In various ports around the country, one has the opportunity to tour naval ships that once proudly served on the high seas. Docked in San Diego is the U.S.S. Midway, which has the distinction of being the longest-serving aircraft carrier in U.S. Navy history. In San Pedro, one can visit the U.S.S. Iowa, a battleship whose service almost paralleled that of the Midway. Both ships were commissioned in the 1940's and saw major action in the Pacific, and decommissioned in the early 1990's, eventually becoming public museums when their usefulness to the mission of the U.S. Navy expired.

Unlike naval vessels, disciples of Jesus are never decommissioned from service. The question is whether we, as vessels of Christ, are obedient to our commissioning.

We've been talking about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) over the past three Sundays, and while many of you are probably very familiar with these verses, I hope that the talks have been inspiring in that Christ's words caused you to (re-)evaluate the direction of your own life as well as the direction of our church.

We all have a God-given need for purpose and direction. But more than just any purpose, we need to know that our lives count for something (or Someone)...that we're making a difference for something (or Someone) greater than ourselves.

More often than not, in our youth, that "someone" we're living for is merely ourselves...to make ourselves great. Through the pursuit of education, pleasure, relationships, careers, material wealth, family and the like, we try to exalt ourselves. Not that there is anything wrong--in themselves--with those pursuits, but soon we (hopefully) realize that by themselves, life is merely a "chasing after the wind."

So also with Christ's Church. When God's people collectively begin to act like we ourselves are the end goal, we've ceased to be the Church. Like an ingrown toenail, an "ingrown" church begins to feel the pain of misdirection and purposelessness. We begin to wonder: "Is this all there is to the church? Is this all that it means to live as a Christian?" In our hearts we cry out that it is "meaningless, vanity, a chasing after the wind ...what have we gained by being His church?"

In case you're wondering, I'm not indicting FCBC-FV or anyone in particular. Just presenting the hypothetical case of what would happen without an obedience to Christ's Great Commission. As a church body, we must constantly be reminded to live with a Great Commission-purpose, or risk becoming like a "de-commissioned" museum that points only to the glorious past when we were seeing major action in the spiritual battle for disciples.

You will be hearing more in the near future about the Great Commission and how the leadership of FCBC-FV believes the Lord wants us to accomplish it.

• If you did, when and how did you reach a "crisis of purpose/direction" in your life? Were you already a professing disciple of Jesus?
• What have you been thinking about lately in light of this Commission? What has God laid upon your heart?
• What do you see that our church can do to better fulfill the Great Commission, and how can you contribute?