Be A Repeater

Warning! This post includes a bit of technical jargon. Don’t worry. If you hang with me, you’ll understand why in the world I’m talking about repeaters. And why it’s important to be a repeater!

When I was a child, if one of us repeated bad words overheard on the playground, Mom washed our mouths out with soap. Youths who repeat a story shared in secret might lose a good friend. And adults who repeat their child’s confidence without his or her permission will likely find their parent/child relationship strained. With this being true, is it ever okay to be a repeater?

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus told His disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (KJV).

Jesus gave His followers permission to repeat whatever He had told them. In fact, He commanded them to spread the news. Jesus wanted His disciples to help people learn Jesus’ commands. His disciples were expected to be repeaters.

My Ham Radio Story

For a good part of my childhood, I was intrigued with the Morse code. The idea that you could communicate across the globe with this method fascinated me.

Dad bought a Morse code key and built circuitry that allowed us to “send” messages via code. We had heard of imprisoned soldiers using the dits and dahs of Morse code to tap out messages to each other on their cell walls. If nothing else, we learned enough code to send S-O-S if we ever had such a need.

As a young adult, I took a class to help me get my amateur (ham) radio license. Included in the requirements was the ability to listen and “read” Morse code at a certain speed. But times changed, and transmitting messages via Morse code began losing its place in the world. Other means of communication took over. Technology improvements allowed speech to be transmitted distances easily. Eventually digital transmissions became popular as well.

Ham Radio Repeaters

Regardless of the type of communication, an operator’s frequency, location, and signal strength may keep his message from traveling far. But in many places there is help, a way for your signal to broadcast further. This help is called a repeater.

The American Radio Relay League, our national organization for ham radio operators, explains what a repeater is.

A repeater receives a signal and re-transmits it, usually with higher power and from a better location, to provide a greater communications range.

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/repeater1.pdf, page 2

ARRL goes on to explain repeaters further.

A repeater receives a signal on one frequency and simultaneously retransmits (repeats) it on another
frequency. The frequency it receives on is called the input frequency, and the frequency it transmits on is called the output frequency.

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/repeater1.pdf, page 2

If you know the repeater’s frequency and send your message to the repeater, it will send your message out on another frequency with more power, allowing your communication to reach people further away than originally expected.

God’s Repeaters

Jehovah wants those who know Him and love Him to be His repeaters. We hear His voice and share His words with others.

John 8:47 tells us, “He who is of God hears God’s words” (NKJV). God the Father, our Creator, communicates to us, His creations, through His word and His Holy Spirit. He sent His Son Jesus to earth to pay the price for our sin, to conquer death and redeem us from the kingdom of darkness. It’s our joy to live with Him forever in His kingdom of light.

Once we choose God’s gift of life, we can hear His words. He speaks to us through His Holy Scriptures. And He speaks to us through His Spirit now living in us. He communicates to us on the input frequency needed to hear Him. Then He wants us to be a repeater, sharing His great news with others using our output frequency – our words and our lives.

Why Be A Repeater?

God, in His great mercy, works in our hearts. And He wants us to participate with Him in His work of grace. Can we hoard His love and mercy and not share what we know with others?

Each of us who know the Father are like radio repeaters scattered across the globe. We know people others may not know. We’re stationed on different hillsides of life. And the Father wants to send His signal of life and love through us to those around us.

Romans 10:13-14 challenges us.

“For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher” (KJV)?

Think of that last sentence this way. “And how shall they hear without a repeater?”

Be A Repeater For Jesus

Being a repeater for Jesus makes me think of a hymn we sang in my home church.

I Love To Tell The Story. (You can hear the Oak Ridge Boys sing part of the song here.)

One of the verses left out by the Oak Ridge Boys goes as follows:

I love to tell the story;

  ’Tis pleasant to repeat

What seems each time I tell it,

  More wonderfully sweet.

I love to tell the story;

  For some have never heard

The message of salvation

  From God’s own holy Word.

If we know Jesus, someone probably was a repeater for Jesus and shared His love and sacrifice with us. Now it’s our turn to be a repeater and share this wonderful story with others.

One other hymn reminding me of our need to be a repeater for Jesus is Tell Me The Story Of Jesus. Every longing heart needs the joy of His story. For those of us who know that joy, may we choose to be a repeater for Jesus and watch His word go far!

(Photos: First image by Stefano Ferrario from Pixabay, second image by Karl Raymond Rotante from Pixabay, final image by Carolyn Thigpen, August, 2022)