A. What Is Biblical Mission? “Biblical mission means more than simply going overseas to plant churches or spread civilization. It means the church participating in the ‘mission of God (Missio Dei)’ and seeking the restoration of God’s rule and glory throughout the whole earth. Mission is not a program that begins with human enthusiasm; rather, it is the heart of God that runs throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and is a fundamental reason for the church’s existence. Let me clearly summarize five essential principles of true mission as presented in Scripture. 🌍 1. The Mission of God (Missio Dei) The subject and initiator of mission is not human beings but God. In order to save fallen humanity, God first comes to us, sends His Son, and sends the Holy Spirit. He is the “missionary God” who sends. Biblical basis: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” (John 20:21) Key meaning: The church acknowledges that God has the initiative in mission and serves as His agent, obed...
A dismayed heart [Psalms 143] One of my cousins was really afraid of a dark room when he was a child. As I know, the reason he was afraid of the dark room was because his father used to put him in the dark room as a discipline when he didn’t listen to his parents. As I was meditating on Psalms 143, he came into my mind because the psalmist David said in verse 4, “So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.” The meaning of the word "dismayed" here according to a Korean dictionary is s (a) very dark and (b) horrible, and according to the Korean-Chinese dictionary (a) darkness and dreariness, (b) cruel and helpless or (c) miserable (Internet). In Psalms 143:4, the psalmist said his heat is “dismayed’. Here, the word “dismayed” in Hebrew has meaning the psalmist David’s heart was afraid because of great disaster of God’s judgment due to his sins. In other words, David...