To boldly go, where
no-one has gone before !
To boldly go, where no-one has
gone before !
When I was growing up, my
parents and grandparents would take me and my two sisters on holidays to
Ifracombe on the North Devon Coast, and more often or not we would go by the MV
Balmoral, which would sail between Swansea and Ilfracombe in the Summer months,
and while there go for boat trips that would sail from Ilfracombe harbour, I
have many happy memories of going there as child and early teenager,
because of these memories I enjoy spending time by the Coast and now live in a
Seaside Resort, although I have not been on a boat trip for a while, I'm
fascinated both by boats and the Sea.
I remember a few years ago,
while on holidays in Porthleven, Cornwall, spending time in the National
Maritime Museum in Falmouth and had an interesting and enjoyable time there,
although one thing I noticed more than others that the boats on display, none
of them were in their original context , it was fascinating looking at these
boats and reading all about them, but all them weren't doing the job they were
designed and build for, yes, being on the water. Porthleven is a lovely,
fishing village situated near Helston, and has a very picturesque harbour and I
noticed that all the boats were doing the purpose they were designed and build
for. Like other seaside holiday destinations, Porthleven has several shops
selling goods to tourists, some of these shops sell model ships, they look
exactly like the originals, but they could never do, the same job as the
original ! they were just for display
For centuries Great Britain has
been a maritime nation, and many of our national heroes have been sailors, from
the historic figures like Sir Francis Drake, Horatio Nelson, Captain James
Cook, to the fictional heroes such as Horatio Hornblower, many of our wars and
the battles that we fought have involved fighting on Sea, from fighting the
Spanish Armada, The Battle from Trafalgar, The Battle Of Jutland, The Battle of
the River Plate. Most of our imports and exports travel by sea, the sea has
important part to play into our history, present and future as Great Britain.
The sea routes used today both for business and pleasure had to be discovered,
and the ships that travel those routes use sea-charts to show them where they
are going and how to get there, from the smallest cabin cruiser to the mighty
container ship. Yet someone had to go out and navigate the sea in order for
these sea-charts to be produced. Many of these men, such as Sir Francis Drake
and Captain James Cook, stand tall throughout our history.
We see in our Bibles, countless
references to sailing and to sea, from Noah's Voyage, to Jonah and we know that
the Lord's Disciples Peter, Andrew, James and John were fisherman on the Sea of
Galilee, and many of the early missionaries such as Paul, Barnabas, Silas,
Mark, Timothy and Luke often travelled by sea to spread the Good News of the
Gospel of Salvation to the people of the known world. In Ephesians 4:12, one of
the meanings of the Greek Word we translate as equip is prepare a ship for
voyage (one of the other meanings, is to set a broken bone).
In the 19th and 20th centuries
many people left these shores and other shores to travel the world, to spread
the Good News of the Gospel of Salvation, following the example of men like
William Carey, John Wesley and George Whitfield, I remember growing up in small
Pentecostal Church in the South Wales Valley's, and hearing about many men and
women who went forth as missionaries, and being inspired by the reports that
came back from our missionaries in places like Nigeria and India, I had the
privilege not only of having a retired missionary as one of my Sunday School
Teachers, and having two former missionary couples as my Pastor and his wife ,
but also being related to one of the earliest Pentecostal Pioneers from the
United Kingdom that went to Nigeria, who in his later years inspired me to seek
and serve God. While a student in Bible School, several of my lecturers had
been missionaries, and I know how much they inspired me and my fellow students.
In the early part of the 21st
Century, many of us may not have the same opportunities to travel to other
lands following in the footsteps of our brothers and sisters who went before
us, there are still opportunities we can take, perhaps in short-term mission
trips, we have advancements in technology they didn't have anything like
the Internet, I remember being in School in the 1980's and never thought then I
could not talk to people in places like America and Australia via a computer
and a phone-line but to count them as friends as well. On the other hand we
don't have to travel to other lands to be a missionary, we can be missionaries
in our villages, towns, suburbs, cities but most importantly in our
communities. I know that in the coming days, the Lord will inspire many of us
to become missionaries on other towns, cities and regions throughout our own
lands but other lands as well.
In the last 12-18 months, I
have been greatly inspired by the writings of people like Alan J Roxburgh, Alan
Hirsch, Neil Cole, Martin Robinson and Floyd McClung, especially when it comes
to being Missional and being challenged by the concept of mission dei or God's
Mission. I may not have the opportunities to travel to other lands to spread
the Good News of the Gospel of Salvation, but it doesn't mean that there are no
opportunities here in the United Kingdom. I've just read something that David
Cameron, the Prime Minister here in the UK, said about Broken Britain and
Social Recession. (If you would like to read more about Missional, I strongly
recommend (Introducing the Missional Church by Alan J Roxburgh). Both my prayer
and desire is to see God raise up His People here in the UK and other lands to
see the spiritual needs in our own lands, and be willing to follow His
direction either to pray, support or go, hopefully to do all, some of us He
will send to our neighbours, some of us He will send to our streets, some to
our towns and cities, but all He asks are we willing to go to those He will
send us ?
Some of us in coming days, He
will ask to be Pioneers, and to go where no-one has gone before or for some
time, to break into new territory or to go and re-claim territory. I'm now
going to share some Scriptures with you, and my Prayer is that God will use
these Scriptures to challenge you for the first time or to challenge for you
for the thousandth time, and follow his direction, which will not only impact
your own live, but impact the lives of others, those who is sending you to.
If you're wondering if my title
sounds familiar, it's from Star Trek, the days ahead will be days of challenge,
courage and grace but most importantly of opportunity, and I pray that we take
the courage and the grace, to take the opportunities those challenges will
present to us.
Isa 6:8-9a NIv
8 Then I heard the voice of the
Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" 9 He said, "Go and tell this
people
Matt 28:19-20 NIv
19 Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in [a] the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age."
Romans 10:14015a NCV
14 But before people can
ask the Lord for help, they must believe in him; and before they can believe in
him, they must hear about him; and for them to hear about the Lord, someone
must tell them;15 and before someone can go and tell them, that person must be
sent.
Yours by His Grace
Blair Humphreys
Southport
