Tuesday, December 6, 2011

His heart, His hands, His voice - I am Southern Baptist missions | JERUSALEM

Week of Prayer:

His heart, His hands, His voice - I am Southern Baptist missions



If you are a follower of Jesus, you are part of the task to fulfill the Great Commission.  Paul says, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Jesus has commissioned us to be His heart, His hands, His voice. Through praying, giving, and going, Southern Baptists have fulfilled this legacy for more than 160 years.  Yet billions remain lost and time may be running out for them. We must pray more intentionally and give more sacrificially than ever before. Our churches must take direct responsibility for helping reach the nearly 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups that missionaries may never be able to get to.  And, since most unreached people groups likely are represented in the world's urban centers, we have unique challenges and opportunities to reach the world through the cities, as illustrated in this year’s week of prayer features.  What can you do, individually? Start by being “Southern Baptist missions” through your prayers to be an extension of His heart, hands, and voice through unprecedented giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®.

JERUSALEM
As Jesus approached Jerusalem for the last time, He wept. He thought about the people within its walls and said, "If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace.” He knew within hours He’d be crucified by the very people for whom He wept.

Would Jesus still look over the city and weep 2,000 years later?
Most believe He would. Jerusalem is a city where stress runs high, and the strain of so many people practicing so many religions in such a small area makes the tension palpable. They seek a blessing or a healing or some connection with God through well-meaning, but mistaken, devotion.

Bitter division resides just below the surface. Christians, Jews, Muslims—no faction would be disappointed if the other two groups would exit the city walls and disappear into the barren countryside. Many who want peace see it as something to be politically brokered.

“We work toward peace, we work toward bridging the gap between cultures and between the differences in people, but really it’s God’s grace and only God’s grace that will ever appear,” says an IMB worker.
“The situation in Jerusalem will decide what will be the situation in the rest of the world,” says a local messianic pastor. When Jesus comes, “there will be peace in Jerusalem and there will be peace in the rest of the world.”

·        Pray that the people of Jerusalem will begin to recognize the things that bring true peace.

Further Resources on Week of Prayer can be found at
http://www.imb.org/main/pray/page.asp?StoryID=5624&LanguageID=1709


Scripture to Claim:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.   Galatians 3:281

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