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[RiverOL]

The Global Mission of the Servant​

The Global Mission of the Servant​

Isaiah 49:1–13​

The global mission of the servant Jesus was to bring salvation to the entire world, and we are called to join in that mission.

Introduction:​

Have you ever felt like your efforts were wasted? Like what you’ve done hasn’t made a difference? We all experience moments of discouragement when our work feels fruitless. Isaiah 49 speaks into that feeling by revealing a Servant who was called by God for a great mission—a mission that seemed to falter but ultimately fulfilled God’s global purpose.

In this passage, God expands the Servant’s mission beyond Israel to the entire world. Jesus, the ultimate Servant, fulfills this mission by bringing salvation to all people. Today, we will explore how God’s global mission through His Servant also invites us to participate in reaching the world with His hope.

The Servant’s Divine Calling (Isaiah 49:1–3)​

“Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.” (v. 1)

Jesus was called by God before His earthly life began, fulfilling this prophecy (Luke 1:31-33). Just as Jesus was sent, God calls each of us to specific purposes. The Servant’s words are powerful and purposeful, bringing truth and justice.

God has a purpose for your life, prepared before you were born. Are you listening for God’s calling in your life? How can you speak God’s truth with both grace and clarity?

The Servant’s Struggle and Trust in God (Isaiah 49:4)​

“But I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.’”

Even the Servant expresses feelings of failure and exhaustion. Jesus remained faithful even when misunderstood and rejected. Success isn’t measured by visible results but by obedience to God.

Are you discouraged by fruitless efforts in ministry or life? God values your faithfulness more than your visible success. What areas of your life do you need to surrender to God’s timing?

The Servant’s Global Mission (Isaiah 49:5–7)​

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob… I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (v. 6)

God’s plan was never just for one nation but for all people. Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). God’s heart beats for the nations, and so should ours.

How are you reflecting God’s light in your family, community, and world? Are you praying for and supporting global missions? Who in your life needs to hear about Jesus?

God’s Promise of Restoration and Comfort (Isaiah 49:8–13)​

“In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you.” (v. 8)

Jesus brought salvation in God’s perfect timing. Jesus frees us from sin and offers restoration. God promises comfort and provision for His people.

Where do you need God’s comfort and restoration today? How can you extend God’s comfort to those around you?

God’s Servant was not sent just for Israel but for the entire world. Jesus fulfilled this mission by bringing salvation to all people, and He calls us to continue that mission. Whether through prayer, giving, or personal witness, we are invited to be part of God’s global plan.


Pray for one person in your life who needs to know Jesus. Give to support missions locally and globally. Go by sharing the hope of Jesus with someone this week.

Father, thank You for sending Jesus, the Servant, to bring salvation to the whole world. Help us to trust You in times of discouragement and to boldly share Your light with others. Open our eyes to the people around us who need Your hope, and give us the courage to join in Your mission. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

[td] Want More Persevere(ability)?​ ​ ​

[td] Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour—1 Peter 5:8​ ​ ​

[td] The ability to persevere—to remain strong and steadfast in the face of difficulties and delays and distractions—is a fundamental skill, necessary for any man choosing to devote himself to our King, Jesus Christ. He showed us how in the wilderness and against the temptations that followed (Matthew 4:1-11). Like him, we too must bear up against the pressures of the world, and not only for a while, but until the very end of our days. Though any one trial or temptation may be short lived, there’s always something out there capable of our destruction. Preparedness is paramount. You see, when we’re unprepared and trouble comes (at work, in our relationships, our finances, our health) it takes us down: into anxiety, anger, bitterness, despondency, depression, isolation. When we’re unprepared and temptations come (material, carnal, moral) they too take us down: away from God and into sin. Compounding our lack of preparedness, the enemy is always quick with interference and misinformation. "You won’t make it." "This’ll be long and difficult . . . too long, too difficult for you." "You’re alone, forgotten." "You won’t have strength enough to persevere." "You should just give-up/give-in now, and avoid the grief of waiting, just to give later."​ ​ ​

[td] Okay, so what do we do? Perseverance isn’t innate; it’s learned. All of us can do it if we train. So, brother, manufacture some pressure and train yourself. Push your limits, physically, mentally, spiritually: climb a tough summit; tackle a hike of many miles; fast for a period of days; turn devices off and embrace quiet and solitude and prayer for an uncomfortable period. Remember, God designed you for perseverance. So, by training, you’ll simply learn what you’re made of (plus you’ll expose the lies of the enemy). It doesn’t take much to learn a whole lot about yourself.​ ​ ​

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[RiverOL]

The Voice That Led Them Out of the Jungle​

Who Do You Trust?​

I was recently reminded of an event I had read about awhile ago. It is truly a remarkable story.

On May 1, 2023, a small aircraft with seven passengers crashed in one of the most remote parts of the world: the Amazon rainforest. The Cessna was flying from one small village to a slightly larger one, hundreds of miles south of Bogota, Colombia.


A Hundred Miles Long
Evidently, the single-engine prop failed in midair, causing a forced meeting with the dense canopy of trees and the jungle’s unforgiving floor. All seven passengers were presumed dead. The odds of survival were minimal. The search area was a hundred miles long and twenty miles wide.

It took Colombian special forces more than two weeks, but they eventually located the crash site. When they did, they were saddened to find three of the seven passengers had perished upon impact but surprised to learn the other four—all children, all siblings ranging from ages thirteen years to eleven months—were nowhere to be found. Not on board and not around the crash site.

How Could They Still Be Alive?​

Colombia stepped up the rescue efforts. The government dispatched 150 soldiers, 40 volunteers, and several rescue dogs. Tiny clues of hope were found: a baby bottle here, small footprints there, used diapers. The children had been raised near the jungle. The older ones knew which plants and bugs to avoid. Even so, they were just kids. How could they still be alive?


Days turned into weeks, and desperation grew. Rescuers dropped boxes of food, water, even whistles into the jungle, hoping these would help sustain the children. But day after day ended in despair. After more than a month of effort, the search crew began to wonder if the children were purposely dodging their help.

Turns out that was the case.

Come Out of Hiding​

More than once, rescuers were within fifty feet of the kids. The children didn’t know if men had come to hurt or help, so they refused the ones who could save them.

The Columbians then came up with a plan.

What could convince the children to come out of hiding? The team got creative. They lowered speakers into the jungle and turned up the volume so that a message could be heard in over a mile in any direction. And then, this detail is key, they played an invitation recorded by the siblings’ beloved grandmother telling them to “stay in one place, the rescue team is here to help.”

On day number forty, all four children—emaciated, insect-bitten, weak, and most of all, afraid—were found. Their grandmother’s voice called them out of the shadows.

They just needed a voice they could trust.​

In the work that I do with men, I see a similar resistance that men have towards Jesus. They fear what they might require of them or where He might lead them. I point out to them this great promise He has made to us: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” (Isaiah 48:17)

We are told in Joshua 21:45 that not one of God’s promises has ever failed. His voice can always be trusted.

 

[RiverOL]

This Is The Lord’s Table: A Victorious Life​

At the Lord’s Table, we are invited into a sacred sacrament—one that offers transformation, holds profound theological meaning, and provides deeply practical reminders. In a previous post, I mentioned that the Table invites us into a promise of trust. It also reminds us of what true victorious living looks like. This is not the kind of victory heralded by the prosperity gospel, which equates faith with on-demand through declarations and blessings with wealth, comfort, and worldly success. Rather, this is a victory held by Jesus and shaped by the cross: a life marked by surrender, suffering, and unwavering trust in God’s goodness, even during pain and hardship (Philippians 3:10-11; 2 Corinthians 12:9).



This post is part of a new blog series called This Is the Lord’s Table, where I’ll explore how communion is not just a ritual, but a quiet act of resistance—a re-centering in a noisy world, and a sacred reorientation to the Kingdom of God. The first post explored how the Lord’s Table is a promise of trust.

At the Lord’s Table, We Remember Victory​

At the Table, we are reminded that the new covenant is represented by a love that overcomes enemies and persecution. We victoriously remember the promised hope of resurrection after death. At the Table, we are remembering that this is a life rooted not in our strength, but in the sacrificial love of Jesus in which he extends to us. The table is a time to celebrate a victory born through suffering, sealed by death, and gloriously declared in the resurrection (Romans 6:4-5; 1 Peter 2:21-25). In this way, at the Lord’s Table, we remember that this victory has already been won.

When I sit at the Lord’s Table, I face the words of Jesus, who declared, “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Even more, in the resurrection, Jesus overcame death itself (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). This new life—a life of victory over both the world and death—is what God extends to us as Jesus followers who have confessed with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believed in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). The practice of the Lord’s Table reminds us of this new reality we are learning to live into and live out of.


This means that the Lord’s Table becomes a place of sacred remembrance and hopeful proclamation. We celebrate the sacrifice that freed us from the grip of sin and death, through the New Covenant we receive the Spirit of God who empowers us to live transformed lives, and we are sent out to overcome the world—not by force, but by love, faith, and the enduring power of the resurrection life Jesus has given us (Romans 8:11; 1 John 5:4–5).

The Table Is a Celebration of Victory​

When we gather at the Lord’s Table, we remember that Jesus instituted this practice of the Lord’s Table during a Passover celebration—a meal that has always been a sign of God’s deliverance. Passover reminded the Israelites of how they were liberated from Egypt, saved by the blood of the lamb. In that same spirit, Jesus redefined the moment by offering Himself as the true Lamb of God, a saving act as the sacrificial lamb for those of us lost in our sins and brokenness. We celebrate that God has extended His victory, authority, and Spirit to us. As one rabbi once said of Passover, “To celebrate it is to step into the story.” That’s what we do each time we come to the Table—we step into the story of God’s love that liberates us from the death grip of sin, and we rejoice in how this love is reshaping our love towards life and others.



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A Constant Reminder of Resurrection​

Since the earliest days of the Church, believers have gathered on Sundays—Resurrection Day—to remember and proclaim the gospel: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. To declare this good news victoriously, the early church practiced the Lord’s Table most times that they gathered. When we come to the Table, we don’t just remember the cross—we proclaim Jesus’ victory, the resurrection. We proclaim that death has lost its sting and sin has lost its grip. Jesus tore the prison bars of death away, and now we live as a victorious people, raised to new life. We, too, can overcome sin, the world, and death because of God—God does the work, but we celebrate the spoils of the battle. This is not a militant triumphalism, but a celebration of what Christ has done on our behalf.

We Celebrate Overcoming Power​

As we hold the bread and cup, we proclaim the New Covenant but also the victorious truth that “Up from the grave He arose!” Jesus has promised to drink wine again with us in Heaven’s final restoration. Jesus has gone ahead of us, preparing a place. Now, through belief in Jesus, we are raised with Christ, alive in the Spirit, walking in newness of life. We can go again, because “Up from the grave He arose!” We are no longer defined by the sin that held us or the death that haunted us. We are defined by the One who overcame it all. At the table, we are reminded of who and what truly defines us.

Liberated to Liberate Others​

We are reminded at the Table, this practice is not just for us—it is for the world. In ancient wars, messengers would carry the “gospel”—the good news that victory had been won, and peace was coming. The resurrection is the declaration of God’s deliverance. As we come to the Table, we come as witnesses to a risen Savior, not as mourners of a death, but as proclaimers of victorious new life. At the Table, we declare the truth of John 3:16, and remember that as the people who have been transformed by this story, we are now called to carry the message to others. We find ourselves realigned to the purpose of God’s restorative work at the Lord’s Table, and we remember we are bearers of this good news, called to embody and announce the victory of Christ in our daily lives.

Rooted in a Community of Victory​

Like Passover, Jesus instituted the practice of the Lord’s Table in community. We don’t come to the Table alone. We come together as brothers and sisters in Christ. We sit at the table together in a way that reminds each other that we have a new family, and this family is empowered to remind each other of the victorious hope and Spirit we now live by. In this way, gathered with others, the Table empowers us to keep moving—and help others move—toward the victory Jesus has promised. This shared act roots us in community and reminds us that we’re not only saved from something but also saved for something: to walk together in the resurrected life.

At the Lord’s Table​

We sit down in humility and gratitude, receiving what was accomplished on the cross.
We rise up in joy and boldness, celebrating all that Christ Jesus has done and is still doing.
We look around and see a family formed by grace and grounded in hope.

 

[RiverOL]

[td] Emerging from Isolation​ ​ ​

[td] For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them—Matthew 18:20​ ​ ​

[td] Imagine, for a moment, a man ever isolated, living alone in the mountains, perhaps. Imagine him living a vigorous, adventurous, spiritual life, but lacking community. The knowledge this man would have of God, the knowledge he’d have of himself, would be modest compared to the knowledge he’d have of both, were he to have full access to relationships, friendships, brotherhood. You see, the isolated man may know about God. But, no matter how much he might read and study, he cannot know God. That takes community. We get to know God by seeing his Holy Spirit moving in others. We encounter God, we experience him, we understand him when he works through the love and sacrifice of other people. In brotherhood, we get to show God to one another. And, the more we’re in community with brothers, the deeper our understanding becomes. The isolated man may also know about himself—his talents, his likes, his dislikes. But, he cannot know himself. He cannot know the man God intends him to become. That too takes community. It takes others around him, who know his story, who spend time with him, who watch him, to discern and affirm and call forth things true and eternal in him, things God longs for to emerge. It takes brotherhood to call forth the true man.​ ​ ​

[td] Okay, so what do we do? Confess and repent to God, in prayer. Turn your back on that harsh, judgmental man. Declare that you want to be a different kind of man. Invite God’s training. That’s a bold prayer—so bring a brother (or a few) into the endeavor. Ask him/them to pray for you, speak truth to you, and keep you accountable as God begins to move in your life.​ ​ ​

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