George Liele is the first of many African American missionaries who will go to a nation not their own to those who know nothing of the Son of God. They will go because, like George, they too “hold to live nigh the scriptures as much as (they) can.”

Truly, the life of George Liele embodies that of a pioneer. He paved a path for others to follow behind him and, like most pioneers, faced the challenges of going first. He was born around 1750 into slavery…

Jealousy stalls out our destiny because it causes us to despise what we have been graciously given by the Lord in light of what someone else has been given. When jealousy is operating in our lives, we don’t steward and express the unique gifts God has given us to serve the Body of Christ; instead, we compare and compete to be better than one another.

God intentionally promotes others around us in different seasons to train us to honor and celebrate others. When we see favor rest on others, it tests our hearts for jealousy, and when we respond with celebration, we are set free.

Think about weeding out your garden versus clearing years of brush from an overgrown yard. Both are possible, but one is a lot more work. We want to do the work of dealing with offense before it grows roots.

When we fail to pull out that weed of offense when it springs up, it begins to grow roots that wrap around our heart and mind. Those roots carry a deadly poison that will “defile” our soul. That poison is called bitterness. It’s a poison that leaks into every part of our lives. Soon those bitter roots will produce bitter fruits.

It’s time to uproot bitterness and take hold of your destiny.

In Acts 4:36–37, Luke shows us how Barnabas’ trusted ministry began—it began with a demonstrated freedom from the love of things and a heart of love for people. He sold a field that belonged to him and gave all the proceeds to the apostles to use for the movement. In this story, he stands as the example of what the grace of God and the spirit of revival does in the human heart.

Antioch Sending Centers are always deeply marked by the lives of fathers and mothers like Barnabas who long ago “sold their field” to be a part of what God was doing on the earth. They have been radically transformed by grace. They have seen Jesus as supremely worthy, and they have responded with all their hearts. What you do today is setting the stage for what you will walk in, five, ten years from now…

Even though Peter had the correct theological stance of inclusion for the Gentiles through the gospel at the Jerusalem council, we find out soon that having the right theological stance can be much different than acknowledging your own ethnocentricity and allowing God, by the power of the Spirit, to search you and fully deliver you from the culture that nurtured your fallen mindset. When Peter finally makes it down to Antioch to see what is transpiring in this new apostolic center, he comes face to face with his own racism…

Racism is the enemy of missions because true missions is born out of a vision of the worth of Jesus that produces a self-sacrificing love for peoples and nations that we have nothing in common with. The only commonality we have with the unreached of the earth is the compassion of the Lamb.

You are not from here. You were born from beyond the cosmos. The New Jerusalem has birthright citizenship. Therefore, nationalism at its core is anti-gospel because it is a lie that deceives the believer into thinking that where they live is where they are from and the culture they are surrounded by is the culture they belong to.

The New Testament writers confronted this stronghold head-on; this was no side issue to the Apostles.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10