11
May '21
Will We Sleep Through God’s Call? A Missions Challenge by Brian Mark Weller
11
May '21
The 10/40 Window is a region stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. To this day, over 3 billion of its inhabitants have never heard of Jesus Christ. But millions of professing Christians show little or no interest in reaching them. If that’s you, there are only two possibilities: either you haven’t yet understood the problem of the unreached, or you’re spiritually asleep.
The Forgotten Call
Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV). Our Lord never commanded us to settle our influence in one place, crying, “To hell with the rest of the world!” He has a vision for the lost, desperate, and hurting masses in every corner of the Earth. Now, His vision must become our vision, and His command our command! To neglect the Great Commission is to disobey the commandment of Jesus Christ.
With this considered, I want to ask – what will you do about God’s call to the unreached? Will you put your head in the sand and pretend those three billion souls don’t exist? Will you take the heartless path, refusing to offer them the only gospel that can save? Or will you do all you can to reach them—by giving toward, going to, or praying for the 10/40 Window? Remember, countless native and foreign missionaries are waiting to preach Jesus to these masses of unreached souls. Are you willing to stand by their side and help them? Yes or no? God’s throne never accepts maybes!
No More Excuses
Church, it’s time for all of us to stop making excuses, pull out all the stops, and reach the unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastors, please don’t claim God hasn’t led you to reach the unreached. If you say that, I’ll point you to Jesus’s commands. Jesus commanded us to disciple all nations. If you don’t do it, your spiritual community will remain lukewarm forever. If you refuse to obey it, don’t claim your church is in revival—what kind of revival directly violates Jesus’s commands? Is your vision so puny that it only reaches one community, city, state, nation, continent, or hemisphere? I surely hope not!
Christian, please don’t claim God hasn’t called you to help the cause of unreached peoples. If you say so, you’re deceiving yourself and disobeying Jesus’s command. Have you forgotten that His commands are as crucial as His promises?
Bible student, don’t sit around doing nothing because you’re “awaiting the rapture.” Jesus told us when the end would come—“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then the end shall come” (Matthew 24:14 NKJV). In light of this verse, I believe Jesus won’t return until we fulfill the Great Commission in all nations. Much work remains, so let’s stop sitting around!
The time for excuses has passed. What will you do? Something or nothing? You only have two choices—obedience or disobedience. What will it be?
Some Important Questions
Let me ask you some important questions.
When you step into Heaven, don’t you want to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:23 NKJV)?
Don’t you want some soul to greet you, saying, “Thank you for helping send the gospel to me and my country. You don’t know me, but you helped send a missionary to my village, and God saved me!”
In eternity, don’t you want to know you obeyed Jesus’s command to disciple all nations?
Of course, you do! I do too!
That’s why now is the time to obey God’s Great Commission. Will you obey God’s call, or will you slap away His hand and sleep on? God wants to make you into His worldwide ambassador, starting today – but first, you must wake up to His call. May the words of C.T. Studd become your life motto:
“Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say,” Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say “’twas worth it all”;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ shall last.”
C.T. Studd a
A practical note: If you want to take a first step, we suggest you begin to pray and financially support organizations that work in the 10/40 Window. You may not feel led to join our 10/40 rescue mission; that’s fine. But please join someones. If you’re interested in adopting a pastor in the 10/40 Window for $100 a month, click here.
Brian Mark Weller is the founder of Message Ministries and a Christian teacher with a passion for world missions. Brian met the Lord in 1974 and entered public ministry soon after in 1976. In 1988, God gave Brian a special gift — a piercing burden for lost souls on the mission field. Since then, Brian has traveled the nations preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. He has recorded 9 albums of challenging Christian music and published one stirring book — Backsliding in Heart: 5 Steps to a Backsliding Heart and Back Again. He currently lives with his wife Anne in St. Petersburg, FL. He has three grown children and three grandchildren. Click here to learn more about Brian, access his Bible teaching, or invite him to minister at an event.
