By Pastor Harold Warner

Join me at the starting line of 2022. Not just the chronological turning of a page in a calendar, but more: a little glimpse into my head and soul – the thinking processes at work – as we seek to stay in step in our walk with God.

My continual prayer has been, “Lord, give me understanding of the times; let me see things from Your perspective.” For decades, our church has started the year with a theme and tried to maintain that seasoning in ministry throughout the whole year.

Our annual themes are not religious gimmicks, but rather an attempt to go hand in hand with the ancient tribe of Issachar “which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.” This year’s theme, Sought-Saved-Sent, is similar to our last theme based on Jude’s command to “Contend for the Faith,” in that it is another call back to the basics.

In his 1961 training camp, Hall of Fame Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi held the familiar pigskin up in front of his team and announced: “Gentlemen, this is a football.” His men must have looked at each other in bewilderment, but the legendary coach made a very good point. Coach Lombardi was demonstrating and verbalizing the crucial importance of fundamentals. They are fundamentals because we never move beyond these, and because unless we master them and continually return to them, we will not have a winning season or life.

This thought process was triggered and brought to the front burner of my brain by a text message from Pastor Garett King. Along with me, he also begins to pray and ponder things around August and September with an eye to what is the Spirit may be saying to the church.

“I’m feeling like our theme for next year needs to have a very missions-oriented (outward) thrust,” he wrote. “We have spent a couple of years building a building, and stuck indoors with COVID. We need something that forces our focus back on the harvest field with no apologies.” It immediately resonated deeply in my spirit, and an excitement was born about sharing it with all of you, with the entire congregation. Three simple yet powerful words: Sought. Saved. Sent.

In each of them you will find the lifeblood of the church. There is a robust theology behind each one. As a text that encompasses all of these, we have Acts 26:16-18: “But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

If there is to be spiritual health, then our life’s focus and labors need to be recalibrated by the truth and grace of each of these words. So, think biblically with me.

Sought: The Pursuing God

Let’s be real: the Bible never portrays human beings as seriously seeking after God. “There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God” (Romans 3:11).

The truth is not that we are people who are on a spiritual quest, chasing after God. No, in Scripture we find that reversed, as the words of the chorus say, He sought us out when we were lost; I’m redeemed! God is the one who is seriously doing the seeking and He is pursuing after us. Does that truth still thrill your soul? In the mystery and wonder of redemption, God is the one doing the chasing! “But God shows [demonstrates] his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

When Jesus enters the crossroads city of Jericho in Luke chapter 19, this comes into brilliant clarity. The crowds following Him were still growing and buzzing, and the least likely candidate in that city to become a Christ-follower was the chief among the tax collectors. Zacchaeus, like so many, wanted a glimpse of the miracle- worker, Jesus of Nazareth.

Being short of stature, he navigated the large crowd and managed to secure the best seat in the house by running ahead and climbing up in a tree, so that when Jesus passed by he would have an unobstructed look. Then Jesus does something that shocks everyone. He invites himself to Zaccheus’ house. His response to the unwarranted criticism that was incited by his invitation was, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (v 9-10).

John Stott in his classic work, Why I am a Christian, wrote some hope-inducing words. “Why I am a Christian is due ultimately neither to the influence of my parents and teachers; not to my own personal decision for Christ, but to ‘The Hound of Heaven.’ That is, it is to Jesus Christ himself, who pursued me relentlessly in order to go my own way. And if it were not for the gracious pursuit of the Hound of Heaven I would today be on the scrap-heap of wasted and discarded lives.”

The reference to the Hound of Heaven comes from a poem written in 1893 by Francis Thompson that describes God’s gracious and relentless pursuit of you and me as He seeks to bring us to repentance, and into the family of God.

Saved: Christianity’s Central Miracle

In verse 16, Paul describes a sacred responsibility that grew out of his encounter with the resurrected Savior on the Damascus Road: “But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and those in which I will appear to you.”

The promise we read here is that, in the midst of God’s works past, present, and future, Jesus will manifest Himself. As Christians, love propels us to go hard after the lost. The reason for this is that the Cross is the dividing line of humanity and history. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the preaching of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

On the one side is the group who look at what we believe and proclaim (that is, the message of the Cross) and their response is that it is folly; it is foolishness. The word used here in the Scripture is the same one from which we get our English word for moron. On the other side is the group that hears the message and sees its true nature: that the Cross is the power and wisdom of God. It brings an explosive power to change people’s lives.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn writes with such insight when he says “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.”

This brings us to the greatest miracle of Christianity. First, it answers the sin problem; and second, it offers the promise of forgiveness, a new life, and a brand new heart of righteousness before God that can only be accessed through faith in Jesus Christ.

There is no doubt that the Christian life is all about a miraculous life, from start to finish! People have long speculated and offered possible reasons for the evening meeting between Jesus Christ and a Jewish leader by the name of Nicodemus. One thing is certain: there was a gaping hole in Nicodemus’ heart that religion had not been able to fill.

Jesus cut right to the chase and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Entrance into and new life inside the kingdom of God is only possible by a spiritual rebirth that occurs in our souls.

Look closely at what Jesus said: the life of God in us is initiated by the miracle of being born from above. You must be born again. It is the only way you can live the Christian life. Someone once said, “You must have the Christian life to live the Christian life.”

Saved. I feel this so deeply, especially when you know the frustration of trying to disciple someone or encourage someone to live for Jesus who has not been born again. Even if they are intellectually stimulated by Christ and his teachings, you MUST be born again.

It’s like sitting in a car, imagining the places you can go and the liberty it will bring into your life; admiring all the features built into this vehicle but without turning the key in the ignition. I’m sorry, no matter how sincere and thrilled you might be, you’re not going anywhere.

Sent: Defining My Purpose

There is a critical order to God’s workings. Consider Mark 3:13, 14: “And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons.”

This was the coming together of Jesus and His disciples, the inauguration of His public ministry. We all want to begin here since we’re drawn to the apostolic ministry, the supernatural power and authority to cast out demons, and the excitement that accompanies it all. But Jesus called them first “so that they might be with him,” which results in the possibility that “he might send them out to preach.”

Life with God must come before life for God, as we are all enlisted to co-labor in the Father’s enterprise.

When Paul was visited by God, He made it clear to him that “I’ve appeared to you for a purpose: to send you to the Gentiles.” God the Holy Spirit accomplishes His work through sent men and women; children and teenagers.

The vertical advent of God in the mission of sending Jesus to Earth is meant to result in the horizontal advent of our being sent to come into people’s lives, to those around us, and to people throughout the world with His glorious message. The post-Resurrection Jesus in John 20:21 tells the disciples, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

The aggravated supply chain issues we are facing today have been called The Great Resignation, as people drop out of their expected and trained-for positions, sending shock waves through every industry. God’s answer to delivering His truth and life is that He seeks out, saves, and sends individual men and women to the harvest field around them with the message of His life and truth.

Each of us is Sought, then Saved, then Sent. Do you see yourself in that light?