Daily Devotional For Saturday, July 19, 2025
Congratulations Southsiders! You made it to the weekend. At my last church where I was a pastor, we decided to start a Friday night coffee house to reach teenagers who roamed the main street where our church was located. As to be expected, things started slowly and small and then it began to grow as these teens began to trust Audrey and our Youth Pastor. Most of them had foul language and some came from very abusive and neglectful homes. Our goal was to share Christ and the Gospel with them. You would think that God-fearing, church-going, missional Baptists would be supportive of this. Not exactly.
Audrey went into the women’s restroom before church one Sunday morning. A woman whose son was in the youth group questioned Audrey why she wanted to work with “THOSE KIDS” (speaking in a condescending tone). Audrey shared that she and I along with our Youth Pastor and the youth leaders wanted these kids to get saved. Audrey told her that we didn’t want these kids to go to hell and wanted to disciple them. You’d think she would have been thrilled, but she was just the opposite. She didn’t want “those” kids around her son or the other “church” kids. Her cold remark, “I don’t care if those street kids go to hell,” echoed in Audrey’s shocked ears! Well, obviously, she did not have the love of God in her. Jesus came to seek and save the lost and He reached out to religious people, tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans and people from all walks of life.
This was the first time I had ever known someone to say something so evil, demonic and anti-Christ. As far as I was concerned, she may have been in church, but she definitely was not in Christ. There is no way someone as BIG as God can come into you and you wish that certain teens would die and go to hell. To me, she’d better wonder if she is going to hell. When Jesus Christ comes into us, His mission to the world becomes our mission to the world.
I have heard of horror stories where pastors and deacons have said ungodly statements to people wanting to go on a mission trip. I knew of a deacon who said this to a missionary pleading for people from his church to go on a mission trip. “Well, good for you. We will support you financially so that our people do not have to go there.”
I read of a pastor who had a missionary come from Japan to speak. After it was over, he said something to this effect to the missionary: “I am telling my church that if they do not support you financially, I am going to pray that God will send their kids to Japan to serve with you.” This pastor actually threatened his congregation by putting fear into them that God would actually use their kids to spread the Gospel. This pastor later said, “Oh, my church gave that missionary lots of money and a laptop computer.” I guess his threat worked.
I wonder if this is how much of the American church feels? We are more than willing to take care of our own, but the rest of the world, let them go to hell! Is that our real feelings? Oh, I know that most people who may feel this would never express it, but the Lord who knows our innermost and hidden thoughts knows. There is no way you can call yourself a Christian truthfully by God’s standards if all you want to do is send money or make sure your kids do not go on the mission field or worse, hope all those lost people just go to hell.
I am so grateful that Southside does yearly mission trips. This summer we are going to Moldova. In fact, our team left on Thursday, July 17. We are also sending a mission team to India in November to work alongside our International Mission Board missionaries. We are thrilled to be doing this for the glory of God and the spread of the Gospel.
What is needed are people who will say like Isaiah said when God called him to be His prophet. He said this in Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (NASB). In Matthew 28:19-20, we are commanded to go. This is not an option to God. We start where we currently live and then over time we branch further out as Jesus illustrates in Matthew 28:19-20, We do not have to fear doing this because Jesus has promised us His power in Acts 1:8 as we do this.
Assignment: Reflect for a moment: Do you ever think about lost people going to hell other than when you are reminded by a sermon or a devotional? Does it break your heart that every day thousands, possibly millions die and go to hell? Is your prayer life filled with prayer for the lost and how you are making yourself available to God to go yourself? The easy thing to do is send money. Anyone can do that. Will you say to God what Isaiah said in Isaiah 6:8? Do you love the Lord and His commission more or yourself and your own comforts more?
Scripture To Meditate On: Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I want to have Your heart and mission to this world. I do not want people dying without You and going to hell. Therefore, I commit to You that I will be an instrument used by You to get my church and myself to fulfill Matthew 28:19-20. I want my heart breaking and weeping knowing that every day people die and go to hell. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly