Is Jesus exalted in your heart and life? The Old Testament (the first part of the Bible written thousands of years ago) consistently points to a coming King that will rule forever and save us from our sins (Luke 24:27, 44–47), and this coming King was Jesus. In John 3, Jesus describes perfectly the mission he was sent for. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14–15). Jesus uses a story from the Old Testament to communicate that he will be lifted up on the cross so that everyone who looks upon him will be saved. And this is the Gospel message we have been called to proclaim to everyone around us. Jesus, God in the flesh (John 1:1–14), has lived the life we could not and died the death we deserved (Rom 6:23; 2 Cor 5:21), and rose again as the exalted King where he will remain forever (Phil 2:6–11). 

Our exalted King Jesus has called his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Our desire is to see all kinds of people in our context come to know and exalt him. If we truly believe that transformed community begins with seeing Jesus exalted in someone’s heart and  home, then we want every heart and every home to be exalting him (Psalm 67:3).  Do we have a limited mission mindset, or a limitless mission mindset? We want to give it all and leave it up to Jesus to determine how far we get, for he promises to be with us and working all the way to the end (Matthew 28:20)!  

Jesus not only gives us this limitless mission mindset to who we are commanded to preach the gospel to (every nation or people), but he also gives us a limitless mindset for geographical regions. Acts 1:8 says, “And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem [where they were], in Judea [the surrounding region], in Samaria [the greater district], and the ends of the earth." Start here, go further, don’t stop, keep it going! That the gospel should stop being proclaimed at some point is not a biblical vision. It must be proclaimed to every heart and every home not only in Hudsonville but Georgetown Township, Ottawa County, West Michigan, the Midwest, the country, the world.