SOUTH ASIA – His challenge was clear: Take the next step and go where no man has gone before.
Mike Hamlet, senior pastor at First Baptist North Spartanburg, 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 First Baptist North Spartanburg in Spartanburg, S.C., presented six 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. When God directed Elijah to the Cherith Ravine to be fed by ravens, he went. When God said to go to the widow at Zarephath, he went. When God told him to present himself to King Ahab, he did.
“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. “Notice how God provides for them every day-.
“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.
Even when, especially when, the son of the widow who had been feeding Elijah became ill and died, Elijah had no choice but to depend on God ? and his actions showed that he trusted God to take him to a place where no man had ever been.
Stretching his own body out prostrate, Hamlet demonstrated how Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Oh Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him” (see 1 Kings 17:21).
“Up until this time in Scripture, there is no record of resurrection,” Hamlet explained. “Be dependent! You see, Elijah has been spending time with God. None of this happens unless this takes place. I want you to notice what happens here (see vv. 18-21). He’s dead. Elijah has no principle to go by here. He doesn’t have the Word of the Lord. He doesn’t know what to do-.
“To that time, no one ? no one! ? had ever done that before. But 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.
“Folks, we have an advantage. We have the Word,” Hamlet said. “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. Prayers need to be that the Lord would breathe life into each lost person.
“Everyone we know is going to die and go to hell without Jesus Christ,” Hamlet said. “You’ve got to move. You’ve got to move forward.
“Don’t underestimate the power and influence of one individual person. 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.”
In 1 Kings 18:36-37, Elijah prayed in faith that God would turn the hearts of the people back to Him, and God answered.
“We are in the midst of the greatest lostness in the world. In a place where it is difficult, more is demanded,” Hamlet said. “-Our most powerful weapon is the prayer of faith, of being connected to Him.”
Through prayer, through an intimate trust relationship with God, we learn the next step He has for us and we prepare to let Him take us where no man has ever gone.
“Organizational change, family adjustment, health issues, whatever those issues are, we must be willing to go where no person has ever gone before. You see, God prepared Elijah, just as He is preparing you. All the time, Elijah was learning. He was paying attention.
“Are we willing to go where no man has gone before?”
*Name changed. Goldie Frances is a Southern Baptist missionary serving as a writer in South Asia.
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