12.Ibid. 26. Philippians 2:2
13.1 Peter 2:11

Chapter 15

1. Act 17:28 7. Hebrews 13:20

2. John 15:5 8. Ibid. 4:16
3. Matthew 9:38 9. Ibid. 10:19
4. Acts 2:47 10. Ibid. 10:22
5. 1 Corinthians 3:6 11. Colossians 4:2-3
6. Hebrews 13:20 12. Matthew 6:10

Chapter 16

1. Songs of the Church, page 348, Howard Publishers,

West Monroe, LA.
2. 1 Timothy 4:5
3. The Ministry of Intercession, by Andrew Murray, p 57.
4. The Hallelujah Factor, Jack Taylor
5. Songs of the Church, page 100, Howard Publishers,
West Monroe, LA.

Chapter 17
1. 2 Corinthians 12:9 3. Ibid. 6:6
2. 1 Timothy 6:8 4. Hebrews 13:5
Chapter 18

1. Ezekiel 37:8 10. Ibid. 8:6

2. Ibid. 39:9 11. Ibid. 8:13
3. Ibid. 37:10 12. Ibid. 8:14
4. Ibid. 37:14 13. Romans 8:16
5. Ibid. 37:10 14. Ephesians 6:17
6. Galatians 5:22 15. Ibid. 6:18
7. Romans 8:2 16. Philippians 2:1
8. Ibid. 8:4 17. 2 Corinthians 13:13
9. Ibid. 8:5 18. Galatians 5:16
19. Rowland Hogden

Chapter 19
1. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, paraphrased by the author to be applicable to
missionaries.
2. 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1:20-25; 3:1-4; 4:6; 5:1; 6:15-16; 6:1; 7:8; 7:8;
Chapter 8; Chapter 11; 11:12, 13; 15:12-13
3. 1 Corinthians 12:31
4. 1 Peter 4:8
5. 1 Corinthians 1:2

Chapter 20
1. Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV and KJV)
2. Matthew 18:32-35

Chapter 21
1. "Hamlet", William Shakespeare 3. Ephesians 4:3
2. Robert Burns 4. James 1:4

Chapter 22
1. Isaiah 52:7
2. Isaiah 55:12
3. Songs of the Church, page 615.
Howard Publishers, West Monroe, LA.
4. Philippians 4:13
Chapter 23
1. Galatians 6:9 6. Psalm 46:1
2. Hebrews 4:15-16; 5:7-8 7. Jeremiah 8:2
3. Matthew 17:17 8. Malachi 4:2
4. 2 Corinthians 1:9 9. Galatians 6:9
5. James 1:2

Chapter 24
1. Mark 12:30 3. Matthew 23:23-24
2. Ibid. 12:33 4. Colossians 3:3, 5

Chapter 26
1. John F. Kennedy; U. S. President
2. 2 Kings 11:12
3. John 4:38

Chapter 28
1. Judges 5:15-18 4. 2 Corinthians 10:13
2. Judges 5:23 5. Galatians 1:10
3. Galatians 1:15-16

Chapter 30
1. Ephesians 4:26
2. James 1:19-20
3. New Guinea Pidgin: "wait sikin em i man bilong kros.
Em i stap belhat oltaim."
4. A. R. Holton
5. Matthew 5:9
6. Rick Niland
7. Galatians 5:22

Chapter 31
1. 2 Corinthians 10:12-13 5. Green's Lexicon; p. 40
2. Matthew 6:6 6. 1 Corinthians 9:26
3. 1 Corinthians 9:24 7. Ibid. 9:22
4. Ibid. 8. Ibid. 9:19 (NASV)
Chapter 32
1. Hebrews 10:5-7

Chapter 33
1. Hebrews 2:10 3. James 1:4
2. Ibid.

Chapter 34
1. Paraphrased by the author.
2. Parallel New Testament, Zondervan, p. 205, interlinear
3. Green's Lexicon, p. 38, deisis
4. Matthew 23:37 12. Luke 3:21-22
5. Psalm 126:5-6 13. Luke 6:12-13
6. Green, p. 55 14. Luke 9:28-29
7. Jonah 1:15 15. Acts 1:14
8. Exodus 3:11; 4:14 16. Ibid. 10:4, 9
9. Acts 8:4 (KJV) 17. Ibid. 9:11
10.Isaiah 64:1-2 18. Ibid. 16:13-14
11.Psalm 101:2

Chapter 35
1. Oswald J. Smith 8. Matthew 24:14
2. Acts 17:26 9. Proverbs 11:14 (NEB)
3. Ibid. 17:26 10. Isaiah 32:8
4. Ibid. 17:27 11. Proverbs 15:22
5. Ibid. 17:30 12. 2 Chronicles 20:12
6. Isaiah 14:24, 26-27 13. Proverbs 16:3
7. Revelation 14:6-7

Chapter 36
1. Songs of the Church, page 348,
Howard Publishers, West Monroe, LA.
2. Hebrews 13:20-21
3. Ephesians 3:20 (KJV)
4. 1 Corinthians 3:6
5. Ephesians 3:20 (KJV)
6. 1 Timothy 4:4
7. Acts 16:7
Chapter 36 (continued)
8. Acts 16:8
9. Romans 9:9
10.Ibid. 9:12
11.Ibid. 9:15 (paraphrased)
12.Ibid. 9:16
13.Amos 5:21
14.Romans 15:16
15.Ibid. 15:18
16.2 Corinthians 12:9

Chapter 37
1. 1 Corinthians 1:21 5. Acts 20:28, 13:1-4
2. Acts 4:12 6. Ibid. 6:3
3. Romans 12:3 7. Ibid. 6:3
4. Luke 6:12 8. Ibid. 6:8

Chapter 38
1. Ecclesiastes 12:4 4. Psalm 92:12-15
2. Ecclesiastes 12:11 5. Romans 15:23-28
3. Joshua 14:10-12 6. Ibid. 15:20