Mere Missions

C onclusion • 193

desertion from the task they had been commissioned by the Holy Spirit through the Church leadership in Antioch. Through prayer, fasting, and the laying on of hands they were released to expand and advance God’s Kingdom into new frontiers. Faithfulness to the completion of the mission was expected no matter the cost. The words of Solomon were etched into Paul’s spirit when it came to spiritual warfare, “There is no discharge from war” (Eccles. 8.8b). The Apostle Paul new what missions had cost him, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2 Cor. 11.24-29). Paul despaired of life (2 Cor. 1.18). Paul knew the cost and it ultimately cost him his life through martyrdom. How is it that he could say, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4.8-9)? What was it that kept Paul moving forward when John Mark abandoned the missions task? There was something deep in the core of Paul that allowed him to not shrink back but to press forward in missions. Though assaulted in every way he did not abandon his calling. He fulfilled/ completed the missions task given to him by proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples of converts, appointing elders, and