Day 22: 3/8/26 – Mark 16:15 “A Reluctant Missionary”
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Questions
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What is a missionary?
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Who was a missionary in the Old Testament?
Scripture
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Mark 16:15 “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
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Jonah 1-4
Thoughts
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Jonah was a reluctant missionary. We know of Jonah being thrown overboard and swallowed by a big fish. But the reason he was on the ship going to Tarshish in the first place was because he did not want to go to Nineveh and proclaim God’s message. He felt like the people of Nineveh would repent because of his preaching, and he wanted Nineveh to be judged because they were cruel enemies of Israel. So Jonah ran from God.
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Running from a God who is omnipresent is an exercise in futility. Through his experiences at sea God got Jonah’s attention and he finally agreed to go to Nineveh to proclaim God’s message. The people of Nineveh repented and Jonah got mad because he still wanted them to be judged.
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God wants us to proclaim the message of the gospel to the world around us. He might even want us to go to a different culture or a different country in order to tell people about Jesus and train them to tell others. Hopefully our attitudes will be better than that of Jonah, both toward God and toward our target audience. God used a reluctant missionary named Jonah; He can certainly use one who is willing to be used by Him.
Action Items
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Prayerfully consider where God wants you to go to share the good news.
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Think about how you can support others who are missionaries to the ends of the earth.
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