Headquarter Happenings

By John O’Malley

When I read Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” I ask myself, “Am I thinking one and the same with Christ?”

Asking myself this question makes me take an honest inventory of myself.

• Do I think one and the same with Christ?
• Do I feel one and the same with Christ?
• Do I respond to others one and the same with Christ?
• Do I have the presence of mind one and the same with Christ?
• Do I have a one and the same disposition with Christ?
• Do I have a conscience one and the same with Christ?
• Do I have the moral inclination one and the same as Christ?

As I read about the mind of Christ, I see three guiding principles which help me to align myself with the mind of Christ.

Principle One: The mind of Christ always chooses humility. 

There was no assignment beneath Christ. He became a servant rather than choosing the spotlight. He chose humility over honor. He chose obedience over opulence. In humility, Christ became a man and a servant.

To think one and the same with Christ means we must choose humility no matter our place and position in ministry. When unrestrained pride smothers humility in the home, the church, and the pulpit, it hurts us and those around us. Humility is to think one and the same with Christ.

Principle Two: The mind of Christ always chooses sacrifice. 

The work of His Father’s will required incredible sacrifice and death. But, Christ chose the path of sacrifice so we could be made right with God.

To think one and the same with Christ means we do not choose the path of gain. Instead, we choose the path of sacrifice. Sacrifice means something has to die. We should choose to die to ourselves to have the mind of Christ.

Principle Three: The mind of Christ always chooses submission. 

Submission is to choose the low place. The Father chose humiliation to exalt His name. Submission to the Father brought salvation to man, honor to God, and elevated the name of Christ.

To think one and the same with Christ means we choose submission of our will, desires, and aspirations to bring God glory. Submission is not the same as surrender. Surrendering is to cease resisting. Submission means I do not resist, I yield.

Do you have the mind of Christ? When we have the mind of Christ:

• We choose the Father’s will above our will.
• We choose the Father’s work above our work.
• We choose the Father’s way above our way.

Yours for the harvest,

John O’Malley

by John O’Malley

Press Play. Press Pause.

In a digital world, these are familiar terms. Whether in Eastern or Western society, these terms have meaning. Play and Pause allow us to control the timing of what we want to see and hear.

In life, we do not get to push Play or Pause; God does.

God wrote the narrative of our lives. He chose the main and minor characters for the story of our lives. He decided the context for our lives. He set us in our location on the globe. He needs us for Him to get maximum glory.

Job knew God wrote his story. (Job 23:1)

God placed Job when and where He needed him. God chose the characters who spoke in Job’s life. God chose the context of suffering for Job as the canvas on which He would bring Himself glory through Job’s responses and reactions.

Elihu said to Job, “Hearken unto this, O Job: Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.” (Job 37:14) When I read Elihu’s words, it is as if he calls Job to see his moment of suffering as God pressing Pause on Job’s life. Elihu called Job to see suffering as a moment to consider God’s script for Job.

It is good for everyone to see that God is working in the pauses of life.

Our context cannot and will not hinder God from working.

God wrote the script of your life. He chose you for the moment through which you are going. He even chose the Pause. Perhaps God chose your Pause for you to consider Him and what he has done, is doing, and can do.

Are you paused for the moment? Look around. Consider God’s work.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

by John O’Malley

The road of grief often feels lonely. No one gets your grief as you do. Several men and women of the Bible experienced this lonely road. 

Hagar knew grief. She thirsted. She just wanted her kid to live. She found herself in a situation not of her own making. Ishmael was given up to die, but God showed up. So many religious and racial issues could divide, but God still cared about the seed of Abraham. God said, “I see you.” God bore Hagar’s grief.

Job knew grief. He lost all. He wanted to please God, but he wanted a family. What was so terrible about that? Satan brought a plethora of trials to Job — with God’s permission. Job called his companions “miserable comforters.” God bore Job’s grief.

Isaiah knew grief. God chose him as a liaison to His children. God promised forgiveness to His people but consequences if they persisted in disobedience. They rejected God’s offer over and over. Isaiah continually received and delivered bad news. Burden followed burden. No light awaited Isaiah at the end of the tunnel. No silver lining for Isaiah’s lifetime. Yet God spoke comfort to Isaiah and told him of the coming Savior. God bore Isaiah’s grief.

Who was this Savior? A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This Man of Sorrows wept and sweated drops of blood as He prepared to take the weight of humanity’s sin. He knew His Father would turn away from His Only Begotten. The very people He came to save would spurn Him. Our human minds cannot grasp the grief of our Savior that night.

How did our Savior respond? Surely he hath borne our griefs. Our Savior not only knows and relates to our grief but also bears it. From bearing our sins to bearing our burdens, God carries them in divine love. The rest of the verse says, “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

• • • God bears your grief in rejection.
    • God bears your grief in a loss.
    • God bears your grief when it gets worse.

You are not alone in grief or any other human condition. God bears your grief.

Yours for the harvest,

John O’Malley

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know.

by John O’Malley

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10

Psalm 46 comforts our souls, resets our fears, and restores our confidence.

Like you, I have taken this psalm and read it to the sick, lonely, and troubled.

I read these inspired words to find the same comfort.

Perhaps in your home, you have Psalm 46:10 on a plaque as a reminder that God will always be more significant than our storms, greater than our troubles in the world, and is Sovereign over the political climate.

Have you thought about what stillness means? Have you ever thought about God’s calling and His command to stillness?

The world is noisy. The noise creates unrest.  The world’s noise brings inner discomfort, stirs our fears, and shakes our confidence.

The Psalmist delivers God’s message with inspired clarity. God calls us to stillness. Yet, what does stillness look like? I asked myself this question and made a note of these:

• • • Being still sounds like silence.
    • Being still looks like rest.
    • Being still seems like doing nothing.
    • Being still feels like waiting.
    • Being still means listening more and speaking less.
    • Being still will not make sense to the world.
    • Being still will not make sense to the enemy.
    • Being still may not make sense to your spouse.
    • Being still means more thinking, less speaking.
    • Being still means more faith, less fear.
    • Being still means waiting without worry.
    • Being still means trusting without being terrified.
    • Being still means God can do it better without me.
    • Being still means God can do it bigger without me.
    • Being still means God can do it beyond without me.
    • Being still means God can do more without me.

As I ponder the art of stillness from Psalm 46 I conclude:

1. 1. 1. God has a plan for my situation.
      2. God has a place for me in my situation.
      3. God has a purpose for me in my situation.
      4. God has a promise for me in my situation.
      5. God has a policy for me in my situation.

Recently, I preached at my home church a message on Psalm 46. You are welcome to watch the message below.

Your leadership in the area of stillness will affect your marriage, family, and ministry.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know.

by John O’Malley

This past week, I met with nearly thirty pastors from across the Arabic-speaking world who serve in the 10/40 window.

These men will never have their names in a nationally recognized religious periodical. These men will never have their names heralded from a national religious worker’s conference platform. Instead, they serve in anonymity to man but are known to God.

These men and their families know suffering, persecution, beatings, and death, and are acquainted with difficulty.

These men serve where God called them. They serve in places few would go and where no American could easily go. They serve in their homelands.

These men bring the Gospel to places where hostility for their faith abounds from governments, culture, and religious militants.

These men will continue to serve when their churches are threatened with bombings, imprisonment, and loss of all their possessions.

These men care deeply for each other. They strive to help each other in the ministry. They are raising their families in locations we would call extremely challenging, but they call the same locations home.

World Wide missionaries Edgar Feghaly and Mike Ward work with these nearly 30 men. In fact, there are even more men with whom they work whom I did not meet. These men spoke with affection for our two missionaries and our missions agency. These dear National Partners and Associate Gospel Workers expressed gratitude for the help they receive.

These men reminded me of the unnamed people in Hebrews.

“(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, mountains, and dens, and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:” – Hebrews 11:38–39

Indeed these dear servants of the Lord, known to our God, must be like those of whom the writer of Hebrews wrote.

Yes, some of these men are in hiding. Some serve in nondescriptive locations. These men face an oppressive religious culture, yet they figure out a method to obey the Great Commission. Their townspeople speak of how Islam kills their families, and the Islamic persecution makes them turn to Christianity. Some of these men have been imprisoned, beaten, separated from their families, lost their homes, faced humiliation, and have known personal suffering because of the Gospel.

The men I met told me how they prayed for World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions, the churches who support them, and those in our office who serve them. They asked me to remember to pray for them, their families, and their outreach.

Before the men departed, Brother Feghaly asked me to pray publicly for these dear servants. As these men knelt before the Lord and the congregation of believers, I thought, “The world is not worthy of these beloved servants.”

Dear WW family, you are serving somewhere today. Wherever you serve, remember God sees you. He knows where you are, the sacrifices you make, the distance you are away from your family, and the oppressive religious culture where you serve.

Keep your eyes on Him; His eyes are on you.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know.