I don't mean to offend anyone but oh I just want the ones who call themselves followers of Christ to wake up to the need that is surrounding us!! I think I understand a tiny bit more of the heart of Jesus... Did you know that the entire bible is full of scripture pointing to God's heart for the nations? From Genesis to Revelation 7:9 "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (other references: Genesis 1:28, 9:1, 12:1-3, 26:4; Deuteronomy 4:4-6; Joshua 2:9-10; 1 Kings 4:34; Matthew 24:14, 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8, Romans 10:14-15... just to name a few)
Did you know that there are over 3.5 billion people who haven't heard the gospel??? The easy places have already been reached. The places that are left are the hard to reach (which is why they are still unreached) ...in the deep jungles and on the tops of mountains... the places without water and the places that flood... the places wrecked by the elements and considered "harsh" and unlivable"... the places filthy and disease-infested in the middle of cities and trash dumps where the people are "nobodies" and don't even speak the common language and they haven't heard because no one is taking the time to learn their language and love on them.... and oh if this isn't breaking your heart yet, do you remember where they are going? Those who have not heard the gospel and do not know what Jesus did for them on the cross are dying and going to hell because John 14:6 makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is the only way and their blood is crying up from the earth... "if only I had known the truth, if only someone had told me about Him, I knew there was something bigger than me that's why I worshiped idols because I thought maybe...." and Jesus is looking at His church and crying out... Do you not see? Can you not hear above the noise of your Christian music and comfortable culture the sound of people dying without ever knowing they can have a relationship with me???
He has chosen us to carry the treasure of the gospel to the nations.
Matthew 28:19-20 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
This is a command.
How many of us treat it as optional?
To all of you adventure-seekers out there... do you know the adventure of saying yes to God and throwing yourself into His plan, dying to yourself, and then the miracle of how He uses you to take light into the darkness and live on the edge and see beauty and experience cultures where no one has gone before?? That is the best kind of adventure.
Oh my brothers and sisters... I know there are people here (in the USA) who need Jesus. I know. And God has convicted my heart this summer more than ever before about sharing the gospel everywhere I go, here and across the ocean, and talking about Jesus daily because after all, we were created to glorify Him. The truth I am trying to convey is that we often use the excuse that "there are still so many people who need Jesus here" as a reason not to go... but we forget... they have access to the gospel- it's in their language and down their street and in their bookstores and millions of others do not.
There are also internationals who have come here- in our schools and our workplaces and these people have come to us... but are we welcoming them? God literally hands us the nations in these instances and so many (myself included) overlook them or don't take the time to know them because they're different or "they just wouldn't understand me anyway."
I hope you hear my heart. I am burdened for the gospel. Y'all, it's all we have, and the only thing worth spending your life for because it's the only thing that has eternal value. You hold a treasure of hope and love and joy and peace and LIFE. Who are you sharing it with?
So maybe you can't go right this minute. I understand. My heart is burning with the knowledge of the need among the nations, but right now I just don't have the money to go and I have to go to school because that is where God has placed me for this season. But that doesn't let me off the hook. I can PRAY ...oh don't get me started on the power of prayer! Maybe you don't know yet. Maybe you haven't seen how God delights in answering the requests of His children when they are praying for His will to be done... test Him and see. ;) Pray boldly for the missionaries, for the persecuted church, for God to send laborers to the fields ripe for harvest, for your lost friends and family, and for the sick and the burdened and the stress that you yourself are under. Pray with the knowledge of the power--that raised Jesus Christ from the grave!!-- that is in you as a child of God. Keep praying...and watch what God can do.
You and I can give to missions, and not just tossing a few coins in the plate as it passes by but really sacrificially giving... find a ministry that stirs your heart where the needs are written plain and the gospel is the message they carry... and dig deep. Give that money you would use at Starbucks to sit over coffee and talk about world change and give it to someone who is in a place to use it to literally change the world for Jesus (I'm preaching to myself here- y'all know how much I love my coffee)!
Oh friends, do you see it?
You have the potential in you- and I know you want your life to make a difference in the world- to really change things. You truly do! Love the person next to you. Remember those serving and those in need of the gospel among the nations. Pray and give and look for opportunities to go. God has already given you the go-ahead... and time is short. Life keeps ticking by, people are born and die, and today won't come again. Make it count, my friend. If you see me wasting time with trivial things- call me out on it.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.
I want all nations to know Him because that is His heart. So it is my heart. When I get home (in heaven) I want to worship beside every tribe and tongue. I think my generation can do this. We have the resources and the passion and the adventurous spirit... but are we selfless enough to spend our lives for A Story that is so much greater than my story?
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
Acts 20:24
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