After going through the list of “ifs,” it should make us step back and realize there is a problem. Because if these “ifs” are not being done then we are not doing what we, as Christians, should be doing. Let’s look and see what these “ifs” really mean.
They indicate there is something wrong with us, as Christians— We have not the willingness to obey nor the desire to go take the gospel to the world. We are not unified, but rather diversified in our goal of reaching the world with the gospel. And because of not wanting to do all the “ifs,” it points directly at the fact that we do not truly desire to have Christ preached to the entire world. We are ok with just us and our families knowing and not concerned about a world that is dying and going to hell! This means we, as Christians, are not prepared to do our duty, nor do we want to do our duty! We need to stop loving ourselves and start loving Christ and as we start loving Christ, we will see the need of the gospel all around the world! But if we do not change, there are terrible consequences for our inaction!
The “ifs” point to our actual destiny— The “IFs” suggest what is certainly and also divinely possible! The power of God and the Holy Spirit is ours to wield to get the gospel to the world! The same power and same God is working in us today as He did in the first century Christians who did a great work carrying the gospel around the world. IF we would rouse ourselves from our spiritual stupor and step out in faith, we can see the evangelization of the world in this generation!
The “ifs” invite us to insure what is the cause of our terrible failure— Why haven’t we reached the world with the gospel yet? Why are there millions still dying on their way to hell without a knowledge of salvation? The truth boils down to the low spiritual state of Christians today. The chief symptoms of this problem are lack of prayer and worldliness. If we would stop living for the things of the world and like the world, we would start seeing the need of the world all around us. But we would rather live in the world and be like the world than set ourselves apart like we should be. Also, we lack prayer. We may say a quick prayer before a meal once in a while, but when is the last time you seriously spent time praying? Praying not just for yourself, but the need of others and the need of the world? If we began to pray for the world, there is no way you couldn’t help but be moved to action because you would see the great need in the world for the gospel!
The “ifs” urge us to see how deliverance from this low spiritual state can be found— The first step is confession. We must confess and realize what we have been doing is wrong. As we confess, we will begin to see the need and God will burden us for the need around the world and the actions we must take as believers! That will then lead us to appeal for God to send laborers, to raise up people to go and reach the world with the gospel. As we appeal to God for laborers, that would lead us to appeal to those around us to give their lives, time, and money for the evangelization of the world! Unless we, as Christians, are overcome with a great change, then nothing will be done to reach the world with the gospel in this generation.
May these “ifs” push us to change, as individuals and as Churches. May we stop living in worldliness and living for self and start living for God. As we live for God, then His love will constrain us to go! Then years from now, no longer will it be said nothing has been done, but instead, we will be reaping a great harvest that God has prepared for us to reap!
If you have ever asked, “What must a person do to become a missionary?” Here are some practical things you could do right now to get involved in world evangelism.
1) Get involved serving in your home church by helping your pastor
2) Help during your church’s missions conference
3) Pray over a world map for God to send more missionaries
4) Communicate with missionaries and encourage them
5) Give to missions through your church
6) Go on missions trips for God to work in your heart
7) Read missions books and missionary biographies
8) Be a soul-winner and go out with your church on outreach
9) Disciple others and help newer Christians to grow spiritually
10) Attend world evangelism missions events
If you enjoyed these, please share and leave a comment below. Also, please keep your eyes open for more Next Steps articles coming soon!
There are various “calls” in the Bible such as the call to salvation, the call to holiness, and the call to service. In Ezekiel 1-3, we have Ezekiel’s call and commissioning to be a prophet. There are some principles that we can learn that help all of us as we answer God’s call to serve Him.
The Spirit’s Help (v.1-2)
Ezekiel has just been overwhelmed by a dramatic vision of God’s throne and God’s chariot (Ezekiel 1). Now He is on his face, prostrate before the Lord. As the Lord begins to speak, he is commanded to stand up. In the face of such greatness, that was easier said than done. But notice that “the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet.”
As God deals with us about serving Him, in whatever capacity, we can be assured that if we are saved, we will have the Holy Spirit’s help. He empowers us to witness for Him. He gifts us for service, and we can rely upon Him to help us do what we are physically unable to do!
The People’s Rebellion (v.3-4)
Another thing we can count on when it comes to ministering and witnessing to people is that their hearts are set on rebellion. We live in a fallen world filled with fallen people. They may not be a rebellious or stubborn as the nation of Israel, but they will have many similarities.
Every person who has ever served God and tried to point people to God has face frustration, rejection, and difficulty. We have to stop thinking that it is easy for some and hard for others. Serving the Lord and preaching the gospel to sinners is always hard, but God still wants us to do it. And God still uses the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe!
Our Tendency Toward Fear and Disobedience (v.5-6)
Such a challenging job as preaching to those who don’t want to hear and who will use words and looks to intimate us is not for the faint of heart. At times, it may fear like briers, thrones, and scorpions are all around, but God still wants us to obey, to go, to not be afraid, and to do what He asks us to do.
The fact that God often addresses man’s fears when commissioning him for service shows us that we are all bent toward fear and disobedience. Our natural inclination is to want to be rebellious ourselves (v.8) and not obey, but God commands us to not give in. If you feel afraid, if you want to run the other way, join the club; that is the way every human feels at the prospect of serving the Lord!
The Lord’s Expectations (v.7-10)
God then lays out His expectations for Ezekiel. His job is to: listen (v.1-2), go (v.3), speak God’s Word (v.4), and leave the results up to Him (v.5). He expected Ezekiel to not be afraid or intimidated (v.6) but to keep on speaking God’s Word (v.7). And then finally, God gave Him the Word to say (v.8-10). He was to open his mouth and eat what God had written.
It is very important to clarify what it means to serve the Lord. God expects us to do our part and leave the rest up to Him. We cannot change the heart of man. We cannot make people believe and hear. But we can make sure we are doing all that He has asked of us. We can make sure we are listening to the Lord, devouring His Word, then going and speaking His Word, and not allowing anything or anyone to intimidate us or cause us to back down.
What Is God Calling You To Do?
What is God “calling” you to do? What is He putting in your heart? If you are saved, then God has a work for you to do.
How have you become afraid? How have you allowed words, looks, and thoughts to cause you to disobey?
Remember what your job is. Focus on your responsibility. Do that with all your heart. Get in the Word, give the Word, and watch the Lord change hearts.
I grew up in a wonderful pastor’s home outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Every year my family and I would visit our relatives who lived in the hills of Knoxville, Tennessee, for Christmas and for a summer family reunion. I had also traveled to other neighboring states like Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and the Carolinas. However, I had never left the southeastern United States until I went on my first mission trip in the summer of 2001 after graduating from high school at the age of eighteen.
I remember loading up an old bus that belonged to our church early one morning with my youth group and heading for the Mexican border along Texas. We got on Interstate 20 and headed due west through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and finally to Texas. While in Texas, right outside of Dallas, our old church bus overheated and decided it had had enough. We had to pull over to the side of the interstate to check it out. In the blazing hot summer sun, many of us were asked to get out and help push the large bus to a nearby mechanic shop. I remember that being the hottest, most miserable day I had ever experienced in all my eighteen years of life. Nothing but black, burning hot asphalt and sweaty hands, pushing a scalding hot metal bus for what seemed like an eternity.
My first day spent outside of the Southeast was a memorable one, but for several unpleasant reasons. The mechanics did manage to get the bus fixed, and after driving what seemed like a dozen more hours, we made it to the Mexican border. At the border, we met some American missionaries who picked us up in a yellow school bus. We made it past border patrol and traveled another four hours or so through the dry, barren desert before we reached the city of Jiménez.
I grew up in a Christian home. Memories of my youth are filled with believers investing in me and sharing the gospel with me. Gospel witness surrounded me, yet I rejected this good news until I was 18 years old. At that time, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and hypocrisy, and I received Christ as my Savior! Shortly after that, I went on my first missions trip to Peru, South America. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was excited about my new life in Christ, and I wanted to see what was outside of the world in which I grew up.
I arrived in Peru and met David Gardner, the missionary with whom I would spend the next month. David invested in me and showed me how God could use my life to reach the world with the gospel.
From my very first day in Peru, I started to realize that Peruvian culture and religious traditions were nothing like mine. I saw sincere people who were caught up in a system, trying to do anything they could to earn favor with God. They wanted so badly to be accepted by God, but they did not have the truth of God’s Word. I considered my own testimony, how I rejected the gospel for so many years, and it astounded me that many of the Peruvians I saw would go their entire life without ever hearing the gospel. The Lord used this experience to open my eyes to the need for the gospel around the world. All I knew was the situation I grew up in, but I did not consider that so many people around the world could live their whole life without the transforming message of God’s Word! It took a trip to South America for God to show me how blessed I am and how He could use my life to be a blessing to others by sharing the gospel with them.
I want to encourage and challenge you to go on a missions trip. Visit a missionary with an established ministry and see what God is doing all over the world. You have been richly blessed, and there is no telling how God can use your life for His glory! Take the time and make the trip to see how God can burden your heart and use your life to reach others with the gospel that reached you!
I can remember the first time that I drove from the airport to the place where my wife and I would be staying as missionaries in Mexico City. Most of the time, people would drive around with the windows down. For some reason, most people don’t have air-conditioning in their cars, and they didn’t seem that concerned about getting their AC unit fixed. As we drove, my eyes begin to burn, and I wondered why. I asked our host pastor, and he said that the exhaust from all the cars would stay trapped within the city air because of the mountains that wrapped around the city.
Something else began to burn as we drove around the city.
My heart.
As I looked out of a 40-story building in downtown Mexico City, I can say that what my eyes saw truly affected my heart. It was hard to imagine how millions of people could live in one city. Nine out of ten people that I passed on the street most likely did not understand salvation or had never heard a clear Gospel presentation.
My eyes began to see the ruined lives all around me. Lives weighed down with drugs and alcohol. Marriages that were empty and without Christ. Young people with no hope and no direction for their lives.
Most of you that read this article in America can probably say that you grew up close to a Gospel-preaching church, and even if you were not saved at an early age, you had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. It is so readily available through the media, distribution of literature, and other avenues.
Ninety percent of the Mexican population would consider itself Roman Catholic. This number made me see people differently. I would see people hurry to a Catholic church where they would pay money and pray for their loved ones who had already passed into eternity. They believe that when a soul dies, it goes to purgatory. By giving money and praying, they hope to pray their loved ones out of purgatory and into heaven. That they both believed and acted on this lie broke my heart for the lost in Mexico even more.
There’s a world in need of the Gospel, and we must decide to let what we see and hear affect our hearts. We need to move forward with a passion for lost people. We need to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into His harvest, with the knowledge that it just might be you and I that He calls!
Would you pray about joining us in Mexico? Ask the Lord to allow the need to affect your life in such a way that you would be willing to give up all and serve the Lord on the foreign field.
