His challenge was clear: Take the next step and go where no man has gone before.
Mike Hamlet, senior pastor at North Spartanburg First Baptist Church, preaches from 1 Kings 17-19 as he challenges Southern Baptist missionaries who serve in South Asia to “take that next step.”He was not talking about going to the remotest village in the mountains of Nepal. Nor was he talking about searching out the lost millions who seem to disappear in the masses of India’s urban centers. No, Mike Hamlet was not talking about a geographical location – and his message was not a missiological exhortation; it was flat out a faith challenge.
“We have this idea in our lives that sometimes when we get to a certain place – we think we have arrived, and we think that we can coast,” Hamlet said. “I’m telling you, wherever you are, you have not arrived yet. – It is time to take the next step.”
Speaking this summer to Southern Baptist missionaries who serve in South Asia, Hamlet, senior pastor of North Spartanburg First Baptist Church, presented sermons from 1 Kings 17-19 chronicling the faith journey of Elijah.
“You know what is the exciting part of your resume?” he asked them. “It is what’s to come.”
Elijah was a man of unknown background whom God used mightily because he was willing to take the next step in obedience and trust.
“Are you prepared today to be unconditionally obedient? I know that you have made sacrifices. Are you willing to take that next step? Are you willing to be obedient no matter what it takes?” Hamlet asked.
“God knows where you are; we need to learn to be humble. God knows where you are going; we need to learn to be faithful in that journey. God knows what you need in every area of your life. Personally, relationally, vocationally, spiritually, God has prepared a place for you. When God has prepared a place for you, you need to become totally and completely and absolutely dependent upon him.
“We must trust God with our mates, with our children, with our ministries, with the people we are trying to reach,” Hamlet said. “Just like Elijah, we have no choice; we must be dependent upon him.
“Elijah said, ‘I’m willing to go. I’m willing to take the next step. I’m willing to take it up a notch.’ … Elijah was willing, when he got serious, to go where no man had gone before.”
Hamlet continued, “My question for the sake of your family, your kids, your ministry, for those that you work with, for the sake of the calling of God – because that’s what it goes back to – is, ‘Am I called to just go as far as I can, or are we called to go where no man has ever gone before?’?”
South Asia – India and the surrounding six countries – is home to about 1.5 billion people. They are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and tribals all in need of the Savior.
“Don’t underestimate the power and influence of one individual person,” Hamlet said. “The world is changed by one person. It’s going to be a ruler, or an insurgent, it’s going to be a teacher. By the power of God, why can it not be us?
“Ladies and gentleman, God called you. He called you because he wanted to use you,” Hamlet said. “Stay focused on the task. What am I here for? I know that sounds silly to you as missionaries, but I know it’s true. I’m going to tell you, a lot of times you better remember why you are here.
“Even when your heart is breaking, and even when there are difficult times, and even when it’s not going your way, God’s called you, and he’s given you a task to do – people for whom Jesus died. We must stay focused.”
Hamlet said it never ceases to amaze him how missionaries in South Asia talk hopefully about the millions in their people groups and how some have no Christians and they are looking for people of peace.
“You walk by faith; that is exactly what you do,” he said. “You’ve had that vision, and you have it now. And you must continue to build on that vision and say the storm is coming, the storm of the grace of God, the storm of the love of God, is coming to South Asia. It’s coming to all these people groups.”
*Name changed for security reasons. Goldie Frances serves as a writer in South Asia.