W. Bousfield
One who has been much used in the preaching of the gospel says, that he has been greatly helped during his long years of service by what his mother impressed upon him as a child, whenever he had an errand to do for her.
After carefully instructing him in the details of what she required him to do, she would say:
1. Now tell me, Where are you going?
2. What will you say when you get there?
3. Mind you tell them who sent you;
and he was not permitted to start off on his errand until his mother was perfectly satisfied that he was clear on all these three points.
Now let us look at the application:
1. “Where are you going?”
Be definite in your service. The angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Arise and go... unto Gaza (Acts 8:2626And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. (Acts 8:26)), and willingly and at once “he arose and went,” leaving a sphere of most successful service to go.
We know how he was blessed to that earnest seeker. Such is God’s intense interest in one soul.
2. “What will you say when you get there.”
Be definite in your message. Seek a message rather than a sermon; and “say” from a full heart (for out of the “overflow” of the heart the mouth speaks); be “the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people” (Hag. 1:1313Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. (Haggai 1:13)). It is true many an arrow shot at a venture finds its mark, but the sharp-shooter is much more deadly than he who fires at random.
3. “Mind you tell them who sent you.”
Don’t go without feeling distinctly that the Lord has sent you. Be like Abraham’s servant: “I being in the way the Lord led me” (Gen. 24:2727And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. (Genesis 24:27)). Always remember in whose name the message goes forth, and that forgiveness of sins is preached in His name, and that it is the glad tidings “concerning His Son.”
Be constant. The enemy never slackens, and the need is ever present.
One of John Wesley’s mottoes was “All at it and always at it.”
“Workers together with Him,” and He never wearies.
“Always abounding in the work of the Lord.”