God’s Heart for… The World

The Biblical Basis of Missions

Genesis 1:28

• 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 12:1-3

• 1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great ; And so you shall be a blessing ; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

Genesis 26:3-4

• 3 "Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands ; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed ;

Genesis 28:13-15

• 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac ; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south ; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land ; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Deuteronomy 4:5-6

• 5 "See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. 6 "So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

1 Samuel 17:45-46• 45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come

to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. 46 "This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

Psalm 67:1-7

• 1 God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us- Selah. 2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God ; Let all the peoples praise You. 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy ; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples praise You, O God ; Let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth has yielded its produce ; God, our God, blesses us. 7 God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

Isaiah 49:6

• 6 He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel ; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

Daniel 6:25-26

• 25 Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language who were living in all the land : "May your peace abound ! 26 "I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel ; For He is the living God and enduring forever, And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, And His dominion will be forever.

Malachi 1:11

• 11 "For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure ; for My name will be great among the nations," says the LORD of hosts.

Jesus’ own mission…

Luke 4:42-43

• 42 When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place ; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. 43 But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose."

John 3:16

• 16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Matthew 24:14 The Goal…

• 14 "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.

Matthew 28:18-20The Command

• 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the age."

Mark 16:15

• 15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Luke 24:45-47

• 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Acts 1:8

• 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

Acts 9:15 - Paul

• 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he (Paul) is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel ;

Acts 10:34-35 - Peter

• 34 Opening his mouth, Peter said : "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.

Acts 17:26-27

• 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

Romans 10:11-15• 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM

WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek ; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed ? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard ? And how will they hear without a preacher ? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent ? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS !"

Romans 15:20-21

• 20 And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation ; 21 but as it is written, "THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND."

Galatians 3:13-14

• 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE "- 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

2 Peter 3:9

• The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

How the story ends…

Philippians 2:9-11

• 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Revelation 5:9-10

• 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals ; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God ; and they will reign upon the earth."

Revelation 7:9-10

• 9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands ; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, " Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

The Current Status of the World

2 Definitions

• “People Group”– the largest group within which the Gospel can spread

… without encountering barriers of understanding (language) or acceptance (culture, caste, etc.)

• “Unreached”– A people group where the number of Christians

within that people group are non-existent or insignificant to reach that people group for Christ.

– They have no way of knowing about Jesus!

The World• World Population: 6.73

Billion • Total People Groups: 16,598

• Popl in Unreached Groups:

2.77 Billion (up to 3.6 billion)

• Unreached People Groups: 6,918

• % People Groups Unreached: 41.7 %

• % Population in Unreached: 41.2 % to 53.5%

The 10-40 Window

• 4.43 Billion People Total•8,811 People Groups•2.69 Billion Unreached People (97% of all unreached people!!!)•5,930 Unreached People Groups (86% of all unreached people groups)

Other 10/40 Window Stats

• Breakdown by Religion– 724 Million Muslims; 787 million Hindus; 240 million

Buddhists• Largest Unreached People Groups– Largest Shaikh, Bangladesh - 133 million– 2nd largest - Japanese - 123 million– Next 3 are Indian - 182 million total– 6th Largest – Turk - 52.7 million

• Turkey – 74 Million, 99.4% Unreached!• China – 83% Unreached, 194 million people!

The World’s Unreached by Major Religion

Countries with the Most Countries with the Most Unreached Peoples Peoples

Country

# Unreached Peoples

India 2233

Pakistan 447

China 428

Bangladesh 372

Nepal 355

2. Status of the Great Commission2. Status of the Great Commission

The World’s Christians

The Problem: Part IWe’re hardly doing anything!!!

• We’re not going• We’re not giving• Of all money designated for “outreach” in the

U.S., only 5.4% goes to foreign missions. The rest stays here in the states.

• Only 0.37% is used to take the Gospel to the Unreached. That’s less than ½ a penny out of every 100 dollars spent!

The Problem: Part IIWhat we are doing is not in the right places!

• There are 430,000 missionaries from all branches of Christendom

• Only 2-4% of all missionaries are working to reach these unreached people! That means 96-98% of all missionaries are working places that already have ready access to the Gospel.

• Distribution of Protestant Missionaries:

World Population Foreign Missionaries

Missionary presence

What could we do if we wanted to?

• American evangelicals could provide all of the funds needed to plant a church in each of the 6,400 people groups with only .2% of their income.

• If all the missionaries needed came from America, less than .5% of evangelicals ages 18-35 could form the teams required.

• Of those involved in missions in the US: – 98% are Senders (Financial Support, Prayers, Mobilizers, Pastors)– 0.5% are Servicers (Administrative, Tech Support, Training,

Communication)– 1.5% are Missionaries (Church Planting, Development, Tentmaking,

Tribal Outreach, Health Services)

Why is the 10/40 Window “Unreached”?

• World’s major religions originated in this region and are firmly rooted there

• Oppressive to Christianity• “Closed”• Lack of Christians willing to go

HOW CAN THIS BE!?!

4. Dramatic Recent Progress4. Dramatic Recent Progress

Evangelical Christianity is growing faster than Islam and two times faster than Buddhism and Hinduism.

1.30% 1.20% 1.20%

1.90%

2.60%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

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Major Religions Annual Growth Rates

• Last year alone, about 120 million people were presented the gospel for the first time. (if this happened every year, it would take 23 years for everyone to hear!)

• About 1.7 billion people now listen to Christian radio or watch Christian TV on a monthly basis.

• Christians now spend 388 billion man-hours every year proclaiming the gospel in evangelism.

Only One Option: Get on Board or get left behind.

Proverbs 24:11-12

• 11 Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. 12 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

Isaiah 6:8

• 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

• And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Mark 8:34

• “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

But what can I really do?

• Pray–Ask God to send laborers into HIS

harvest–Operationworld.com–Cnn.com/world–Get prayer requests from people

you know overseas

But what can I really do?• Pray• Send– It only costs between $120-$210 dollars/month to

support a national missionry – 10 people in a Life Group who give 5$/month could coer ¼ to ½ of a missionary’s total monthly expenses.

– Support your friends going on Summer Projects or Spring Break trips

– Who said you’re supposed to give only 10% of your income?

But what can I really do?

• Pray• Send• Welcome

– 22 million internationals visit the US each year. Of these, some 630,000 are university students from 220 countries 25% of which prohibit Christian missionaries. 80% of those students will return to their countries having never been invited to an American home.

– -40% of the world's 220 Heads of State once studied in the US.– -60% of international students come from the 10/40 window.– -10% of international students are reached by ministries while

in the United States.– Reachinginternationals.com

But what can I really do?

• Pray• Send• Welcome• Mobilize–Now you know – who are you going

to tell?–Who are you going to bring with you?

But what can I really do?• Pray• Send• Welcome• Mobilize• Go– Summer project– Spring Break– STINT– Go for life– Reach your neighbor – who knows what they will go on to

do?

Resources

• www.joshuaproject.net• www.thetravelingteam.org• www.operationworld.org• reachinginternationals.com• http://www.vision7nine.org/• http://www.globalprayerdigest.org/• www.perspectives.org/

What is God’s Greatest Ambition?

• To make Himself known as great by saving unworthy sinners of all nations from death by grace and faith in Jesus Christ