My Call

God saved me at the age of nineteen from a horrific past filled with selfish desires and vain conceits. Shortly, after God saved me the man who explained the Gospel to me came to me and told me now that I was a Christian I should share my faith with others. He gave me two books on the subject of witnessing, ten tracts and told me he would follow up in a few weeks to see if I had handed out the tracts. I was scared to death! I didn’t want to talk with anyone. What if they said no? What if they asked a question I couldn’t answer? What if they punched me in the face? These and other questions raced through my mind. One morning at 5:30 I was up early doing my devotions and God began to convict me over not handing out any tracts, I flippantly told God that if He wanted me to hand out tracts than someone had to be out in the hall when I opened the door. Remember its 5:30am! I opened the door and at the far end of the hall sat a young man named Sundip, a Buddhist from Nepal. I was blown away. I forced myself to walk down the hallway in order to give him a tract, and when I got close, I nervously with hand shaking asked, “If he had ever received a Gospel tract.” He said no, and thanked me for giving him one. I ran out the door into the early morning air. I was ecstatic! I had actually done it! I had handed out a tract and lived to tell about it! I was filled with excitement at being used by God to share His name. This feeling of excitement led me to go out witnessing with the man who was teaching me. Week after week I would hit the streets and share my faith. These times strengthened and encouraged me in my walk with the Lord. I grew closer to God through these times of witnessing than most people do in a lifetime.

After I had been witnessing on the streets for a number of months, a young man came and spoke at church and talked about missions. He shared that there were 1.6 billion people who had never heard the name of Christ. He said that every week in South Asia, alone, 220 million people die without ever hearing the name of Christ. This sentenced haunted me. I went to lunch afterwards, sitting in a cafeteria which holds 6,000 students and I couldn’t help but think that we weren’t even proportionate to the number of people dying every week who had never heard the story of Christ. God placed a burden on my heart that day. This God placed burden propelled me to travel to the Amazon region of Brazil. I slept in in a hammock, lived on a boat, bathed in the Amazon River in order to share the Gospel message with those lost in Brazil. This God placed burden propelled me to work with the International population at Liberty University. I taught English, basketball and the Bible to Asian students who had never heard the name of Christ. This God placed burden propelled me to Varanasi, India in the middle of the summer where the average temperature was 115 degrees in the shade, in order to share Jesus with others. This God placed burden is what sends my wife and I to Ghana, Africa. We desire to train an army of national pastors and church planters who will raise up the name of Christ around the country of Africa!  A burden for the lost and a passion for God’s glory is what sends my wife and I to the nations!

The Power of Christmas

Over the next three weeks I will be writing a three part series in order to emphasize the power, mystery and beauty of Christmas. This first part will focus on the power of Christmas...


The Word became flesh!
God became human!

The invisible became visible!
The untouchable became touchable!
Eternal life experienced temporal death!
The transcendent one descended and drew near!
The unlimited became limited!
The infinite became finite!
The immutable became mutable!
The unbreakable became fragile!
Spirit became matter!
Eternity entered time!
The independent became dependent!
The almighty became weak!
The loved became the hated!
The exalted was humbled!
Glory was subjected to shame!
Fame turned into obscurity!
From a throne to a cross!
From ruler to being ruled!
From power to weakness!

Three Options

The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.-Luke 10:2

All of us have three choices to make in regards to our role in evangelism and the Great Commission. These choices are...

GO:

We need men and women to go to every corner of every city in the United States because there are hundreds of millions of people who are going to a Christ less eternity and we should long to see them worship God. We need men and women to go to Africa and tell the tribes that there is a God and He is worthy of every single one of their praise. We need workers in East Asia and South Asia because Buddha is not worthy of worship, Jesus Christ is! Hindu worshippers must be told that there is ONLY one God and He is the way the truth and the life. We need workers in the Middle East working with Muslims because Allah is not worthy of praise, NO, only Jehovah is worthy of their praise. We not only need men and women committing to go and plant their lives overseas but we need short term mission teams to travel overseas for a few weeks or months in order to help encourage believers and share the Gospel. Would you be willing to give up vacation time in order to travel overseas for a few weeks to share the Gospel? Would you be willing to leave behind comforts of America in order to serve overseas for a few years?

SEND:

The second option is to send. Senders are those who for whatever reasons are unable to go to the mission field. These reasons could include age, sickness, kids, job, however, despite these reasons or situations God desires to use these individuals through another avenue. This avenue is sending. Senders are commanded to pray. Senders are commanded to pray for the nations. Do you own a map or a globe? If not, I encourage you to go out and buy one. The IMB sells maps on their website which reveals the Gospel needs around the world. Pray over the nations. Pray that God would open the eyes of those whom the enemy has blinded. Pray that God would send missionaries to the unreached peoples of the world. Pray that God would encourage missionaries serving overseas. Pray and ask God what your role will be in taking the Gospel to the nations. Second, partner with other missionaries which your church sends out. Do you know the missionaries which your church supports? Talk with your elders or pastors for information and then send the missionaries a word of encouragement. Ask them what you could pray for, if they need anything? Ask about their family, ministry, likes and/or dislikes? Love on your missionaries! Third, send. Did you know that if you make more than $34,000 a year you are among the 1% of the world’s richest populations? Has God blessed you financially? Has God blessed your business? Did you know that God has blessed you in order for you to be a blessing to others? Please, hold your finances loosely. Please, use what God has given you in order to send out more missionaries. Prayerfully consider sacrificing one dollar a day for the cause of missions or maybe more. Please, pray for what God would have you to give to the cause of world evangelization.

3) DISOBEY:

The seventy elders send out in Luke 10 could have chosen not to go when Jesus sent them out. They could have chosen to stay at home, enjoy time with their families rather than listen to their king, but instead they went. The disciples could have stood around staring off into the sky or they could have just shared the story of Jesus amongst themselves but they went and God used them to change the world. Who took the time to share the Gospel with you or invite you to church for that very first time? What would have happened had they not shared? Where would you be now if you didn’t know Christ? Let me make one thing crystal clear, God does not need you or I to do His work. God doesn’t need the IMB, NAMB or the SBC in order to spread His glory. God’s hands are not tied by our inaction. God may not need us but He desires to use us. If we choose to be disobedient the nations will not suffer, God will just rise up another convention, another church or another person to reach the nations and we will miss out on the blessing which comes from serving God.

For whatever reason God has chosen to use finite, fallible human beings in order to accomplish his infinitely perfect plan! God desires to use your church to reach the nations! God desires to use your church in cooperation with other SBC churches through the IMB to reach the nations with the Gospel message! We don’t need to be disobedient because of the encouragement found in Luke 10:2. We are told that the harvest belongs to the Lord. God loves the nations more than you or I. God desires to reach the nations more than your church, or that church down the road or the SBC. We must remember that the same God who called us out of darkness and into His wondrous light, the same God who adopted us into His home, the same God who commissions us to reach the nations with the Gospel is the very same God who has empowered us with the Holy Spirit to accomplish His purpose. Have no fear God will not fail! 

There are ONLY three options what will your choice be?

The Gospel

Graveyards & Eschatology

Last month my wife's great grandmother went home to be with the Lord. She was a God fearing woman who walked with God the majority of her life. I remember attending the funeral and being filled with sadness but at the same time rejoicing because I knew that one day I would see her again.

After the funeral there was a grave side service behind the church. Looking around the graveyard I couldn't help but contemplate the fact that beneath my feet were men and women who once had youthful skin and quick steps and hectic calendars but who are now piles of forgotten bones. I thought about the fact that the scattered teeth in the earth below had once sang hymns of hope-maybe "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder I'll Be There" or "When We All Get to Heaven." They are silent now.

But while I was there, I couldn't help but think about all that I was learning in Theology. I couldn't help but think about what every generation of Christian has held against the threat of sword, guillotine, sickness, chemical weaponry, and death. The majority of Christians down through the ages have taken comfort in the fact that one day this stillness will be interrupted by a shout from the eastern sky, a joyful call with a distinctly northern Galilean accent. In that moment the dead in Christ will rise from the grave and those of us who are believers will be caught up into Heaven in the twinkling of an eye and that's when life really gets interesting!

Shout to the Nations

Imagine stepping out of a train in the middle of Africa. Immediately you realize the city is crowded; people cramming in and pushing on every side. The weather is hot and there is an explosion of sights and sounds…and smells. It is a chorus of pandemonium. A young shoeless child, with matted hair and dirt stained clothes, stops you to ask for money. Piercing eyes follow as you walk out of the train station, enter your taxi and our whisked off down the road. The reality is the majority of the people within the train station will live their entire life never once hearing the name of Christ.

Psalm 96 convicts and exhorts all Christians to tell the Nations that God reigns. God is Lord over all of Creation and because He is Lord all peoples should love and worship Him. Unfortunately, all peoples do not love and worship God; there are 1.6 billion people in the world who could not worship God if they wanted to.  For the countless billions who don't know the name of Christ lets shout to the Nations!

Verse ten exhorts Christians to say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” Christians must go to the nations and share the Gospel with those who are blinded by false religions. Christians must declare His glory among the nations, His wonderful works among all peoples (vs.3). The LORD is great and is highly praised; He is feared about all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the Heavens (vs. 4-5). In Africa there are 3,000 tribal animistic religions completley devoid of God and there is a God who is worthy of every single one of their praise. 47% of the population in Africa claim to be Muslim. They are fasting, giving alms, making holy pilgramages to Mecca, praying five times a day to a demon and Jesus has died on the cross, rose from the grave, ascended to the Father in Heaven and He alone is worthy of their worship. We must tell the nations!

I challenge you today to pull out a map and pray for the nations. I challenge you to pray six things:

1.      Pray Psalm 96 over the nations.

2.      Pray that God would glorify His name among the nations.

3.      Pray that God would open the eyes of those whom the enemy has blinded.

4.      Pray that God would send missionaries to the unreached peoples of this world.

5.      Pray that God would encourage the missionaries serving overseas.

6.      Pray and ask God what your role will be in taking the Gospel to the nations.

God, alone, is worthy of praise. God alone will judge the nations; therefore, we must pray and tell the nations the LORD reigns!