David Wells - God in the Wasteland

Date: 1994

Author: David F Wells

Source: God in the wasteland

Image and appearance assume the functions that

character and morality once had -David F. Wells

Steve Camp - Living in Laodicea

From the Album Fire and Ice by Steve Camp

O Lord Take your plow to my fallow Ground

Let your blade dig down to the soil of my soul

Before I become dry and dusty

And Lord I know there must be richer earth lying below.

For I've been living in Laodicea

And The fire that once burned bright I've let it grow dim

and The very one I swore that I would die for  

all has been forgotten as the world has become my friend.

We have turned from your laws trying to find a better way

Each man does today what is right in his own eyes

we will pay the price for our sinning we can never know true livin

we've exchanged his truth for lies

We've been living in Laodicea

and The fire that once burned bright we've let it grow dim

and The very one we swore that we would die for has all been forgotten as the world's become our friend

It's no small of a thing that he's done for you,

by shutting the gates of hell up on a Cross

We were sentenced once but now we are pardoned

and he chooses to use us though we fall

So while were living in Laodicea

keep the fire burning bright don't let it grow dim

For the very one we swore that we would die for he must not be forgotten

fear the world become a friend

For the very one that we swore that we would die for he must not be forgotten

fear the world become a friend

- Lyrics, Mission

Mission Quotes

1. “I have but one can of life to burn and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light”  John Keith Falconer

2. It is high time to make known the glad tidings in these dark regions of sin and spiritual bondage. Samuel Marsden

3. We have all eternity to tell of victories won for Christ, but we have only a few hours before sunset to win them.  Anonymous GOC

4. Its amazing what can be accomplished if you don’t worry about who gets the credit. Clarence W. Jones

5. If we are going to wait until every possible hindrance has been removed before we do a work for the Lord, we will never attempt to do anything. TJ Back

6. “Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees.” J Hudson Taylor

7. Here am I, Send Me! Isaiah

8. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Jim Elliot

9. I have but one passion – it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world: and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ. 

      - Count Zinsindorf

10. I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third places and teaching the fourth. James O. Fraser

11. This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Jesus 2 –32 – forever

12. We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first. Oswald J smith

13. His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice. John Stott

14. Tell the students t five up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ. Francis Xavier

15. Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.  CT Studd

16. Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?… “ It is more a guestion with me whether we who have the Gospel and fail to five it to those who have not, can be saved. CH Spurgean

17. The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed. 

-CH Spurgean

18. I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light" -- John Keith Falconer

19. "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply" -- Hudson Taylor [ video ]

20. "God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him" -- Hudson Taylor

21. "The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed" -- Hudson Taylor

22. "If I had 1,000 lives, I'd give them all for China" -- Hudson Taylor

23. "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God" -- William Carey, who is called the father of modern missions [ more info ]

24. "The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become." -- Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia

25. "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliot, missionary martyr who lost his life in the late 1950's trying to reach the Auca Indians of Ecuador [ info on video ] [ brief biography ]\

26. "We are debtors to every man to give him the gospel in the same measure in which we have received it" -- P.F. Bresee, founder of the Church of the Nazarene

27. "In the vast plain to the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been" -- Robert Moffat, who inspired David Livingstone

28. "Can't you do just a little bit more?" -- J.G. Morrison pleading with Nazarenes in the 1930's Great Depression to support their missionaries

29. "Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us." -- Keith Wright

30. "The Bible is not the basis of missions; missions is the basis of the Bible" -- Ralph Winter, U.S. Center for World Mission

31. "Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell." -- C.T. Studd

32. "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." -- C.T. Studd

33. "No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once." -- Oswald J. Smith [ more on Oswald Smith ]

34. "This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth!" -- Keith Green

35. "There is nothing in the world or the Church -- except the church's disobedience -- to render the evangelization of the world in this generation an impossibility." -- Robert Speer, leader in Student Volunteer Movement

36. "If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn't it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death." -- Dave Davidson

37. "If God calls you to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king" -- Jordan Groom (variations of this also credited to G. K. Chesterson, Thomas Carlyle and Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

38. "World missions was on God's mind from the beginning." -- Dave Davidson

39. "Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart" -- Bob Pierce, World Vision founder

40. "No reserves. No retreats. No regrets" -- William Borden

41. "The reason some folks don't believe in missions is that the brand of religion they have isn't worth propagating." -- unknown

42. When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, "You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages." To that, Calvert replied, "We died before we came here."

43. "Someone asked Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we -- who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not -- can be saved." -- Charles Spurgeon

44. "God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him." -- Hudson Taylor, missionary to China [ video ]

45. "The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time" -- Carl F. H. Henry

46. "Our God of Grace often gives us a second chance, but there is no second chance to harvest a ripe crop." -- Kurt von Schleicher [ Apple pickers' parable ]

47. "Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God's delight in being God." --John Piper

48. "You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving." -- Amy Carmichael, missionary to India

49. "Only as the church fulfills her missionary obligation does she justify her existence." -- Unknown

50. "As long as there are millions destitute of the Word of God and knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will be impossible for me to devote time and energy to those who have both." -- J. L. Ewen

51. "The mission of the church is missions" -- Unknown

52. "Sympathy is no substitute for action." -- David Livingstone, missionary to Africa

53. "The command has been to 'go,' but we have stayed -- in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth ... but 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland." -- Robert Savage, Latin American Mission

54. "People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives ... and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted." -- Nate Saint, missionary martyr [ devotional thoughts ]

55. "We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God." -- John Stott

56. "Believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story." -- K.P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia Bible Society

57. "We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first." -- Oswald J. Smith

58. "Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ." -- Francis Xavier, missionary to India, the Philippines, and Japan

59. "The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity." -- Mike Stachura

60. "'Not called!' did you say? Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

61. "It is not in our choice to spread the gospel or not. It is our death if we do not." -- Peter Taylor Forsyth

62. If God's love is for anybody anywhere, it's for everybody everywhere. -- Edward Lawlor, Nazarene General Superintendent

63. "Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action is -- where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge." -- Robert C. Shannon

64. "People who don't believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South." -- J. Howard Edington

65. "It is possible for the most obscure person in a church, with a heart right toward God, to exercise as much power for the evangelization of the world, as it is for those who stand in the most prominent positions." -- John R. Mott

66. "In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God's work, especially the work of world evangelism, as in intercessory prayer." -- Dick Eastman, president of Every Home for Christ (formerly World Literature Crusade)

67. "What's your dream and to what corner of the missions world will it take you?" -- Eleanor Roat, missions mobilizer

68. "We can reach our world, if we will. The greatest lack today is not people or funds. The greatest need is prayer." -- Wesley Duewel, head of OMS International

69. "Love is the root of missions; sacrifice is the fruit of missions" -- Roderick Davis

70. "Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love" -- Roland Allen

71. "I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages - villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world."            - Robert Moffat

72. "The command has been to "go," but we have stayed - in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth…But 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland."            - Robert Savage

73. "While vast continents are shrouded in darkness…the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field."            - Ion Keith-Falconer

74. "I wasn't God's first choice for what I've done for China…I don't know who it was…It must have been a man…a well-educated man. I don't know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn't willing…and God looked down…and saw Gladys Aylward…And God said - "Well, she's willing."            - Gladys Aylward

75. "Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees." 

           - J. Hudson Taylor

76. "The man…looking at him with a smile that only half concealed his contempt, inquired, "Now Mr. Morrison do you really expect that you will make an impression on the idolatry of the Chinese Empire?" "No sir," said Morrison, "but I expect that God will."            - Robert Morrison

77. "Here am I. Send me."            - Isaiah

78. "And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives…and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."       - Nate Saint

79. "Jehovah Witnesses don't believe in hell and neither do most Christians"       - Leonard Ravenhill

80. "Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary."       - C.T. Studd

81. "Young man, sit down: when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or mine." 

           - said to a young William Carey

82. "Oh, that I had a thousand lives, and a thousand bodies! All of them should be devoted to no other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded, despised, yet beloved mortals."      

            - Robert Moffat

83. "We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God." 

      - John Stott

84. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." 

           - Jim Elliot

85. "A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story." 

           - K.P. Yohannan

86. "I have but one passion - it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ." 

           - Count Zinzindorf

87. "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies." 

           - J. Hudson Taylor

88. "He must increase, but I must decrease." 

           - John the Baptist

89. "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." 

           - C.T. Studd

90. "The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner." 

           - William Cameron Townsend

91."Prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes." 

           - Robert E. Speer

92. "The saddest thing one meets is a nominal Christian. I had not seen it in Japan where missions is younger. The church here is a "field full of wheat and tares." 

           - Amy Carmichael

93. "I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third places and teaching the fourth." 

           - James O. Fraser

94. "It is just as proper, maybe even more so, to say Christ's global cause has a Church as to say Christ's Church has a global cause." 

           - David Bryant

95. "If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray." 

           - Frederick Franson

96. "What are we here for, to have a good time with Christians or to save sinners?" 

           - Malla Moe

97. "I tell you, brethren, if mercies and if judgments do not convert you, God has no other arrows in His quiver." 

           - Robert Murray M'Cheyne

98. "It's amazing what can be accomplished if you don't worry about who gets the credit." 

           - Clarence W. Jones

99. "Two distinguishing marks of the early church were: 1) Poverty 2) Power." 

           - T.J. Bach

100. "Do not think me mad. It is not to make money that I believe a Christian should live. The noblest thing a man can do is, just humbly to receive, and then go amongst others and give." 

           - David Livingstone

101. "From my many years experience I can unhesitatingly say that the cross bears those who bear the cross." 

           - Sadhu Sundar Singh

102. "I pray that no missionary will ever be as lonely as I have been." 

           - Lottie Moon

103. "All my friends are but one, but He is all sufficient." 

           - William Carey

104. "How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves." 

           - C.T. Studd

105. "I have always believed that the Good Samaritan went across the road to the wounded man just because he wanted to." 

           - Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

106. "The more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something." 

           - Clarence W. Jones

107. "Expect great things from God. Attempt great thing for God." 

           - William Carey

108. "God's part is to put forth power; our part is to put forth faith." 

           - Andrew A. Bonar

109. "All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal!" 

           - Jonathan Goforth

110. "The Indian is making an amazing discovery, namely that Christianity and Jesus are not the same - that they may have Jesus without the system that has been built up around Him in the West." 

           - E. Stanley Jones

111. "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." 

           - Jesus

112. "All roads lead to the judgment seat of Christ." 

           - Keith Green

113. "Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them" 

           - A.W. Tozer

114. "I will lay my bones by the Ganges that India might know there is one who cares." 

           - Alexander Duff

115. "Today Christians spend more money on dog food then missions" 

           - Leonard Ravenhill

116. "It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home." 

           - J. Hudson Taylor

117. "We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first." 

           - Oswald J. Smith

118. "God cannot lead you on the basis of facts that you do not know." 

           - David Bryant

119. "And thus I aspire to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named so that I would not build on another man's foundation." 

           - Paul

120. "Why do we insist on building the largest and most impressive structures in our city when people on the other side of town are hungry, jobless and worshipping in storefronts?" 

           - K.P. Yohannan

121. "If every Christian is already considered a missionary, then all can stay put where they are, and nobody needs to get up and go anywhere to preach the gospel. But if our only concern is to witness where we are, how will people in unevangelized areas ever hear the gospel? The present uneven distribution of Christians and opportunities to hear the gospel of Christ will continue on unchanged." 

           - C. Gordon Olson

122. "I spent twenty years of my life trying to recruit people out of local churches and into missions structures so that they could be involved in fulfilling God's global mission. Now I have another idea. Let's take God's global mission and put it right in the middle of the local church!" 

           - George Miley

123. "Oh dear, I couldn't say that my church is alive and I wouldn't want to call it dead. I guess it's just walking in its sleep!" 

           - Church member

124. "When he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathen." 

           - said of John Geddie

125. "At the moment I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus himself." 

           - John G. Paton

126. "Save others, snatching them out of the fire." 

           - Jude

127. "The evangelization of the world in this generation." 

           - Student Volunteer Movement Motto

128. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring" 

           - Jesus

129. "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't." 

           - John Piper

130. "His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice." 

           - John Stott

131. "Today five out of six non-Christians in our world have no hope unless missionaries come to them and plant the church among them." 

           - David Bryant

132. "Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ." 

           - Francis Xavier

133. "Christ for the students of the world, and the students of the world for Christ." 

           - Luther Wishard

134. "We who have Christ's eternal life need to throw away our own lives." 

           - George Verwer

135. "Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell." 

           - C.T. Studd

136. "When I get to China, I will have no claim on any one for anything. My claim will be alone in God and I must learn before I leave England to move men through God by prayer alone" 

           - J. Hudson Taylor

137. "God has huge plans for the world today! He is not content to merely establish a handful of struggling churches among each tongue, tribe and nation. Even now He is preparing and empowering His Church to carry the seeds of revival to the uttermost ends of the earth." 

           - David Smithers

138. "The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity." 

           - Mike Stachura

139. "Answering a student's question, 'Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?' thus, 'It is more a question with me whether we who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved.'" 

           - C.H. Spurgeon.

Sami Dagher - The Evangelist is Faithful in a Hostile World

Sami Dagher

The Evangelist is Faithful in a Hostile World

Key Reference: Revelation 2:811

I am so happy to be in Amsterdam. I have wonderful memories of this

place. In 1971, I was invited to a conference like this. At that time, I

was working in the hotel business. After one week of hearing Dr. Billy

Graham preaching and presenting the needs of the world  especially in

Europe and the Middle East  I was touched by the Lord, and I

accepted the challenge to serve Him. In 1973 I resigned from the hotel

business and started church planting. We were three people at that time  me, my wife, and one

other person. By the grace of God, we have six churches now in Lebanon: four in the Arabic

language for the Lebanese; one for the Sri Lankan people in my country; and one for the Sudanese

residing there. We also have a Bible school to train people in Lebanon so that we can send them

all over the Arab world with the message of Jesus Christ.

So far we have sent a missionary to Africa's Ivory Coast, as well as shortterm

missionaries to Iraq. Now we have an Iraqi man who is continuing ministry in that

country.

All of that comes as the result of obeying what the Lord had said to me in Amsterdam almost

twentynine years ago. My prayer is that you have been listening carefully to the voice of the Spirit

during your time here, and that you will obey what the Lord has said to you.

The subject I have been assigned to speak on is "The Evangelist is Faithful in a Hostile World."

You have heard many preachers this week, and today you are going to hear another preacher. In

my heart I have but one wish for you this morning: I wish that the Lord Jesus Himself would be

able to stand here today in the flesh and teach us about this subject. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Wouldn't you like to hear a message from the mouth of the Lord Jesus?

Beloved ones, this wish would be very heard to fulfill, because when the Lord will come again, He

will not come as a preacher or as a teacher, but He will come in great glory to judge the living and

the dead. But let me assure you, even if He were to come as a preacher, He would not change

one Word of what He has said before. For it is written, "I am the LORD, I do not change" (Malachi

3:6). Because He is God and He changes not, His word will never change.

The passage that we have just read is a message from the Lord Jesus after resurrection to the

angel of the church of Smyrna. In His message, He encourages the angel, and He gives him some

directions and orders. He says to him: "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life"

(Rev. 2:10b).

Dear brothers and sisters, we evangelists are stewards of the mysteries of God. And a steward is

entrusted to be faithful in all situations of life, without exceptions. There is no excuse for

unfaithfulness. This morning I have a few thoughts I want you to know:

I. Hostility is expected whenever we take a stand for Jesus.

In John 17:14, Jesus prayed to the Father, saying, "I have given them Your word; and the world

has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."

Paul says, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).

According to the teaching of our Lord and the teaching of the Holy Spirit, there is no escape from

persecution, because we are hated by the world. All of us face different persecution  mental and

physical. And we have to be prepared to face it. Jesus tells us, "A servant is not greater than his

master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20).

Many times, we as believers are ashamed to speak out for Christ. We are ashamed to carry our

Bibles because of the pressure and persecution of the world. Why? Because we have not been

prepared for this kind of pressure or this kind of persecution. Our problem is this: when we present

the gospel of Christ to other people, we usually only portray a picture of peace, stability,

happiness, and joy. As a result, new believers are often shocked when they face problems,

suffering, pressure, and persecution.

Of course we do have peace, joy, and happiness in Christ. But we must explain what that means

to the people we are trying to reach. What kind of peace are we talking about, what kind of joy are

we talking about?

We should know and make clear to our listeners that the peace and joy that we have in Christ is

not a guarantee for us against hardships, sufferings, and persecutions. Again Jesus says, "These

things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation;

but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

So in Him we have peace. In Him we have victory. But in the world, we shall have tribulations.

Jesus made it very clear that the world would hate us: "I have given them Your Word; and the

world has hated themY" (John 17:14a). We are hated by the world not because we are bad, but

because we have the word of God.

We are not only hated by the world, but we are also strangers of the world. Referring again to that

same verse: "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of

the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:14).

If we were from this world, the world would have loved us, because it loves its own. But we are not

of the world: our goals are different and our nature is different. We are partners of the divine nature.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are strangers in this world.

What does a stranger expect in a foreign land? We all know that a stranger in a foreign land

expects to face trials, problems, and suffering. All of the prophets and saints who have gone before

us have all confessed to being strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They had a trial of cruel

mockers, they were stoned, and they were slain by the sword. It is written that the world did not

deserve them; but they stood faithful to the word of God to the end  in spite of suffering and

persecution (Hebrews 11:38).

So, the first thing we should know is that hostility is to be expected whenever we take a stand for

Jesus. This brings me to my second pointY

II. The upright life of the evangelist gives him respect in a hostile world.

Dear brethren, listen carefully. If we want to escape some of the suffering in a hostile world, we

should live an upright life. Living an upright life gives us respect and reverence in a world that is

hostile to the gospel.

Paul says in Romans 13:3, "Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil." He goes on to say

that if you don't want to be afraid of their power, do that which is good, and you will receive their

praise.

We have been serving in an Arab country for nearly ten years. The people of that country believe

that they have suffered a lot at the hand of the Christians. They look to the Western world as a

"Christian" country. They accuse the West of killing their children and destroying their homes and

their future.

In the beginning, we faced a lot of difficulties. They watched our every step. After a long time, they

discovered that our only goal was to show them the love of Christ. We did not have any hidden

agenda, and we were not looking for profit or material gain. They came to trust us, and they gave

us permission to give tens of thousands of New Testaments in the streets of their cities. To our

surprise, by special order from their president, the Jesus film was shown on national TV, and

some 20 million people watched it.

The reason for the difficulties behind proclaiming the gospel in the Middle East is not only the

fanaticism of other religions, but also the life and the behavior of those who profess to be

Christians. Instead of being a blessing and a light to others, they are stumbling stones.

I encourage you to walk worthy of our calling. As God's word says, "As you therefore have

received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him" (Colossians 2:6).

Daniel lived in a country whose system was hostile to his religion and his faith. He was watched

day and night by his enemies, yet they could not find a fault to be used against him. He was

honest, and he was loved by the king despite his different religion and faith. In the end, his

enemies trapped him, and he was put in the lion's den. But he stood faithful to the end. What was

the result? God moved on the scene and saved Daniel. And the king gave a decree saying, "No

other God should be worshipped but the God of Daniel." I challenge you to be as Daniel and to

stand alone.

In front of our eyes, we have a man who has lived for Christ. His upright life has given him respect,

dignity, and reverence of all people. Dr. Billy Graham's life is an example to every one of us. He is

not ashamed of the gospel of Christ in a modern world. He believes that the gospel is the power of

God unto salvation, and he practices his belief in a hostile world. He is faithful to God's calling,

even though he faces hostility.

Hostility does not necessarily come from rulers and government. Hostility might even come from

friends, neighbors, or family members. The Lord said, "Be faithful until death and I will give you the

crown of life" (Rev. 2:10b). By being faithful and living an upright life, Dr. Graham kept the dignity

and integrity of the gospel of Christ. As a result, he has gained respect and reverence even from

his enemies. He has prayed for kings and presidents, and he has prayed for the whole world.

Dear brethren, it is true that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. It is true that we are hated

by the world. But our duty and our responsibility is to be the light of this world and to pray for

those who oppose us so that they might come to the knowledge of Jesus our Lord and so find

peace.

In the Old Testament, there is a command from God to His own people. In Jeremiah 29:7 we read:

"And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to

the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace."

Paul in the New Testament gives us a similar command in 1 Timothy 2:2: "[Pray] for kings and all

who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." If

we as believers live this kind of life, we will make a difference in the world.

You might say, "We have prayed. We have lived a godly life and we have shown them the love of

Christ, but they still persecute us. They are still opposed to us. What can we do?" That leads me

to my third pointY

III. You should know that faithfulness for the Lord and His gospel is a divine request in

spite of hostility.

Jesus said to the angel of the church of Smyrna: "Do not fear any of those things which you are

about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested,

and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life"

(Rev. 2:10).

Dear believers, a day will come when people will kill us and actually think that they are doing a

service to the Lord. Be faithful unto death, be faithful to Christ, and be faithful to the Word of God.

Jesus is saying, "Fear not. They are going to put you in prison and they are going to persecute

you. Be faithful."

God's problem with the inhabitants of the earth is their lack of faithfulness. He said in Hosea 4:1:

"Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the

inhabitants of the land: 'There is no truth [faithfulness] or mercy or knowledge of God in the land.' "

God has a court case with the inhabitants of the earth. To be able to have a court case, you need

charges. What are the charges against the inhabitants of the earth?

No faithfulness on the earth

No mercy or love on the earth

No knowledge of God on the earth

There are three charges, but the first is unfaithfulness. God forbid that it be said of us that we are

not faithful. Jesus says to be faithful until death, and He will give you the crown of life. When we

hear about the believers who lived under communism and how they were faithful until death, we are

proud of them and we have a great respect for them. May the Spirit of the living Christ help us to

be faithful to death, as well.

You might ask, "Is there a way that will help us to keep up our courage in a hostile world?" Yes,

there is, which brings me to my fourth pointY

IV. The only way that will help us to keep our courage is to remember that JESUS HAS

ALL AUTHORITY AND POWER.

Jesus says in Matthew 28:18: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."

Dear brothers and sisters, we are serving the Lord of glory, the almighty God. We have to

remember that Jesus has all power and authority in heaven and on earth. Not one hair will drop

from our heads without Him knowing about it.

Remember that He is the One who wrote by His hand on the wall of the king and terminated

his kingdom.

Remember that He is the One who sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions so that

they would not hurt Daniel.

Remember that He is the One who walked in the furnace fire with the three Hebrew

children.

Remember that He is the One who gave the order to the water of the river of Jordan to stand

like a wall.

Remember that He is the One who stood at Lazarus' tomb saying, "Lazarus, come forth."

Remember that He is the One who ordered the storm and the sea to be silent.

Remember that He is the One who rose from the dead.

Dear brethren, isn't He worthy to be trusted? Isn't He worthy that we should even die for His sake?

How can we be afraid when we remember these things? How can we be afraid when we look at the

empty tomb?

Be faithful until death. Death is not an enemy anymore for the believer. Death is the way that will

take us to our eternal home. Death is the channel through which we will see Jesus. As it is

written, "While we are at home in [this] body, we are absent from the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:6).

One day I was going to a Bible study, and I went through a town controlled by the Druzes' militia.

Two men riding on a motorbike approached me. The one in the back pointed a gun toward me and

waved me to stop. So I stopped. He then came down from his motorbike, sat next to me with his

gun pointed to my side, and said, "Drive!"

When we got off of the main road, I was really afraid. They took me to a building far away from the

town, and within minutes I found myself in a locked room. They took everything from me except

my New Testament.

I prayed and then I opened my New Testament to read, but I was shaking like a leaf. I couldn't

read, so I prayed again. I thought that God would help me, but to my surprise, my fear just grew.

Then I kneeled down and really poured my heart before the Lord. At that moment, this verse came

to mind: "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." I kept repeating this verse in

my mind.

Suddenly I was separated from the love of my wife, my children, my church  and even from life

itself. I stopped shaking and I was only thinking, "I want to see Jesus!" At that time, the door

opened and they took me for questioning. I was like a lion.

To cut a long story short, while they were questioning me, a gentleman came to the room. The

men all stood for him and saluted him. He gave an order that I be sent back to the room. After a

half hour had passed, a young man came back with all my papers and said, "You can go." He was

trying to take me out through the back door, but I told him that I wanted to go through the front to

see the same people who had questioned me and to thank them for letting me go. So I left from

the same door I had entered. I went back to those people and thanked them. Then I promised to

come back to drink a coffee with them the next week. The second week I returned with a Bible and

a letter explaining the way of salvation to them.

Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life.

Paul, facing imminent persecution, understood the importance of his life ministry, but he also

realized what an incredible blessing it would be to be with Christ. He writes, "But if I live on in the

flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard

pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better"

(Philippians 1:23).

Dear brothers and sisters, do not be afraid of physical death. Jesus says, "Do not fear those who

kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body

in hell" (Matthew 10:28).

With that being said, let me give you one final principle that will help each of us to remain strong in

a hostile worldY

V. The evangelist needs wisdom from heaven above.

The evangelist needs wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent. It is written in

Ecclesiastes 3:1: "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." Then

further down in verse seven we read, "A time to keep silence and a time to speak."

We have to know when to speak and we have to know when to be silent. If we speak when it is

time to be silent, it is dangerous; and if we are silent when it is time to speak, it is also

dangerous.

We need wisdom from heaven above. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of

God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

Pray for wisdom, and do not delete from your account the work of the Holy Spirit or forget the great

promises of God. Do not forget this precious promise from Jesus: "Whatever you ask the Father in

My name He will give you" (John 16:23b).

Our problem today is that we have lost the greatest weapon against Satan and against all of our

enemies. I say it with sorrow in my heart  in these days we have lost the power of prayer. We

have neglected this great weapon, which was given to us by God. All the prophets of the Old

Testament and the saints of the New Testament triumphed over the world by prayer.

Elijah was a man like us, and he prayed that it would not rain for three years and six months  and

it did not rain. Later he prayed for rain, and God sent rain.

Joshua prayed for the sun to stop until they finished the battle against their enemies, and God

answered his prayer. And to be able to answer his prayer, God had to change the solar system! It

is written in Joshua 10:14: "And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord

heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel."

Beloved, let us go back from this conference determining to gain back this power which has been

lost, and to pray without ceasing. Pray and believe that our Lord is able. Pray and ask the Lord to

fight for us as He fought for Israel in the times of old.

Let us go back from this conference remembering that we are strangers and pilgrims on

this earth.

Let us go back remembering that we are hated by the world, but loved and sent forth by the

Lord.

Let us go back remembering that our behavior and our upright life will give us respect,

dignity, and reverence.

Let us go back remembering that Jesus has ALL authority in heaven AND on earth.

Let us go back remembering that we can obtain wisdom from heaven above when we ask

for it.

Let us go back remembering that we possess the greatest power on earth  the power of

prayer. And let us remember that the power of the Holy Spirit is ours when we honor Christ.

May the Lord richly bless you.

Amen.

This Amsterdam 2000 speech text is under copyright. The author has rights protected by

international law. This text is not for reprint or republication. The message actually delivered at

Amsterdam 2000 may have differed significantly from this text.

E. Stanley Jones - The Gospel

"An Individual Gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body; and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul.

One is a ghost and the other a corpse"  E. Stanley Jones

Mission Skit/Sketch

Psalm 23 for the Unreached

Helping a New Generation Enter a New Land

Psalm 23 for the Unreached

Purpose:

To vividly demonstrate the hopelessness of unreached people groups.

Instructions:

Two people stand facing the audience.  The Christian (A) reads Psalm 23 from his/her Bible.

Someone from and unreached people group (B) says his/her lines from memory.  For more visual

impact, person B can dress in clothing of another nationality.

A: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

B: I have no shepherd.  I want and am in need.

A: He makes me lie down in green pastures.   He leads me beside quiet waters.  He

restores my soul.

B: I have no one to feed me in green pastures.  I find no rest.  I have no one to lead me

to quiet waters.  I have no one to restore my anxious and despairing soul.

A: He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

B: I find no one to guide me in right ways.  I don't know where to turn.

A: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for

you are with me.  Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

B: As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, evil surrounds me.  I am terribly

afraid, for no one is with me to comfort me.

A: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head

with oil.  My cup overflows.

B: I have no feast prepared for me; I am overwhelmed by my enemies.  No one anoints

my wounds to heal them.  My cup is empty.

A: Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life...

B: All the days of my life are filled with uncertainty and disappointments...

A: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

B: And I have no home for eternity.  Will I dwell in the house of evil forever?

                                            The End

- Mission, Skit or Sketch,

Gods Work vs working for God - Author Unknown,

It seems as though God has been trying to speak to me lately just how intimately connected he is with our lives. While this is not the place to debate predestination we must determine and set before us the goal to be about the Lords work. While that seems completely obvious its not as simple as it would appear on face value. Often I find that I am doing a work for God verses doing Gods work. When I do Gods work I am seeking His agenda for my life. The more I am seeking Gods agenda the less I will be concerned and wast time worrying about the events f this life; cars, computers, health, food, food, and housing.

When I relate this to the Adopt-A-People commitment we personally must determine that we are committed to seeking Gods goals for the church. This results in a desire not only for Our church but a focus that people, Gods chosen people, have yet to hear the Gospel, respond, fellowship together, and begin to evangelise there own.

Jim Elliot - No Fool

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot

lose." Jim Elliot

JI Packer the Gospel

J.I. Packer

The Content of the Gospel

Introduction

In the Bible, the gospel is the entire saving plan of God, all revolving

around the person, the place and power of our Savior Jesus Christ, the

incarnate, crucified, risen, reigning, returning Lord.

Preaching the gospel requires us to show how Jesus Christ relates to

every part of God's plan, and how every part of it relates to us who are

savingly related to the living Christ through faith.

Evangelism involves explaining life in Christ as well as

inviting sinners to Him. This means dealing with six

main topics, as follows:

1. The Truth about God.

The one God who made and rules everything is revealed as three persons through His plan of

salvation. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit love us, and work together to save us from sin

and make us holy. Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate, is Lord over all the powers of evil. Any

other view of God is idolatry.

2. The Truth about Ourselves.

We were made for God, to bear His image and be like Him in moral character, but sin controls and

spoils us so that we need to be brought back to God to be forgiven and remade. Jesus Christ, who

brings us back, is Himself the model of true godliness. Any other view is deception.

3. The Story of God's Kingdom.

Step by step, as Scripture tells, God has been working to establish His kingdom in this fallen

world. Jesus Christ is the King, and our lives are to be His kingdom. King Jesus is also the Judge,

and those who have not bowed to His kingship here will not share His joy hereafter. Trusting, loving

and honoring Jesus, and serving others for His sake, is true godliness at its heart. Any other form

of religion is error.

4. The Way of Salvation.

Jesus Christ, our sinbearer on the cross, now from His throne reaches out to rescue us who are

lost in the guilt and shame of sin. He calls for faith (trust in Him as Savior) and repentance (turn to

Him as Master). He sends His Holy Spirit to change us inwardly so that we hear His call as

addressed to us personally and respond wholeheartedly to it. Whereupon we are forgiven and

accepted (justified); received as God's children (adopted); made to rejoice at our peace with Him

(assurance); and made to realize that now we are living a new life in Christ (regeneration). Any

other view of salvation is deficient.

5. The Life of Fellowship.

Christians belong in the church, the family of God, sharing its worship, work, witness and warfare,

and enjoying its worldwide brotherhood in Christ. Any other view of the Christian is sectarian.

6. Walking Home to Heaven.

Helped by the ministry in the church of word and sacrament, prayer and pastoral care, spiritual

gifts and loving support, Christians live in our constantly hostile world as travelers, heading for a

glorious destination. Led and inspired by their Savior through the Holy Spirit, they seek to do all

the good they can as they go, and to battle all forms of evil that they meet. Any lesser view of the

Christian life is wordly.

All this is permanently and universally true, transcending all differences of color, race, culture, age,

gender, health, economic standing, social position and political background. As the Father, the

Son and the Holy Spirit sustain us all, so the gospel levels us all, teaching us to know ourselves

as great sinners saved by God's greater grace, and to see all nonChristians as needing that same

grace themselves.

For reflection and Consideration:

1. How completely am I preaching the Gospel?

2. Which of these six Gospel topics do I need to preach more fully than I have been preaching?

3. Am I including the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in my preaching?

4. Am I properly explaining the saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

Culture Shock

There are generally three stages of this  Phenomenon. called culture shock: The honeymoon stage(where everything seems wonderful and new), the critical stage(where you question why they can't just do things like you do in your own country you know the right way!), and readjustment(where you settle in and become more comfortable with the cultural differences).

Take Up Your Cross

1 "Take up your cross," the Saviour said,
"If you would my disciple be;
Take up your cross with willing heart,
And humbly follow after me."

2 Take up your cross; let not its weight
Fill your weak soul with vain alarm;
His strength shall bear your spirit up,
And brace your heart and nerve your arm.

3 Take up your cross; nor heed the shame,
And let your foolish pride be still;
Your Lord refused not e'en to die
Upon a cross, on Calv'ry's hill.

4 Take up your cross, then, in his strength,
And calmly sin's wild deluge brave;
'Twill guide you to a better home,
It points to glory o'er the grave.

5 Take up your cross, and follow on,
Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only he who bears the cross
May hope to wear the glorious crown.

- Commitment, Mission, Hymn, Sacrifice

Sex: How? Why? What? The Teenagers Guide - Jane Goldman

Author: Jane Goldman

Date: 1996

Source: Sex: How? Why? What? The Teenagers Guide

Publisher: Penguin Books

City: London

Pg 37 I think about sex all the time?

You bet! You see, the hormones that cause all the physical changes in your body during puberty don't just make you sprout hairs and suchlike. They also get working on your brain, quite apart from that, sex is jolly interesting, and thinking about it can be a very nice, exciting thing to do with your spare time! Even if you can believe that you're perfectly healthy and normal, thinking about sex all the time can still make you feel uneasy, because you can feel that you're losing control of your brain.

Pg 39 I often imagine having sex with people I know, or famous people. I really enjoy it. Is it okay?

Its called fantasising. It's more than okay, and nearly everybody does it at some time in their life. It's just like daydreaming, only its main purpose is to make you feel excited in a sexual way.

Fantasising is a fantastically healthy way to discover more about your own sexual feelings, so you should never feel guilty about doing it.

Pg 51 others with strong religious beliefs that sex and the sexual organs only existed in order for married people to make babies, and that using the genitals for any kind of sexual pleasure B especially outside of marriage was sinful. There are still people about who think the same way. Of course, everyone is entitled to their won't beliefs, but people also have a right to know the truth. Facts are facts, and the plain truth is that masturbations is not harmful.

Pg 59C Some parents have very strong views that young people shouldn't have sex at all, or that sex should be saved for marriage. Changing their minds is likely to be impossible. In cases like this, you're best off keeping some things secret, but that doesn't mean you should sneak around and go against what they say.

Pg 78&9 If you're considering taking a relationship further i.e. Having sex not just for the first time but any time, you should always ask yourself these questions

* Do I really like, fancy, care about or maybe even love my prospective partner?

* Do they like fancey, care about or maybe even love me, too?

* If I don't feel like I want to have sex now, would my partner be prepared to wait until I do?

* Am I certain that my partner is okay about us using a condom?

* Have I or my partner got a condom already, or is one of us prepared to go out and buy some before we decide to have sex?

Pg 81 What if I don't get a chance to think carefully before I have sex?

That happens. You might be in a very intimate situation - alone with someone, having a passionate snogging and petting session and suddenly you realise that you're on the verge of losing your virginity. In these cases, you just have to go with your gut instinct,  do you really want to do it?  Not because all your friends have, not because you're scared of losing your partner, not because you figure you might as well now you're this close to it, nor because you're worried about being a tease if you back out, but because you really, really want to experience sex and closeness with this person, right now? If the answer is a definite yes, then as long as one of you has a condom ready to use, there's no reason why you shouldn't go ahead.

Pg 164 Sex for sex's sake can be wonderful between two people who think the same way.

No Solicitors Portland, Or

No Solicitors
We are Happy just the way we are

Oregon Lottery, It does good things.

Oregon Lottery

It Does Good Things
Oregon Lottery

About as rational as anything in this day and age

- Real Think, Double Speak,

How Men Think

1. Men are not mind readers.
2. Learn to Work the toilet seat. You’re a big girl. If it’s up, put it down. we need it up. You need it down. You don’t hear us complain when you leave it down.
3. Crying is blackmail
4. As for what you want. Let us be clear on this on.  
5. Subtle hints do not work!
6. Strong Hints do not work!
7. Obvious hinds to do not work!
8. Just say it!
9. Yes and no are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
10. Come to us with problems only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
11. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, al comments become null and void after 7 days.
12. If you think your fat you probably are. Don’t ask us.
13. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry we meant the other one. 
14. One can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. I you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
15. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to do during commercials.
16. Christopher Columbus did not need direction and neither do we.
17. All men see in only 17 colours, like windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, Not a colour. pumpkin is also a vegetable or fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
18. If ask what is wrong and you say, Nothing,” we act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle. 
19. I you ask a question you don’t want an answer to. Expect an answer you don’t want to hear.
20. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine, really
21. Don’t ask what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as football or mortar sports.
22. You have enough clothes
23. You have to many shoe
24. I am in shape, round is a shape

Thank You for reading this, Yes, I know, I'm sleeping on the couch tonight...but did you know men don't mind that? It's like camping....

Mac Hammond on Marriage

Author: Mac Hammond

Source: Heirs together

Pg 15 But what if I married the wrong person many people ask. You'd be amazed how many people the devil torments with that question.

I remember a young lady who came to my office on day and insisted she had gotten out of God's will, married the wrong person. Now she was doomed to suffer until she got rid of him and found the right one or so she thought.

...

God causes all things to work together for Good to those who love Christ and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8.28). Maybe you did miss God's best when you chose your spouse. Maybe you were in rebellion at the time. But God still wants to make that marriage glorious, fulfilling reflection of Jesus' relationship with he church.  He's committed to working that situation out for Good.

All you need to do is determine to make it work.

The first attitude adjustment is decide once and forever that divorce is not an option. If you continue to consider divorce as even a remote possibility, you might as well stop reading this article ad go watch  television, because it isn't going to do you any good.

The second attitude adjustment you may need to make is this: you must be concerned with changing not one but yourself.

The third attitude adjustment you must make is forget the past. Y what do you need to forget. the Good things and things and the bad things. They are startled to hear  they should forget the good things in their past. If you dwell on how good things were in the past, you're creating in yourself dissatisfaction and resentment about the way things are now. you also open yourself up to a spirit of  grief and despair. It happens allt the time. Women talk about how effectionate and considerate their husbands used to be, how attentive he was. But now, he's just an inconsiderate louse.

Dwelling on the good things in the past will distort your perception of the present and undermine  your hope for the future

Christian Hedonism by John Piper Desiring God Ch 9

Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their

lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his

followers except the adoption of Christ's purpose toward the

world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but

husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy

of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans. The

men who are putting everything into Christ's undertaking are

getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.

J. Campbell White ( 1909)

Secretary of the Laymen's Missionary Movement

Surely there can be no greater joy

than that of saving souls.

Lottie Moon (1887)

"Patron Saint of Baptist Missions"

Chapter 9

Missions:

The Battle Cry of Christian Hedonism

Did Moses or Paul Retire?

Most men don't die of old age, they die of retirement. I read somewhere that half of the men retiring in the state of New York die within two years. Save your life and you'll lose it. Just like other drugs, other psychological addictions, retirement is a virulent disease, not a blessing.1

These are the words of Ralph Winter, founder of the United States Center for World Mission. His life and strategy have been a constant summons to young and old that the only way to find life is to give it away. He is one of my heroes. He says so many things that Christian Hedonists ought to say (although he wishes I would not use the word "hedonist")!
Not only does he call retired Christians to quit throwing their lives away on the golf course when they could be giving themselves to the global cause of Christ, but he also calls students to go hard after the fullest and deepest joy of life. In his little pamphlet, "Say Yes to Missions," he says, "Jesus, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame . . . To follow him is your choice. You're warned! But don't forget the joy."

In fact, in all my reading outside the Bible over the past fifteen years, the greatest source of affirmation for my emerging Christian Hedonism has been from missionary literature, especially biographies. And those who have suffered most seem to state the truth most unashamedly. I will tell you some of my findings in this chapter.

But first, back to the issue of retirement. Winter asks, "Where in the Bible do they see that? Did Moses retire? Did Paul retire? Peter? John? Do military officers retire in the middle of a war?"2 Good questions. If we try to answer them in the case of the apostle Paul, we bump right into a definition of "missions" which is what we need here at the beginning of this chapter.

As Paul writes his letter to the Romans, he has been a missionary for about twenty years. He was between twenty and forty years old (that's the range implied in the Greek word for "young man" in Acts 7:58) when he was converted. We may guess, then, that he was perhaps around fifty as he writes this great letter.

That may sound young to us. But remember two things: In those days, life expectancy was less, and Paul had led an incredibly stressful life-five times whipped with thirty-nine lashes, three times beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked, constantly on the move and constantly in danger (2 Corinthians 11:24-29).

By our contemporary standards he should perhaps be "letting up" and planning for retirement. But in Romans 15 he says he is planning to go to Spain! In fact, the reason for writing to the Romans was largely to enlist their support for this great new frontier mission. Paul is not about to retire. Vast areas of the empire are unreached, not to mention the regions beyond ! So he says,

Now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be sped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little. (Romans 15:23-24)

Paul was probably killed in Rome before he could ever fulfill his dream of preaching in Spain. But one thing is certain: He was cut down in combat, not in retirement. He was moving on to the frontier instead of settling down to bask in his amazing accomplishments. Right here we learn the meaning of missions.


The Meaning of Frontier Missions

How could Paul possibly say in Romans 15:23, "I no longer have any room for work in these regions"? There were thousands of unbelievers left to be converted in Judea and Samaria and Syria and Asia and Macedonia and Achaia. That is obvious from Paul's instructions to the churches on how to relate to unbelievers. But Paul has no room for work!

The explanation is given in verses 19-21,

From Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ, thus making it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on another man's foundation, but as it is written,

They shall see who have never been told of him, and they shall understand who have never heard of him.

Paul's missionary strategy is to preach where nobody has preached before. This is what we mean by Frontier Missions. Paul had a passion to go where there were no established churches-that meant Spain.

What is amazing in these verses is that Paul can say he has fully preached (literally: "fulfilled") the gospel from Jerusalem in southern Palestine to Illyricum northwest of Greece! To understand this is to understand the meaning of Frontier Missions. Frontier Missions is very different from domestic evangelism. There were thousands of people yet to be converted from Jerusalem to Illyricum. But the task of Frontier Missions was finished. Paul's job of "planting" was done and would now be followed by someone else's "watering" ( 1 Corinthians 3:6).

So when I speak of missions in this chapter, I generally refer to the Christian church's ongoing effort to carry on Paul's strategy: preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and planting his church among groups of people who have not yet been reached.

The Need for Frontier Missions

My assumption is that people without the gospel are without hope, because only the gospel can free them from their sin. Therefore missions is utterly essential in the life of a loving church, though not all Christians believe this.

Walbert Buhlmann, a Catholic missions secretary in Rome, spoke for many mainline denominational leaders when he said,

In the past we had the so-called motive of saving souls. We were convinced that if not baptized, people in the masses would go to hell. Now, thanks be to God, we believe that all people and all religions are already living in the grace and love of God and will be saved by God's mercy.3

Sister Emmanuelle of Cairo, Egypt, said, "Today we don't talk about conversion any more. We talk about being friends. My job is to prove that God is love and to bring courage to these people."4

It is natural to want to believe in a God who saves all men no matter what they believe or do. But it is not biblical.5 Essential teachings of Scripture must be rejected to believe in such a God. Listen to the words of the Son of God when he called the apostle Paul into missionary service:

I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles-to whom I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26:16-18)

This is an empty commission if in fact the eyes of the nations don't need to be opened, and they don't need to turn from darkness to light, and don't need to escape the power of Satan to come to God, and don't need the forgiveness of sins that comes only by faith in Christ who is preached by the Lord's ambassadors. Paul did not give his life as a missionary to Asia and Macedonia and Greece and Rome and Spain to inform people they were already saved. He gave himself that "by any means [he] might save some" ( 1 Corinthians 9:22).

So when Paul's message about Christ was rejected (for example, at Antioch by the Jews), he said, "Since you thrust the word of God from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13 :46). At stake in missionary outreach to unreached peoples is eternal life! Conversion to Christ from any and every other allegiance is precisely the aim. "For there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

The Justice of God in Judgment and Salvation

God is not unjust. No one will be condemned for not believing a message they have never heard. Those who have never heard the gospel will be judged by their failure to own up to the light of God's grace and power in nature and in their own conscience. This is the point of Romans 1:20-21.

Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse: for although they knew God they did not glorify him as God or give thanks to him.

Apart from the special, saving grace of God, people are dead in sin, darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God and hardened in heart (Ephesians 2:1, 4:18). And the means God has ordained to administer that special saving grace is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish; so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel: It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:14-16)

The Effects of Universalism on Missions

The notion that people are saved without hearing the gospel has wreaked havoc in the missions effort of denominations and churches that minimize the biblical teaching of human lostness without Christ. Between 1953 and 1980, the overseas missionary force of mainline Protestant churches of North America decreased from 9,844 to 2,813, while the missionary force of evangelical Protestants, who take this biblical teaching more seriously, increased by more than 200 percent. The Christian and Missionary Alliance, for example, with its 200,000 members, supports forty percent more missionaries than the United Methodist Church with its 9.5 million members. There is amazing missionary power in taking seriously all the Word of God.6

Many Christians thought the end of the colonial era after the Second World War was also the end of foreign missions. The gospel had more or less penetrated every country in the world. But what we have become keenly aware of in the last generation is that the command of Jesus to make disciples of "every nation" does not refer to political nations as we know them today. Nor does it mean every individual, as though the great commission could not be completed until every individual were made a disciple.

What Are People Groups?

We are increasingly aware that the intention of God is for every "people group" to be evangelized-that a thriving church be planted in every group. No one can exactly define what a people group is. But we get a rough idea from passages like Revelation 7:9.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb ....

It is almost impossible to draw precise distinctions between "nations," "tribes," "peoples" and "tongues." But what is clear is that God's redemptive purpose is not complete just because there are disciples of Jesus in all twentieth-century "nations," i.e., political states. Within those countries are thousands of tribes and castes and subcultures and languages.

So the remaining task of Frontier Missions no longer is conceived mainly in geographic terms. The question now is, "Where are the unreached people groups?"7

Since the first edition of Desiring God appeared in 1986 there has been tremendous progress in the cooperation of mission agencies, denominations and churches in the tasks of researching and evangelizing the unreached peoples of the world. There is now basic agreement that "of the 12,000 known ethno-linguistic peoples in the world, 10,000 already have a church-planting movement in their midst. . . . [At the end of 1994, of the 2,000 groups remaining ] only 1,000 have virtually no penetration. . . . Today we have a target list of least-evangelized peoples that is being revised each year to reflect greater accuracy. The 100 largest of these peoples . . . represent almost two billion people."8 They are found mainly in the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Animist peoples of the so-called 10/40 Window.9 It seems to me that Rick Wood is not overstating things when he says, "Never before in Christian history has there been such a large movement with so many sincere believers, churches denominations and agencies working together toward the common goal of a church for every people. This level of global cooperation is unprecedented."10


Missionsis Finishable, But Not Evangelism

To keep us sober in our estimates of the remaining task of reaching the unreached people groups of the world, Ralph Winter reminds us of two facts.

First, evangelism can never be finished, but missions can be finished. The reason is this: missions has the unique task of crossing language and culture barriers to penetrate a people group and establish a church movement; but evangelism is the ongoing task of sharing the gospel among people within the same culture. This fact allows us to talk realistically about "closure" -- the completion of the missionary task, even if there may be millions of people yet to be won to Christ in all the people groups of the world where the church has been planted.

The second fact Winter reminds us of is that there are probably more people groups than the ones listed among the 12,000 ethno-linguistic groups mentioned above. He illustrates by pointing out that tribal divisions along the lines of mutually unintelligible dialects may vary depending on whether the dialect is spoken or written. So, for example, Wycliffe Bible translators may detect that a translation of the Bible is readable in a dialect covering a wide area, while Gospel Recordings may determine that seven or more different audio recordings are needed because of the audible distinctions in the larger dialect.

Thus Winter asks, which level of people group did Jesus have in mind when he said, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the peoples, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14)? His answer: "We'll find out . . . the closer we get to the situation. In the meantime we need to live with guesses. . . . We can only learn more as we go! And at this hour greater human resources are looming into view than have ever been available to the unfinished task!"11

The point of these observations is that the job of Frontier Missions is not complete. In fact the vast majority of missionaries are working on "fields" where the church has been planted for decades. The need for frontier missionaries is great. The Lord's command to disciple the remaining unreached groups is still in force. And my burden in this chapter is to kindle a desire in your heart to be part of the last chapter of the greatest story in the world.

Dramatic Growth!
There are historical as well as theological reasons for hope that the task of world missions is finishable...

Ralph Winter has observed that the drop from 11 to 7 (62%) between 1980 and 1989 (in the second column) is equivalent to the drop from 360 to 220 (62%) in the first 900 years of church history! The two measurements in the second and fourth columns, and the trends that they reveal, are two of the most hopeful insights in the study of church growth. Even though there is an ongoing and urgent need for more frontier missionaries to penetrate the final unreached peoples with the gospel, it seems that the momentum of closure is accelerating. In addition to the iron-clad promise of Jesus in Matthew 24:14, that the gospel will penetrate all the peoples, there is the empirical evidence that this is in fact happening, and at an increasing rate. It is "A Finishable Task"!
Becoming World Christians
I would like to believe that many of you who read this chapter are on the brink of setting a new course of commitment to missions: some a new commitment to go to a frontier people, others a new path of education, others a new use of your vocation in a culture less saturated by the church, others a new lifestyle and a new pattern of giving and praying and reading. I want to push you over the brink. I would like to make the cause of missions so attractive that you will no longer be able to resist its magnetism.
Not that I believe everyone will become a missionary, or even should become one. But I pray that every reader of this book might become what David Bryant calls a World Christian-that you would reorder your life around God's global cause. In his inspiring book In the Gap, Bryant defines World Christians as that group of Christians who say,

We want to accept personal responsibility for reaching some of earth's unreached, especially from among the billions at the widest end of the Gap who can only be reached through major new efforts by God's people Among every people-group where there is no vital, evangelizing Christian community there should be one, there must be one, there shall be one. Together we want to help make this happen.16

The Rich Young Ruler
The biblical basis for the missions commitment of a Christian Hedonist is found in the story of the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-31)

As [Jesus] was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: `Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother."'

And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth." And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first."

This story contains at least two great incentives for being totally dedicated to the cause of Frontier Missions.
With Men It Is Impossible, but Not with God
First, in Mark 10:25-27 Jesus said to his disciples, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

And they were astonished and said to him, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, `With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."

This is one of the most encouraging missionary conversations in the Bible. What missionary has not looked on his work and said, "It's impossible!"? To which Jesus agrees, "Yes, with men it is impossible." No mere human being can liberate another human being from the enslaving power of the love of money. The rich young ruler went away sorrowful because the bondage to things cannot be broken by man. With man it is impossible! And therefore missionary work, which is simply liberating the human heart from bondage to allegiances other than Christ, is impossible-with men! If God were not in charge in this affair, doing the humanly impossible, the missionary task would be hopeless. Who but God can raise the spiritually dead and give them an ear for the gospel? "Even when we were dead through our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5). The great missionary hope is that when the gospel is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, God himself does what man cannot do-he creates the faith which saves.
The call of God does what the call of man can't. It raises the dead. It creates spiritual life. It is like the call of Jesus to Lazarus in the tomb, "Come forth!" (John 11:43). We can waken someone from sleep with our call, but God's call can summon into being things that are not (Romans 4:17).
God's call is irresistible in the sense that it can overcome all resistance. It is infallibly effective according to God's purpose-so much so that Paul can say, "Those whom God called he also justified." In other words, God's call is so effectual that it infallibly creates the faith through which a person is justified. All the called are justified. But none is justified without faith (Romans 5 :1 ) . So the call of God cannot fail in its intended effect. It irresistibly secures the faith that justifies.
This is what man cannot do. It is impossible. Only God can take out the heart of stone (Ezekiel 36: 26) . Only God can draw people to the Son (John 6:44,65) . Only God can open the heart so that it gives heed to the gospel (Acts 16:14). Only the Good Shepherd knows his sheep by name. He calls them and they follow. The sovereign grace of God, doing the humanly impossible, is the great missionary hope.

Two Kinds of Self Love
When Peter blurted out that he had sacrificed everything, he had not thought as deeply as David Brainerd and David Livingstone. As a young missionary to the Indians of New England, Brainerd wrestled with the issue of self-love and self-denial. On January 24, 1744, he wrote in his diary,

In the evening, I was unexpectedly visited by a considerable number of people, with whom I was enabled to converse profitably of divine things. Took pains to describe the difference between a regular and irregular self love; the one consisting with a supreme love to God, but the other not; the former uniting God's glory and the soul's happiness that they become one common interest, but the latter disjoining and separating God's glory and man's happiness, seeking the larger with a neglect of the former. Illustrated this by that genuine love that is founded between the sexes, which is diverse from that which is wrought up towards a person only by rational argument, or hope of self-interest.20
Brainerd knew in his soul that in seeking to live for the glory of God, he was loving himself! He knew there was no ultimate sacrifice going on, though he was dying of tuberculosis. Yet he knew that Jesus condemned some form of self-love and commended some form of self-denial. So he endorsed a distinction between a self-love that separates our pursuit of happiness from our pursuit of God's glory, and a self-love that combines these pursuits into "one common interest." In other words, he did not make Peter's mistake of thinking his suffering for Christ was ultimately sacrificial. With everything he gave up there came new experiences of the glory of God. A hundredfold!

"I Never Made a Sacrifice"
On December 4, 1857, David Livingstone, the great pioneer missionary to Africa, made a stirring appeal to the students of Cambridge University, showing that he had learned through years of experience what Jesus was trying to teach Peter:

For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.21

One sentence of this quote is, I think, unhelpful and inconsistent: "Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay?" I don't think it is helpful to describe our obedience as an attempt (albeit impossible) to pay God back for his grace. It is a contradiction of free grace to think of it that way. Not only is it unhelpful, it is inconsistent with the rest of what Livingstone says. He says his obedience is in fact more receiving-healthful, peaceful, hopeful. It would honor God's grace and value more if we dropped the notion of paying him back at all. We are not involved in a trade or purchase. We have received a gift. But this reservation aside, the last line is magnificent: "I never made a sacrifice."
This is what Jesus' rebuke to Peter's sacrificial (self-pitying?) spirit was supposed to teach. Our great incentive for throwing our lives into the cause of Frontier Missions is the 10,000-percent return on the investment. Missionaries have borne witness to this from the beginning-since the apostle Paul.

Paul was bold to say that everything was garbage compared to knowing and suffering with Jesus:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ . . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings. (Philippians 3:7-10)

This slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18)

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:23)22

Holy Missionaries Are Most Hedonistic
It is simply amazing how consistent are the testimonies of missionaries who have suffered for the gospel. Virtually all of them bear witness of the abundant joy and overriding compensations (a hundredfold!).
Colin Grant describes how the Moravian Brethren were sending missionaries out from the mountains of Saxony in central Europe sixty years before William Carey set out for India. With utter abandon they reached the West Indies, Surinam, North America, Greenland, South Africa, China and Persia between 1732 and 1742-"a record without parallel in the post-New Testament era of world evangelization." In recounting the main characteristics of this movement, Grant puts "glad obedience" at the top of the list. "In the first place, the missionary obedience of the Moravian Brethren was essentially glad and spontaneous, `the response of a healthy organism to the law of its life.'"23

Andrew Murray refers to this "law of life" in his missionary classic Key to the Missionary Problem. Nature teaches us that every believer should be a soul-winner: "It is an essential part of the new nature. We see it in every child who loves to tell of his happiness and to bring others to share his joys."24 Missions is the automatic outflow and overflow of love for Christ. We delight to enlarge our joy in him by extending it to others. As Lottie Moon said, "Surely there can be no greater joy than that of saving souls."25
What Lottie Moon did in promoting the cause of foreign missions among Southern Baptist women in the United States, Amy Carmichael did among the Christian women of all denominations in the United Kingdom. She wrote thirty-five books detailing her fifty-five years in India. Sherwood Eddy, a missionary statesman and author who knew her well, said, "Amy Wilson Carmichael was the most Christlike character I ever met, and . . . her life was the most fragrant, the most joyfully sacrificial, that I ever knew."26 "Joyfully sacrificial!" That is what Jesus was after when he rebuked Peter's sacrificial spirit in Mark 10:29-30.
John Hyde, better known as "Praying Hyde," led a life of incredibly intense prayer as a missionary to India at the turn of the century. Some thought him morose. But a story about him reveals the true spirit behind his life of sacrificial prayer.
A worldly lady once thought she would have a little fun at Mr. Hyde's expense. So she asked, "Don't you think, Mr. Hyde, that a lady who dances can go to heaven?" He looked at her with a smile, said quietly, "I do not see how a lady can go to heaven unless she dances." Then he dwelt on the joy of sin forgiven.27
Samuel Zwemer, famous for his missionary work among the Muslims, gives a stirring witness to the joy of sacrifice. In 1897 he and his wife and two daughters sailed to the Persian Gulf to work among the Muslims of Bahrein. Their evangelism was largely fruitless. The temperatures soared regularly to 107 "in the coolest part of the verandah." In July 1904 both the daughters, ages four and seven, died within eight days of each other. Nevertheless, fifty years later Zwemer looked back on this period and wrote, "The sheer joy of it all comes back. Gladly would I do it all over again."28
In the end, the reason Jesus rebukes us for a self-pitying spirit of sacrifice is that he aims to be glorified in the great missionary enterprise. And the way he aims to be glorified is by keeping himself in the role of benefactor and keeping us in the role of beneficiaries. He never intends for the patient and the physician to reverse roles. Even if we are called to be missionaries, we remain invalids in Christ's sanatorium. We are still in need of a good physician. We are still dependent on him to do the humanly impossible in us and through us. We may sacrifice other things to enter Christ's hospital, but we are there for our spiritual health, not to pay back a debt to the doctor!

Invalids Make the Best Missionaries
Daniel Fuller uses this picture of patient and doctor to show how the effective missionary avoids the presumption of assisting God:

An analogy for understanding how to live the Christian life without being a legalist is to think of ourselves as being sick and needing a doctor's help in order to get well. Men begin life with a disposition so inclined to evil that Jesus called them "children of hell" (Matthew 23:15).... In Mark 2:17 and elsewhere Jesus likened Himself to a doctor with the task of healing man's sins; He received the name "Jesus" because it was His mission to "save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). The moment we turn from loving things in this world to bank our hope on God and His promises summed up in Jesus Christ, Jesus takes us, as it were, into His clinic to heal us of our hellish dispositions.... True faith means not only being confident that one's sins are forgiven but also means believing God's promises that we will have a happy future through eternity. Or, to revert to the metaphor of medicine and the clinic, we must entrust our sick selves to Christ as the Great Physician, with confidence that He will work until our hellishness is transformed into godliness.