Brothers and sisters… please read this prayerfully. How often do you cry or pray for the nations? How often do we listen to “their” cries?
I fear that in America, we have (generally) gotten so absorbed by how we do church that we have forgotten what it is like to be the Church. We are so busy planning the next big program, giving speeches, dealing with momentary issues, huddling up with people who are carbon copies of ourselves that we have forgotten the larger mission of the church, which is, of course, to spread the Gospel throughout the world. Indeed, we start in our own community… we better. Then, we have an obligation… actually a command from Jesus, to go to the nations. Most of you know this already, but you have allowed self-centered worship, your fear of diversity, or personal narcissism to deflect your attention from the task at hand.
At this moment you are either intrigued or ticked-off at my assertions. If you are intrigued, please meditate about how you can join the process of reaching the nations. If you are ticked-off, ask yourself why this would bother you? I am not in any way suggesting that all of our American churches are negligent, but some are. I am not suggesting that all of our pastors are narcissists, but some are. I am simply challenging you to consider the nations and the task at hand. The days are drawing near for the Lord’s return. We need to be about the business of reaching the lost for Christ beyond the communities in which we live and we need to embrace people in our communities who are from different backgrounds and cultures than we are.
Wrapping up… if you need a little push, review these verses: Isaiah 49:6, Matthew 5:14-16, Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:18-19, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:14, Revelation 7:9,
