No Alternative! (1 Tim. 4)

Conclusion

So I am saying, “Now more than ever. There is no alternative.” This vision and mission must go forward. You must prepare yourself for your Ephesus. You must heed the call of God to teach and preach with all of your heart and all of your consecrated life.

We must do this because we have seen that:

• The times demand it

• God’s servants require it

• God’s glory deserves it

• God’s people must have it

I have recently returned from teaching on church planting to Mexican pastors and preaching in a local church. This movement is being led by Pastor Andres Garza, an RTS alumnus, who is heading up an MTW team to plant seminaries and churches. One church in Monterrey ministers to Indians in the area who have no last name. They only have nicknames. They are a people without a history. They were outcasts. But now they have a new name and a new identity: Christian.

Our partners are planting churches to reach the professional classes of Monterrey. They are training pastors to become professors. They are reaching out to street children. They are reaching out to students. They are being poured out like drink offerings. They are giving their lives away to generations they will never see in order to bring the Gospel to that great city. One day Andres and I stood at a pinnacle above the city. As we looked out he and I could see a vast urban development going for hundreds of miles in between the Sierra Madras mountains. I watched as Andreas looked and I thought of Jesus looking out over Jerusalem and weeping over the city. I asked Andres about what led him to this. He said that he had been at the highest levels of leadership in the city as a city planner for three mayors. But he gave it all up to leave and go to RTS. His family and friends thought he was crazy. He told them that God had called him to do a different kind of city planning: the Kingdom of God had to come to Monterrey. He said, in so many words, “There can be no alternative.”

That is what Paul teaches Timothy. That is what God is calling us to do.

I believe the Gospel call to us today is, “Good times or bad times. This vision goes forward. Christ is preached. His Word is taught.”

This is our vision. This is our time. There can be no alternative.