Space. The final frontier. Those opening words were first heard on this day in 1966 as the voyages of the starship Enterprise began. Their mission was to explore strange new worlds, to seek out life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before.
I admit it. Call me a geek, nerd, or whatever you must but I have been a Trekkie since the early 70s. I can remember the first time seeing the show. We were in Lake Manistee, Michigan. I had gotten seasick and was laying on a hotel bed, trying to get over the nausea. Someone turned on the television – a color television which was something I’d never seen before – and this show was on. I was immediately captivated!
As a kid, you missed all the subtle nuances of the political statements that were being made. This groundbreaking show challenged communism, socialism, and racism. It introduced futuristic technology like communicators, phasers, scanners, and teleportation.
After 59 years, only three of the original cast are still living: William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk), age 94, George Takei (Lt. Hikaru Sulu), age 88, and Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov), age 88. The series also produced about a dozen spin-offs or movies.
Now, maybe you couldn’t care less about Star Trek and despise all sci-fi. That’s fine and your choice. But there is one thing that can be gleaned and it can be our mission as well: to boldly go where no man has gone before.
That’s called missions!
Maybe someone has gone there but it’s been a very long time ago. Many of the areas where Paul ministered during his missionary journeys became void of Gospel influence for centuries. Missionaries going to those places found an atheistic or agnostic society. Their ministries began from scratch, rebuilding what Paul would have taught centuries ago.
There are three things to consider today from this devotional. First, all Christians are called to be missionaries. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (12) For the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”
What is the “work of the ministry? It begins with evangelism and is summed up in the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Being a missionary doesn’t always mean leaving the familiar to go to the unfamiliar. It doesn’t always mean going to the jungles of some foreign nation. Mission work starts in our own home, among our family. It branches to neighbors, coworkers, friends, and more. And sharing the Gospel is the essence of this mission work, a work that every Christian is to do.
Second, let’s go boldly, not in a sense of arrogance but as the opposite of being fearful and paralyzed from doing what God called us to do. A part of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 6:19-20 says, “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (20) For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Third, we have to go. We can talk about missions. We can study missiology. We can 
prepare great evangelistic methods and train to use them. But it doesn’t do any good until we actually go. Mark 16:15 says, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
There will be some who go where no man has gone before. Others will go where someone else has prepared the way. And some will go no farther than their home or community. The problem isn’t where we go. It’s if we go… if we do what the Lord has told us to do.
Will we except the mission God has called us to do? Jesus said in Matthew 9:37, “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.”
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