S. O. A. P.

Here’s Your 90 second AM Devotional!

S-cripture:

2 Corinthians 10:16

So that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory.

O-bservation:

Paul the Apostle was never one to take the easy way. Throughout this chapter and the next, he defended his Apostleship against phonies claiming to be the same. He said he wanted to be able to preach in “The Regions Beyond You,” where the “Believers” in Corinth were already serving the Lord. He never wanted to take credit for another person’s labor for Jesus.

A-pplication:

Long before I was a Pastor, I served as a traveling Evangelist. This passage of scripture haunted me then and it haunts me today. As “Followers of Jesus,” we must always remember that there will be no “Real Rest” until we’re in heaven with our Lord. Jesus said to “Work … for the night is coming when no one can work” (Jn 9:4). Our mission is always to “The Regions Beyond You.” That means “BEYOND” what someone else, including you, is doing. We don’t go to another man or woman’s place of ministry and take credit for what they’ve already accomplished for Jesus. For an example, as a young evangelist I would be asked by a church to come and speak a series of meetings. My “Regions Beyond” were the PUBLIC SCHOOLS in that area. The schools were closed to the church, but not to me. It was a “Region Beyond” that, when I was gone, was now opened to the local church. Paul said, I won’t try and take credit for what you have already done, it’s my desire to do what you haven’t been able to do as of yet. It will be to “The Regions Beyond You.”

P-rayer:

Help me to never lose sight of … “The Regions Beyond.”  I’m asking for Your strength again this AM. Amen