PASSION SERIES: Our Part.

The ultimate purpose of the church is to disciple the nations. But World Missions is not just about going. There is a purpose that comes with it. When we miss the purpose, we miss the blessings that come with obeying and fulfilling the great commission.

“The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." ”
Genesis 12:1.

It all starts with understanding that it is the will of God to bless us abundantly. We need to embrace the blessings of God in our lives as individuals, as a ministry and as a nation before we can begin to be a blessing to the nations. We cannot be a blessing to somebody else if we have nothing.

GOD’S BLESSINGS = SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS + MATERIAL BLESSINGS
“Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold” Genesis 13:2.

GOD’S BLESSINGS EXTEND FROM ABRAHAM TO US.
“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” Galatians 3:29.

We are co-inheritors of God’s promise to Abraham. God sealed His promise with a covenant that cannot be broken. The proper response to the promise of God is to believe, receive, thank the LORD and be a blessing to others.

GOD’S PURPOSE FOR THE CHURCH IS TO DISCIPLE ALL NATIONS.

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you”
Psalm 67:1-3.

Chairman Mao Tse Tung of China is the 20th century’s greatest evangelist next to Billy Graham. He didn’t have to be a Christian. In the 1950s, he kicked out every single missionary in China. In those days, it would take 7 months of traveling on a mule to get to places in China. Mao Tse Tung had a road system built for trams and buses to travel on, making it easier for our missionaries to travel from one place to another. What took 7 months before became only 7 days of travel! Mao Tse Tung issued a decree that required businesses to use only one dialect in their transactions, Mandarin. He also reduced more than 4,000 Chinese characters to 1,500 making the bible easier to translate using only one dialect that is understood by every single Chinese, and with only 1,500 characters to use. Mao Tse Tung’s greatest contribution was when he pulled out the high achieving scholarly Christians from the universities and sent them to the most remote islands of China. Unwittingly, Mao Tse Tung sent off an army of intelligent, young Christians to places that was difficult for missionaries to reach, allowing the gospel to be preached in the farthest corners of China! The greatest revival is now happening in the rural areas that these students were sent to. Mao Tse Tung was very instrumental in spreading the faith that he sought to destroy 60 years ago.

OUR PART.

1.GO.
9 out of 10 people still need to hear the gospel and 4 out of those 9 people have not even heard of the name of Jesus Christ.

2. SEND.
We are called to pray individually and corporately for the nations and for the safety of our missionaries.

“And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” Mark 11:17.

3. GIVE.
In the early beginnings of Victory Church in the Philippines, it decided to raise a mission fund from among the few, unwealthy student members of the congregation. It was able to raise a staggering amount (at that time) of Php10,000 a month and was able to send out their first missionary. Victory Church has not looked back since then and it has never been in lack. Thus is the principle of sowing and reaping. It is in the going and the sending that the local church becomes a global church.

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands” Revelations 7:9.

Revelations 7:9 is our assurance that God commissioned us because He knew precisely that we can do it and that we will not fail. It is our assurance that His promise to Abraham will come to pass. He has already given the provisions and the victory to us through the blood of Jesus Christ. All we need to do is to respond and to obey to make disciples of all nations.

Once every people is represented in heaven, Jesus Christ will have received the full reward for his suffering, bringing glory and honor to His Name.