Tag Archives: Missions

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Becoming Intensely Missionary

It’s Time To Personally Prioritize Reaching The Unreached

UNSHAKEABLE: What does God care most about? I would contend that in the most powerful and profound sense, God desires that everyone on Planet Earth would have the chance to hear the Good News of his plan of eternal salvation that he offers through placing saving faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. Whether people accept the message or not, God still wants everyone to have the chance to hear and either reject or accept his gospel. And I would further contend that when you dedicate your life—your time, talent, energy, and resources—to reaching those who have never heard this Good News, God will devote himself to caring for what you most care about. What a deal! That, my friend, is an offer you shouldn’t refuse.

Becoming Intensely Missionary

Unshakeable Living // Romans 15:20-21

My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says, “Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.”

Are you a missions-minded Christian? Put another way, are you intensely missionary — especially about reaching those who have never heard the Good News of God’s saving plan through placing faith in his Son, Jesus Christ?

I thought I was intensely missionary. I grew up in the church where the occasional missionary would come and, if we were lucky, show slides of his work in Africa or some other far-off place that I had only heard about in geography lessons at school. Then I grew up and became a pastor, and again, the occasional missionary would come and tell the church what God was doing somewhere far away, and I would feel good that we were a missions church. I would even give regularly to support the church’s missions effort around the world. I was content that I was a missions-minded Christian.

But that began to change. Periodically, I was sent overseas for short-term missions projects by the various churches I served, and my heart begin to get reshaped by what I saw God doing among people who had never heard the name of Jesus before. The signs, wonders, and miracles in the context of the mission (Paul talks about that very same mission-laden context: “by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God.” Rom 15:19) blew my mind. I had never seen such things in the U.S., and experiencing it abroad, I longed to see the supernatural back home in my church, too. God was disturbing my contentedness and reshaping my heart for missions.

Then God completely dislocated my heart and gave me a real passion for missions, for reaching people who had never heard the Gospel of Christ. I have a notion now that I have become a missions-minded Christian, and I grow more intensely missionary as the days go by.

It all happened when I reluctantly got involved in a church-planting project in a remote, unreached African region in 2004. I was reluctant because I knew that my involvement would require a lot of my own personal resources, and to be successful, it would require significant resources from my church. Figuring our resource pie was already stretched and limited, I secretly feared that the finances we dedicated to this project would flow away from other worthy projects and that we would simply be “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Then, as I was stressing over this likely outcome, something wonderful happened. God spoke to me. Not in an audible voice or through writing on the wall or some other sensational sort of way (that would have been really cool). He simply and clearly spoke to me through an undeniable and unmistakable inner impression in my spirit. Addressing my stress, he simply said, “Ray, if you will take care of the things I care about, then I will take care of the things you care about. I care about a lost world. I care about people who have never heard my name. And I want you to care about them too!” Let me say that again, for it was not only for Ray Noah, it is God’s message to you, too:

If you will take care of the things I care about, then I will take care of the things you care about. I care about a lost world. I care about people who have never heard my name. And I want you to care about them too!

That was good enough for me. I jumped into this project up to my eyeballs, and true to his word, God turned on a miraculous flow of resources for this church planting project and those other projects I had been so concerned about. Best of all, my obedience and those who joined me keyed a revival in this region of Africa that was beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Now, twenty years later, the gospel has spread to unreached villages in several nations, and over 1.5 million lost souls have come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior! And this modern-day revival is showing no signs of slowing.

What God has done in Africa through this act of obedience changed my heart forever and has given me an ever-growing, all-consuming passion for missions. I still have a passion for the local church and reaching the lost in my community (that’s missions, too), but I have an added ambition now: To keep God’s people focused on reaching people who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. You see, just because a person happens to be born in an unreached part of the world shouldn’t limit their access to Jesus and the blessings of his kingdom.

Reaching the unreached — that was Paul’s ambition, according to Romans 15:20, way before it was mine. That is God’s ambition, according to Romans 15:21, that “those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.”

I pray that you will open your heart and let God make it your ambition as well. I hope that you will travel with me down the path to becoming an intensely missionary Christian. If you will, I will make you the same promise God made me:

If you will take care of the things God cares about—a lost world, God will take care of the things you care about—your world.

What a deal! That is an offer you shouldn’t refuse.

Get Rooted: I challenge you to begin to pray this prayer: “God, break my heart for the things that break your heart.”

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The Best Investment You Will Ever Make

Being With Jesus:
John 4:34-38

Jesus said to them, “My food is doing the will of him who sent me and finishing the work he has given me. Don’t you say, ‘Four months more and then comes the harvest’? But I tell you to open your eyes and look to the field—they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life, so that both sower and reaper may be glad together. For in this harvest the old saying comes true, ‘One man sows and another reaps.’ I have sent you to reap a harvest for which you never labored; other men have worked hard and you have reaped the results of their labors.”

Today’s AP headline screams “World stock markets plunged and Wall Street was due to suffer heavy losses on Monday after China’s main index sank 8.5 percent amid fears over the health of the world’s second-largest economy.” Obviously, your money is not as safe as you’d like it to be. But Jesus spoke of an investment you can make that will yield never-ending, ever-increasing returns. He promised that those who give financially to missions will get in on an eternal harvest that is unprecedented in history. If there was ever a time, it’s now to repurpose your life, especially your finances for greater missional engagement. Jesus says to you, “open your eyes and look to the field—they are gleaming white, all ready for the harvest! The reaper is already being rewarded and getting in a harvest for eternal life.” (John 4:35-36)

Yes, now is the time! It’s true, there has never been a greater opportunity for return on your missions investment than right now—your investment of praying for missions, giving to missions, encouraging missionaries, going on a mission and in a way that encompasses everything about you, living a missions driven life. And by “missions”, I mean anything that has to do with proclaiming Christ in places with no sustainable Christian witness to those who haven’t received the Good News yet and influencing them into God’s eternal kingdom.

That’s what Jesus is prophetically saying in John 4:34-38. In verse 35, he pleads with his disciples: “Open your eyes; see the fields! Now is the time—they’re ripe for harvest.” And notice how he frames his missions appeal in terms of return on investment in verse 36: “The reaper will get rewarded now, plus bring in a harvest that’s eternal.” (JBP)

The Fields Are White Unto HarvestAs we sit at the end of the age, the evidence shouts that this is a “kairos” moment. “Kairos” is the Greek word used in the New Testament for a God-opportunity; “chronos”, on the other hand, is the word used for actual time, that is, chronological time. This is that kairos time of which Jesus spoke where those who pray for, go on and give to missions will get in on an eternal harvest that is unprecedented in history.

If there was ever a time, it’s now to repurpose your life for greater missional engagement. If you’ve not, get all in, make the change to go all out for missions. If you already are engaged in missions, recalibrate for more. Now is the time! Don’t miss out!

As you correctly absorb John 4, there are three unavoidable convictions you will lay claim to in relation to the huge and ripened harvest that is our present world:

First, you will become convinced that doing missions is your divine mandate. In verse 34, Jesus directly connected reaching this foreign seeker (the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar) with both the will and the work of God: “What keeps me going is to do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started.” (MSG)

I realize that what I’m talking about—dedicating your time, energy and money…or more of it—may not be too comfortable for you. Unless you are convinced of what Jesus was convinced of—that this is the will and work of God—any call to commit your resources of time and energy will seem pushy about this. But sincerely pray about it. Don’t do or not do it because a pastor or missionary is pressuring you. Open your heart to God, and simply ask, “God, help me to see the harvest—and what you would have me to do about it!”

Secondly, you will become convinced that doing missions brings the deepest satisfaction. In verse 32, Jesus said, “this is my nourishment!” It has been my experience that missional investment and involvement satisfies a core desire like no other. In an age that deeply longs for satisfaction but can never seem to really find it, I can promise you this: what deeply satisfied Jesus’ soul will be that which can only and fully satisfy your soul!

Thirdly, you will become convinced that the missional sacrifice of others demands your best sacrifice. Notice verse 38: “I’m sending you to reap what you’ve not worked for. Others have done the hard work, now you’ll reap the benefits of their labor.” The investment of those who’ve gone before us demands that we do no less.

Think of the comfort missionaries have given up over the centuries to take Jesus to unreached people. It is the story of sacrifice! They died—often literally—to our version of the good life to bring the Good News so others can live.

James Calvert, in the 1800’s, shipped off to go as a missionary to the cannibals on the Fiji Islands. As they neared the islands, the captain tried to dissuade him back.“You’ll lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among these savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “Captain, we died before we came here.”

To Calvert—and other missionaries, I think they would all say, it was no sacrifice; it was our nourishment; it was our calling. We would do it all over again.

When you consider missionaries, starting with Jesus clear down to those serving in far away and difficult places in the world today, their sacrifice is best honored by your sacrifice! Mine, too! Missions is your calling! It’s your privilege. It will be your nourishment! And in eternity, it will prove to be the best investment you ever made.

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“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” (Henry Martyn)

Getting To Know Jesus: Your assignment this week is to give an offering to a missions organization. It is not the only way to be missional, it is a good start, because as Jesus said, “where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)