|
Archives: August Joy Report
Posted Aug 01, 2009 - 12:00 AM
| Email this to a friend  Print this story |
 | Jesus' greatest desire for His people is for them to evangelize the world. This month's Joy Report takes us deeper into the Lord's heart on this matter.
August 2009
Dear Global Harvest Partners:
I bless you in Jesus‘ mighty name! I sure hope that you have been having an incredible summer to date. In this month’s Joy Report, I would like to once again share with you some powerful reflections on missions and evangelism inspired by the late Rev. Oswald Smith, longtime Pastor of The People’s Church in Toronto.
In Mark 13:10 Jesus speaks these words..."And the Gospel must first be preached to all nations." Then in Matthew 24:14 He speaks these words but with something added. It reads like this..."The Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to all nations, and then the end will come."
In thinking about these statements, the question I ask you today is this: Will Jesus return to earth before the world is evangelized?
When I first read the above passages to which I have drawn your attention, I was puzzled. Why did Jesus use the word "first"? Why did He not just say "The Gospel must be preached to all nations"? That would have made sense. That I could have understood. But that is not what Jesus said. He used the word "first". He stated that the Gospel must first be preached to all nations. What did He mean? Why did He use the word "first"?
When you read all of Mark 13, you will find that it has to do with the end times. But as Jesus relates the events one by one, suddenly He pauses and says this: "But first, before these things can come to pass, before the end can come and the new world can be born, first this Gospel must be preached to all nations. In Matthew's Gospel, you have these words added: "And then the end will come." That makes it clear. The meaning cannot be mistaken. The end will come when the world has been evangelized.
In other words, before Jesus Christ will return to earth to reign in splendor, power and glory, His Gospel must be proclaimed to every tribe, tongue and nation. There must be some people in Heaven from every race, according to Revelation 5:9; hence our greatest obligation is to give His Gospel to all humanity. Acts 1:8 says it will be done.
But I know what some are saying. They are saying: "This is not really the task of believers now. This will be the main task of those who become believers during the seven last years of Tribulation after the Rapture. We should leave it to them after we have been raptured away."
I know of no theory that can do more to cut the nerve of missionary endeavor. Do you mean to say that the Tribulation believers can accomplish more in seven years, in the midst of persecution and martyrdom, than we have been able to accomplish in nearly 2000 years? Preposterous! Impossible!
Furthermore, if nothing is to be done until the Church has been raptured, then only that one generation, the generation that will be living during the Tribulation, will ever be evangelized. Are you willing, then, that every other generation will perish? Have you no concern for your own generation? Are we going to allow this generation to be lost, and be satisfied if the last generation only is evangelized? Paul's burden was for the first generation of the Christian era. Even if you are right, still I am going to be doing all I can, because the job has to be done sometime. Everyone agrees on that. Well then, the more I can do now the less the Tribulation believers will have to do then! I believe it must be done now.
When Jesus left His disciples, nearly 2000 years ago now, He gave them but one task; namely, world evangelization. I can imagine Him saying something like this to them: "I am going to leave you, and I will be gone for a long time. While I am absent, I want you to do just one thing. Give this Gospel of Mine to the entire world. See that every nation, tongue and tribe hears it." Those were His instructions. That was the one thing He told them to do, and they understood Him perfectly. But what has the Church done during those years He has been absent? Have we carried out His orders? Have we obeyed Him?
As a matter of fact, we have done everything else except the one and only thing He told us to do. Jesus never told us to build colleges, universities and seminaries, but we have done it. He never told us to erect hospitals and institutions and homes for the aged. He never told us to build churches or to organize Sunday Schools and Youth Rallies, but we have done it. And we ought to have done it, for these are all important and worthwhile. But the one and only thing that He did tell us to do, is the one and only thing we have left undone. We have not given His Gospel to the entire world. We have not carried out His orders.
Go then and do your part. Either go yourself or send someone else. There is something you can do, and the time is short. It was the whole estate that had to be cultivated, and it is the whole world that has to be evangelized. "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." For remember, "The Gospel must first be preached to all nations, and then the end will come."
This then is Jesus' answer to His disciples' question: "What will be THE sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" That was what they wanted to know, THE sign preceding and indicating the end. His answer to their question in Matthew 24:3 is found in verse 14. Here it is: "This Gospel will be preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations; and THEN the end shall come." All His other predictions indicate the approaching end; this one, THE end. Hence the word "first" in Mark 13:10. It is God's program--first world evangelization; then, the reign of Christ. Jesus will return to establish His Kingdom when all nations have heard the Gospel. Let us, then, to our task; and may we never rest until our work is done.
For the Lost,
Kevin
All donations made to WAGNER MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL are fully tax-deductible in the United States and Canada |
|
|
| | How to know Jesus | 
|
| Now that you love him |  |
| Fast Facts | |
95% of the people living in the 10/40 Window are unevangelized. Many have never heard the Gospel message even once. There are either no Christians or not enough of a Christian movement in many cultures of the 10/40 Window to carry out vibrant near-neighbor evangelism. If those groups are to be evangelized, believers will need to leave their own culture to enter another where they will seek to plant the gospel. Such cross-cultural evangelism is required because there are people groups with no church movements that are understandable or relevant to them!
-- act now...
|
|
