Jesus said, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:16-17)
Jesus said, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6)
Jesus said, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself." (John 12:32)
The apostle Paul later testified of Jesus, saying, "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him, all things are created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything, He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1:15-20)
The cross is a divine mystery of God's revealed will and a never-ending testimony of His grace and love to all who gaze at it. It is at the cross where we discover that God is both relational and personal. God chose to dwell among us and reveal His full nature in the Person of Jesus Christ. We will never encounter the cross of Jesus and leave unchanged. The bible says, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but for to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18) Elsewhere, the bible says, "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering." (Hebrews 2:10) John Piper said it this way in his book Desiring God, "The wisdom of God has made a way for the love of God to rescue us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God." (Desiring God, John Piper, p.61)
There is a divine exchange that occurs in every heart who receives the gift of God by believing in the Name of Jesus as their Savior and Lord (Romans 10:10) Jesus was rejected so that we would be accepted by God. He was punished so that we would be forgiven. He was wounded that we would be healed. He became poor that we would share in His abundance. He suffered shame that we would share in His glory. He became a curse that we would become a blessing. He endured death that we would have life. (See Romans 5:15-21) The story of Jesus doesn't end at the cross. Jesus rose from death, and conquered death forever to all who believe! (John 11:25-26)
To reject this invitation is to live under our natural condition, which is prone to go our own way apart from God. (See Isaiah 53:6, Romans 1:18-25) The good news is that God has given us this invitation to receive Him as our Savior and allow Him to become Lord of our life from the inside out.
Our role in proclaiming the good news
What does MAF do?
After Jesus rose from the dead, He commanded His disciples saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20) Again, He said to them, "...but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 2:8)
The apostle Peter later demonstrated this witness when he said, "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His Name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." (Acts 10:38-43)
The apostle Paul states in his letter to the Romans, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.'" (Romans 10:14-15)
Good news feet?
We chose this theme because we see it clearly defining our role in proclaiming the gospel. People living in remote areas of the world suffer meeting basic human needs, and may have never heard of Jesus. Ministries engaged in reaching these isolated people may spend days traveling just to reach them, and arrive exhausted. What could take days or even weeks to travel by land might be reduced to just 20 or 40 minutes by air!
We will be humbled to carry other ministry partners into places hard to reach, and ease the burden of their labor in proclaiming the gospel. We hope that wherever we go, and whatever we do, that our witness and love of Jesus will be visible to all
