At the end of Matthew, in chapter 28, Jesus gave us what we call the Great Commission, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (v.v. 19-20a NASB). This is quite the task for us today. But just because it is a large task, doesn't mean we can sit on the sidelines and not play our part.
Amy and I are blessed to go to a church where the mission of the church is "to declare God's greatness in every culture through the Jesus life." And when we say "declare God's greatness," we're talking about the whole of the Great commission. Psalm 96:3 says "tell of His glory among the nations." God desires for all people to be saved (2 Tim. 2:3-4), but not all will, the Bible is very clear that many will perish (Luke 13:23-28). I point out these verses to you to ask you to pray for the nations; and to pray for us (more on that later). I want to remind you that the condemnation for sinners is much greater than we think for those who are perishing and have perished. George Whitefield used to preach on the future of sinners in Hell this way:
Amy and I are blessed to go to a church where the mission of the church is "to declare God's greatness in every culture through the Jesus life." And when we say "declare God's greatness," we're talking about the whole of the Great commission. Psalm 96:3 says "tell of His glory among the nations." God desires for all people to be saved (2 Tim. 2:3-4), but not all will, the Bible is very clear that many will perish (Luke 13:23-28). I point out these verses to you to ask you to pray for the nations; and to pray for us (more on that later). I want to remind you that the condemnation for sinners is much greater than we think for those who are perishing and have perished. George Whitefield used to preach on the future of sinners in Hell this way:
"the torment of burning like a livid coal,
not for an instant or for a day,
but for millions and millions of ages,
at the end of which souls will realize that
they are no closer to the end than when they first begun,
and they will never, ever be delivered from that place."
Jesus is the only way out of this future. And so we go, to declare the glory of God in all the nations, to preach Christ crucified, so that others may hear and live. We must go. We must go where we are at now, joining God in His everyday mission to make His name and glory known among those around us. And we must go to the nations, to make His name and glory known among all people, that as many as possible would come to know Christ and be saved from their sin and so that God would be glorified.
I mentioned earlier that Amy and I are blessed to go on a church that is mission minded. So we are seizing an opportunity to go to the nations. Specifically, Taiwan. We'll be teaching in the schools there by using Bible stories to present the Gospel. While we will be in an area that has been generally reached by the Gospel, there are many people groups in the same area that have not been reached, and there are many among the reached peoples who do not know Jesus. So we're asking for your prayers as we prepare to go to Taiwan later this month for a little less than three months.
- Pray that we would build relationships with those who are saved there, that we would build relationships with the lost who are there, and that would we would seize every opportunity to share the Gospel.
- And pray for those who are unreached by the Gospel, that doors would be opened, hearts would be prepared, and the Holy Spirit would move through all the peoples in Taiwan.
- Pray that we would build good relationships with the missionaries that are already over there doing this work and that we would be an added resource for this period of time.
Join me in praying for the unreached peoples across the world using Joshua Project:
