January 19th, 2022
Written by Devon Bowman
“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Romans 10:13-15)
This verse is one of the foundations of missions. We praise God because of the certainty and availability of salvation found in verse 13. We are thankful for this availability in our own lives. We as Christians understand and agree that Jesus Christ is the only “way” to the Father as he states in John 14:6. So, since we agree with this doctrinal statement, we then understand the importance of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also understand that, in order for people all across the world to call on the name of Jesus, they must know his name in the first place.
As I stated before, all Bible-believing Christians should agree that, in order to be saved, they must know Jesus Christ. However, we must question whether our lives reflect commitment to that truth or just lip service. In our culture, we tend to have little patience and trust in those who offer empty promises. We tend to bemoan the hollow promises and shallow beliefs put forth by politicians each election cycle that seem to be quickly forgotten once in office. The question for us is, has the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) become more of a Christian campaign promise to look the part while there is no commitment to its completion? Have we just offered lip service to the nations and said that we will bring them the gospel, only to prioritize our own comfort and personal cares? These are hard questions, but they are necessary.
I think we all enjoy the saying “put your money where your mouth is.” It is a fun way of saying, if you are going to talk about it, you need to do something. I almost have this same feeling when I read in James 2:18, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’ In the context of this article, you could think of him saying, “You believe in the Great Commission and I am working to complete the Great Commission.” James would say the belief is shown in the working. If we believe that someone has to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and share the testimony of the goodness and grace and mercy of our God in order to believe, then we must have a faith displayed by our works.
The need is great! The Joshua Project states that there are 17,431 people groups with 7,399 of them being unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is a total of almost 3.3 billion people who have no access to the gospel. That is on top of countless others who have access but do not believe. First we should all pray just as in Luke 10:2, “And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” However, prayer is not a substitute for other actions; we should also give and go. This is why we have Kingdom Builders. We give to support missionaries all around the world who are taking the gospel to peoples all around the globe. This is why we have youth who are passionate about Speed the Light and children who give to BGMC, so that we can help the gospel spread; so that we can partner with missionaries by whatever means necessary; so that the gospel is preached all around the world; so that the preached word is in every tribe and tongue.
Some of us also may be called to go. To go and be those feet that are carrying the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. That are taking the gospel to the jungles of Brazil, the mountains of Nepal, the deserts of Sudan, and the cities of China. We at the Revival Center take seriously the call and command of Jesus to spread his good news to all the world. That if they “call on the name of the Lord” they “will be saved.” This is the wonderful opportunity that we are given, that God calls us to build His Kingdom and spread His gospel. We do this as it says in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” We reply, “Amen, come Lord Jesus” and we get to work for the gospel, being committed to the Kingdom.
“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Romans 10:13-15)
This verse is one of the foundations of missions. We praise God because of the certainty and availability of salvation found in verse 13. We are thankful for this availability in our own lives. We as Christians understand and agree that Jesus Christ is the only “way” to the Father as he states in John 14:6. So, since we agree with this doctrinal statement, we then understand the importance of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also understand that, in order for people all across the world to call on the name of Jesus, they must know his name in the first place.
As I stated before, all Bible-believing Christians should agree that, in order to be saved, they must know Jesus Christ. However, we must question whether our lives reflect commitment to that truth or just lip service. In our culture, we tend to have little patience and trust in those who offer empty promises. We tend to bemoan the hollow promises and shallow beliefs put forth by politicians each election cycle that seem to be quickly forgotten once in office. The question for us is, has the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) become more of a Christian campaign promise to look the part while there is no commitment to its completion? Have we just offered lip service to the nations and said that we will bring them the gospel, only to prioritize our own comfort and personal cares? These are hard questions, but they are necessary.
I think we all enjoy the saying “put your money where your mouth is.” It is a fun way of saying, if you are going to talk about it, you need to do something. I almost have this same feeling when I read in James 2:18, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’ In the context of this article, you could think of him saying, “You believe in the Great Commission and I am working to complete the Great Commission.” James would say the belief is shown in the working. If we believe that someone has to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and share the testimony of the goodness and grace and mercy of our God in order to believe, then we must have a faith displayed by our works.
The need is great! The Joshua Project states that there are 17,431 people groups with 7,399 of them being unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is a total of almost 3.3 billion people who have no access to the gospel. That is on top of countless others who have access but do not believe. First we should all pray just as in Luke 10:2, “And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” However, prayer is not a substitute for other actions; we should also give and go. This is why we have Kingdom Builders. We give to support missionaries all around the world who are taking the gospel to peoples all around the globe. This is why we have youth who are passionate about Speed the Light and children who give to BGMC, so that we can help the gospel spread; so that we can partner with missionaries by whatever means necessary; so that the gospel is preached all around the world; so that the preached word is in every tribe and tongue.
Some of us also may be called to go. To go and be those feet that are carrying the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. That are taking the gospel to the jungles of Brazil, the mountains of Nepal, the deserts of Sudan, and the cities of China. We at the Revival Center take seriously the call and command of Jesus to spread his good news to all the world. That if they “call on the name of the Lord” they “will be saved.” This is the wonderful opportunity that we are given, that God calls us to build His Kingdom and spread His gospel. We do this as it says in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” We reply, “Amen, come Lord Jesus” and we get to work for the gospel, being committed to the Kingdom.
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