JOINING GOD AT WORK - God’s Work will Face Opposition

Pray – (1/2 minute)

Read – (2 1/2 minutes) – “Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses . . .” (Ezra 4:1-2)
          Passage: Psalm 20:1-7

        The Southern Baptist Convention was founded in 1845 with the primary focus of supporting mission work in America and around the world. Since that time, the convention has sent out over 25,000 missionaries. While in our day, mission work is considered an essential purpose God gave the church to do, that was not the case less than 60 years earlier. In England, a young Baptist pastor, named William Carey, who supported himself as a shoe-cobbler, had challenged the pastors in his Association to support foreign mission work. The opposition was quick. One elder pastor told him, “Sit down, young man. You are an enthusiast! When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without consulting you and me.”

Opposition to God’s work is not new. Sometimes is comes from within the church. It can be expected to also come from the world outside of the church. Ezra describes the opposition from outside when he recounts the history of the Jewish exiles who returned to Israel with the purpose of rebuilding the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. Those who were there all during the exile and had grown comfortable with how things were, did not want it to happen. The work of God faced opposition then. It faces opposition now. But always remember, God is greater and He will see that His work is done.

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