Missiology Through Scripture – Psalm 96:1-3
By Mike on November 18, 2018 in Musings
"Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!" – Psalm 96:1-3
This is a proclamation toward the praise of God. It declares to all the nations to look forward to the gospel of Christ. All earthly inhabitants are called to praise God. The passage calls for a singing of a new song. If the song is the story of our lives, the new song is the creation of a new story in each of us. The discovery of this new song results in praise for God.
Our missionaries are to go into all the world with the knowledge Yahweh controls lands and leaders. Missionaries are not to fear man but obey God. The foundation of our church, at the heart of our Scriptures, is the sending out of our best and brightest to reach the lost in all the nations. Duane Garrett said, "The Lord God of Israel rules over all the earth, and all its peoples must bow to Him. This is the great missionary song of the Bible."[1] Disciples of Christ go into the nations and declare and disciple the meaning of Scripture knowing the result will be the spreading of his joy.
Take note the order in which the actions take place in this passage. Followers of the Lord are called to sing and praise the Lord. This results in a blessing of his name and an expansion of his glory. When we love the Lord we daily tell others of what he has done for us and feel burdened to go out and declare his saving message to the lost. The passage, as well as our lives, begins with a God centered relationship where we learn to thank him for all. This results in an outward compulsion to interact with other humans. There is a direct correlation between the depth of our love for Christ and the irrepressible passion to share him with others.
[1] Duane A. Garrett, "The Poetic and Wisdom Books," in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 229.
Mike, 49, grew up in California and spent 38 years of his life there. He received an undergraduate degree in Political Science, graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary and is pursuing a doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary. Before accepting God's call to fulltime missions, Mike worked in the California State Senate for 12 years. He became a Christian at the age of 20. Mike was a Ruling Elder at Soaring Oaks Presbyterian Church(PCA) for seven years. While at Soaring Oaks, Mike served as the Director of the High School Youth Group, Sunday school teacher, and instructor of evangelism. His cross-cultural missions experience includes five short term trips to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Peru (Lima and Cusco) through Mission to the World (MTW). He has volunteered with World Relief by teaching and counseling international refugees. Mike has also attended cross-cultural church planting conferences in New York and Orlando and completed the Perspectives course on the World Christian Movement. He attended Bible Study Fellowship for two years. He is a certified instructor through Evangelism Explosion and is a certified trainer of the Darkness to Light child sexual abuse prevention program. He completed MTW's Disaster Response Training. Mike is an experienced speaker and author. Over 70 of Mike's articles on missions have been published and he has written three books. He is a trained and experienced mentor, discipler, leader and a passionate teacher of small groups and Bible studies. Mike received an undergraduate degree in Political Science, graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a doctorate from Fuller Theological Seminary. Before accepting God's call to fulltime missions, Mike was a Ruling Elder, Youth Group Leader, adult Sunday school teacher and evangelism instructor at Soaring Oaks Presbyterian Church in Elk Grove, CA. Mike is an experienced speaker and author. Over 70 of Mike's articles on missions have been published and he has written three books. He is a trained and experienced mentor, discipler, leader and a passionate teacher of small groups and Bible studies. From 2007 to 2017 Mike served as a fulltime missionary for MTW. Mike served as Team Leader, Church Planter, and Seminary Professor. Mike and his wife Erin served in Honduras in Central America and Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa. Mike currently serves as the Director of the MTW West Coast Hub where he trains and mentors new missionaries from CA, AZ, & NV. Mike is also busy writing his next book.
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