the task remaining.

matthew 24:14

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

romans 15:20-21

"and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, Those who have never been told of him will see,and those who have never heard will understand."

revelation 5:9
"And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scrolland to open its seals,for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for Godfrom every tribe and language and people and nation"


number of unreached people groups = 6,442
(www.joshuaproject.net)


"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

haggai 1

Has anyone done any reading of Haggai lately? I know, it's not a commonly read book. I have grown to love it recently.

It a great book that shows God's sovereignty and man's sinfulness.

After God had allowed the children of Israel to return home to Israel from captivity in Babylon, they began to rebuild. However, they got caught up (once again) focusing on themselves by ignoring God's temple that sat in ruins, while they rebuilt and detailed their extravagant homes.

Check out what God says:

Haggai 1:2-4

"Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD." Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

God basically says: "oh, so you guys say that it isn't time to rebuild my house... i see... so, you're saying it IS time to relax in your own ornate houses..."

How often do we say what the Israelites said. "God it isn't time for me to do that yet." "God, the time isn't right to serve in that way yet." "I'll do that God, but not yet" or even "I'm waiting on a word from the Lord on that..." but at the same time we plan out our vacations, we focus on projects for school or work, we budget for our family or personal life. Did we wait on a "word from the Lord" regarding those things?

Hey, I'm not pointing fingers, I'll be the first to admit that I do this myself.


Let's act today!

God's will???

How can I know God's will for my life?

1. The Bible

Sounds cliche, but it's true. Now, you might say, "but it doesn't say anything specifically for my life personally, like if i should be a doctor." But the Bible gives us various commands and instruction. The question we need to ask is "what decision would allow me to obey these commands more or more effectively?"

For example: The Bible commands us to be committed to our local church. If we are trying to decide between two jobs, and one of them will prevent us from attending church, then it most likely wouldn't be God's will to take that particular job. You can always ask "which job would allow me to be more committed to my ministry?" - because that is essentially what a secular job would be for anyways - to be a support for our ultimate priority.

2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,"


2. Check Yo-self

Is there any sin in your life that may be preventing you from seeing God's will. If we are living in sin, we most likely won't be desiring God's will in the first place. Romans 12:2 - "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

3. The Holy Spirit

Are we being led/controlled by the Holy Spirit? This will be going hand in hand with checking sin in your life.
Ephesians 5:17-18 "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit"

4. Suffering

How committed are we to being obedient to God's word? The Bible promises that if we are being obedient to Christ, that we will be suffering.
Philippians 1:29 "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,"
2 Timothy 3:12 "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted"

5. God's glory

What will bring God the most glory? This goes back to the first point.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Psalm 50:15: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (It seems we often use this verse to justify what we wantGod's will to be)

6. Our Desire

If we have done 1-5, then I believe that God will often give us the desire to do His will. So the last question would be "what do i want to do?" Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord,and he will give you the desires of your heart."

But be careful with that one. There are many cases in the Bible where God wanted people to do what they didn't want to. (Moses, Jonah, Peter) But that is most likely because they weren't doing steps 1-5!

It's a life and eternal salvation matter. Matthew 7:13-14

13"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy[a] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

This is so important. It's very scary to think that, that many "christians" nowadays just, they just don't realize what this verse is saying. They go to church on the weekends and live THEIR OWN lives during the week. They do the exact opposite of what this verse says to do.

It's scary that many of these so called "christians" might not go to heaven. It's scary and very sad.

It's heartbreaking that many people know about this verse, and they just choose to ignore it. They would rather live a life of comfort, of ease. It's sad. How many people do you know that are like this? I bet you know alot! Pray for those that behave like this.

Living for God is not easy, especially on a young teen boy such as myself. I want to participate in all the sinful, "fun" things that many of the teens my age participate in. I'm not saying that I don't slip sometimes, because I do, lots of times.

The main point is: Don't go the easy way out. Please!

Pray that God grant you, me, everybody self-control and wisdom, and endurance, to resist the temptation to give up, to not give in to unimportant wordly objects. It's a life and eternal salvation matter

the call

Revelation 7:9

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,"

Matthew 24:14
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

Revelation speaks about every tribe, tongue, and nation will be represented in heaven. To this day there are still many unreached people groups. In fact there are many people groups who have yet to have the gospel translated into their language. If this is the case, how can Christ return and there be a representative from every tribe, tongue and nation in heaven? I believe that Matthew 24:14 is the answer to that question. I believe that this gives the church a great responsibility accompanied with a great urgency.

Obviously the church hasn't really stepped up to the challenge/responsibility. Only .0001% of Evangelical Christians go into missions!!! And only 4% of them actually go to a people group that is unreached! I think too many Christians think that they are called by God into full-time secular careers. They feel that serving in church once a week (maybe), and sharing Christ with their co-workers once a quarter (maybe) is fulfilling God's great commission.

Luke 9:23-24

"And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."