Last week I taught a Sunday school lesson from Joshua 1. This lesson was primarily dealing with following God and there were two main points.

The first point was the commission. After the death of Moses, God called to Joshua and commissioned him to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land. The second point dealt with the mission. There were a lot of obstacles, enemies, and I’m sure opinions that Joshua had to deal with when carrying out this mission. The good news for Joshua was God had already promised him the land and all the victories. It is a lot easier to face the enemy when you know you have already won the war. But as I taught this lesson, I made some practical applications to the church today, and I taught another point I’d like to share with you.

First, if you’re saved by God’s grace, you’ve been commissioned. You see, God comes to where we are and calls us to Him first. Then when we accept God’s call to salvation, He commissions us to go out and tell others about His saving grace. Every week as I preach, teach, sing, and write, that is what I’m doing, pointing others to my savior, Jesus Christ. Our commission is found in Mark 16:15, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

This leads me to my second point to the church today, the mission. What are you doing to share Christ with others; maybe a lost loved one? I understand that many people have a hard time witnessing but in light of an eternity without God, enduring suffering in the fires of Hell, it should motivate us to have a desire to tell that lost person how they too can escape God’s judgment to come. Think of it is this way. We are all just beggars and you are telling another beggar where you found some bread. Allow me to add this. It doesn’t matter what nationality or color you are, whether you are rich or poor, every one of us needs Jesus!

This last point is what scares me, the intermission. We’ve been commissioned, we’ve been engaged in the mission, but now days it seems as if it is intermission time, or “break time.” The scary thing is that the church is taking an intermission, but there are no instructions in God’s word to take one. In searching the Bible, I find no place where God says it is okay to take a break and let someone else do the mission for a little while. I can’t find where it says that you’ve gotten old so its time for you to sit down and let the younger people take over. Rather I find the opposite. You fight the good fight, run the race, and finish the course. When I come down to the end of my life, I want to be able to say just as Paul did in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” While we are taking this intermission, young boys and girls are slipping through our fingers and people are dying and going into an eternal Hell. Let us get up, wake up, and get back to the mission in front of us. Until next time, God bless.

I want to invite all the children to our One of a Kind Zoo. We will be having Vacation Bible School at Victory Baptist Church June 13-17 from 6:30 to 8:45. We will be playing games, eating refreshments, making crafts, singing songs, and learning about Jesus. Van transportation is available. Just call Tim Harrison at 864-427-0096 or 864-426-3669.

Tune in to WBCU 103.5 FM Sundays at noon for the Shining Light Broadcast. I preach a 15-minute message that I pray will be a blessing to those who listen.

If you have a prayer concern, comment, or question, please write to: Voice of Victory, Attn: David Burrell, PO Box 1221, Pacolet, SC 29372 or e-mail me at daveburrell@live.com.