12/05/11 by Jeff & Bethany | Blog | No Comments »
Below is a message transcribed by Joy Dawson. I believe this message to be a timely word of the Lord! The time is now.
Jonathan and his armor bearer. 1 Sam. 4
BEGIN MESSAGE:
The title of the message that God has laid upon my heart to bring to you
today is The Pioneering Minority Plus God.
I am particularly addressing this message as strong challenges and strong
opportunities for young generation leaders to reach the unreached people
groups of the world. But I’m not confining it to them, because we see Caleb
at the age of 80 doing mighty exploits for God. And it’s a great call to
intercessors, as well.
We are going to look at some strong lessons to learn from the lives of
Jonathan and his armor bearer from 1st Samuel chapter 14. And I would urge
you to have your Bibles with you because we will be going through verse by
verse.
We find that they represent the pioneering minority plus God and we are
going to discover that it is a dynamic and explosive combination. First of
all we need to understand how this category of young passionate disciples of
Jesus think. They are visionaries, who think that there has to be a more
effective way of winning the spiritual war against the enemy of our souls,
Satan, related to the nations of the world, than what is presently being
done.
They are discontented with the good programs producing some good results but
not effective in reaching the still unreached people groups among the
nations of the world. From their knowledge of God’s character and His ways
from God’s Word they have discovered five things. Lets look at them:
1. God is ingenious in His creativity and delights in doing new things.
Listen to what He says in Isaiah 43:19 “behold I (God) will (not may) do a
new thing (something that has not been done before) now (not in a hundred
years or five years) it shall spring forth, shall you not know it, I will
even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Those are two
absolutely totally unnatural things but God delights in doing the
impossible.
2. God is limitless in power. This young generation of pioneering minority
understand and believe that God says what He says means what He says. In
Luke 1:37 “for with God nothing will be impossible.” They believe Jeremiah
32:17, “Our Lord God behold you have made the heavens and the earth by your
great power and outstretched arm so obviously there is nothing too hard for
you.”
3. The pioneering minority plus God have learned from genuine revivals and
spiritual awakenings that to experience some great breakthrough in victory
over territory that the enemy, Satan, has had under his control, often for
centuries, they have to move out of all their comfort zones. WOW.
4. They understand that when God is moving in His greatest ways to extend
His Kingdom, He is never predictable; the unusual is the normal, so
therefore they do not expect to get normal assignments from God. Anyone who
has studied the earthly life of Jesus knows that the only thing that was
predictable about Him is that He only acted on His Father’s instructions. He
never did anything other than He saw the Father do and what He heard the
Father say. We know that from John 5:19 and John 5:13. Now, according to
Romans 8:29, our goal in life is to be conformed to the image of Jesus, so
how predictable are we in relation to Jesus’ life who came to show us how to
live? Burning question.
5. These young generation leaders understand that the purpose of being
blessed by God is according to Psalm 67:1 which is “your way may be known on
earth, your saving power among all nations.” That means they have world
vision. They believe that because the Great Commission was given to every
follower of Jesus, and in the Great Commission it said “go”, and “go” means
a change of location, then all we need to have a story is of divine guidance
to stay at home, not to go.
With that backdrop enter Jonathan and his armor bearer. 1 Samuel 14:1.
Jonathan believed the word of God. In Zachariah 4:10, “we are not to despise
the day of small beginnings.” He believed that one man and God is already a
majority, and with his armor bearer as his partner that was even a greater
majority.
Now lets see how the understanding of these important concepts I just shared
with you worked out in Jonathan and his armor bearer’s life.
Verse 1, I quote “now it happened on the day that Jonathan, the son of Saul
said to the young man who bore his armor, ‘Come let us go over to the
Philistines garrison that is on the other side,’” but he did not tell his
father. The reason was because his earthly leader was King Saul. He, at that
time in his life, was a disobedient, un-anointed man, so wisely Jonathan
never shared his vision, knowing it would have been squashed. He didn’t act
in rebellion to anointed leadership. That is a very important point. God
doesn’t anoint young rebellious leaders who are acting other than under a
God-appointed authority. 1st Samuel 13:14 says that God has already
dismissed Saul as the leader over Israel and appointed David. Saul the
present military leader was seated at his command center under a big tree
with 600 men without any battle plan in mind. It was no evidence of God’s
directions to him. That’s very important as we understand the setting that
Jonathan and his armor bearer moved from. The majority of God’s people,
sadly, today are really not convinced of the way the pioneering minority
plus God think, as I have described to you. God’s word proves it, the
history of the church proves it. Why? Because they prefer to stay within
their comfort zones. And there is nothing about this message that ever
promises comfort zones.
Verse 4. Here is where we see the start of the formidable challenges that
went with the enormous opportunities. Two armies of the Israelites and the
Philistines occupied high positions, facing each other, separated by an
extremely deep ravine. The challenges to Jonathan and his armor bearer were
in the form of two large, dangerous, sharp rocks so dangerous, so high, so
formidable that they were given names. One of them was called Bozes, meaning
slippery and the other one was called Senai, meaning thorny. The Philistines
would never dream that anyone in their right mind would ever attempt
climbing them bare-handed or would ever find them after that feat had been
accomplished. But that is exactly what these men were up too. The slippery,
thorny and dangerous rocks represent some of the exploits that have yet to
be done to overcome certain strongholds in the lives of millions yet to be
reached with the gospel. Daniel 11:32 says, “but those who know their God
shall stand firm and take action.” The pioneering minority with God will do
exploits that have never been done in the history of the church. And you
don’t need to be a prophet to say that, you just need to understand this
message here today.
Verse 6 of 1st Samuel 14:1 says (as you follow through with me in this
chapter), it tells of why Jonathan’s armor bearer could be so outrageously
bold and daring. I quote, “then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his
armor, ‘come let us go over to this garrison of these uncircumcised.’” He
didn’t even call them Philistines because he wasn’t impressed with their
status. It may be (and here comes the key) that the Lord will work for us.
For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. What an
extravagant statement of faith!
Now we are going to see 4 main things God wants to show us about the success
that we are going to see that is coming in this story.
1. First of all, their confidence was solely in God.
2. Second they knew that for God to get all the glory, it may well be
that God had planned to work with few rather than through many. Jonathan
would remember how God would do that with Gideon and his number of 300 men
to defeat the Midianites, the Amalekites and all the people of the east.
Judges 6:5 tells us they were as numerous as locusts, both they and their
camels were without number. How many can you get?! The purpose of the
pioneering minority plus God at that time was according to Judges 7:2 “lest
Israel claim glory for itself against me,” saying my own hand has saved me.
This tells us in Isaiah 42:8 what God was saying at that time, “my glory I
will not give to another,” and that verse is as up to date today as when it
came from the prophet Isaiah’s lips. There are verses in Malachi 2:1-2 that
put the fear of God in me in relation to touching the glory of God; listen
to them. They give us an understanding of God’s reactions when we do rob God
of His glory and take it to ourselves. Quote “and now, oh priests, this
command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart
to give glory to my name says the Lord of Hosts (are you ready for this),
then I will curse your blessings.” Have you touched the glory and taken for
it to yourself and wondered why previous things in your life were blessed
but not now? Check in with God, whether you have been giving Him all the
glory when He has used you. Verses 9 and 10 will go on to the chapter. Let’s
go back. The song says little is much when God is in it. Conversely, if your
plan does not originate with God forget it; forget it. It won’t even get off
the ground.
3. The third reason for their success is found in verse 7 “So his armor
bearer said to him ‘Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with
you, according to your heart.” What is God saying, in the simple verse? A
lot. The pioneering minority plus God in the story were total unity through
a mutually shared vision, total trust, total support of each other, relying
totally on God. Verse 8, if you will look at it, shows there was no
independent spirit operating within this team. “Then Jonathan said, ‘Very
well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them.’”
No independent spirit; a team working together.
4. The fourth reason for their success, another major factor in their
daring exploits, was that they made absolutely certain that this was the
will and purpose of God in all that they were doing before going any
further. So they inquired of the Lord like Gideon did. Verses 9 and 10, what
does it say? “If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will
stand still in our place and not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come up to
us,’ then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and
this will be a sign to us.” Oh how God loves it when we ask for confirmation
or correction to make sure we are not acting in presumption. Presumption is
a very prevalent and very grievous sin. Far too often committed in the Body
of Christ and many times amongst spiritual leaders. Listen to the heart cry
of David, it’s Psalm 19:13. When looking back over his life as a leader and
he saw as he went down memory lane, horrible, horrible steps of presumption
that he took and the horrible effects that it had on his life, leadership
and the people that he led. “Keep back your servant” he cries out to God
“from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be
innocent and free from great transgression.” That’s God view of presuming
and not seeking God in detail. Listen to the heart cry of God in Psalm
81:11-14 “But My people would not heed My voice. They would have none of Me
so I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own
counsels.” Before I go on I want tell you I couldn’t think of anything worse
than for that to happen to me. God to leave me in my own counsels because I
did not seek Him in detail. Then listen to the heart cry of God again. “Oh,
that My people would listen to Me, that they would then walk in My ways I
would soon subdue their enemies and turn My anger against their
adversaries.” How many times have God’s purposes been thwarted in our lives
because we haven’t waited in God’s presence long enough to hear His
directions? It’s not enough to say “Oh I prayed about it.” Did you hear
God’s directions? That’s the only thing that matters. 1 Samuel 14:11, follow
it with me, says “Both of them showed themselves to the garrisons of the
Philistines.” What does that little sentence state? You might say, “Oh no,
there’s no big deal in it.” Oh, yes there is. It’s highlighted again. There
is no spirit of independence working with in this team.
Now, some months ago I made a DVD, just like I’m making this one today, on,
it’s titled ‘Teamwork That Shaped A Nation.’ It’s taken from the book of
Esther, the lives of Mordecai and Esther, and it’s the most remarkable
display of Trinity unity that Jesus prayed, too, that we would have in the
body of Christ that I know of in the whole of the Bible, the trinity unity
between Mordecai and Esther. I would really urge those of you who are
serious about understanding God’s perspective on teamwork to order that DVD.
You can get it from the same place that this tape can be ordered from at
Youth With A Mission in Los Angeles, Southern California.
We are only as strong as we are united. We cannot stress unity strong
enough. Matthew 12:25 says, “Every city or house divided against itself will
not stand.” Did you notice the word every? No exception. Well, what does
“will not stand” mean? It means it doesn’t matter what you’re doing in
service for God; if you are not united as a team it’s ineffective.
We are only as united as we are loving. Philippians 2:2 “Fulfill my joy by
being like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
We are only as loving as we are humble. Ephesians 4:1-3 “With all lowliness
bearing with one another in love, keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond
of peace.” Verse 11 says, “So both of them showed themselves to the garrison
of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, ‘Oh, look the Hebrews are
coming out of the holes where they have hidden.’ Then the men of the
garrison called to Jonathan and his armor bearer and said to them, ‘Hey!
Come up to us and we’ll show you something.’” Ah, God’s sign of his guidance
that they had been asking for. To this little pioneering minority it’s
confirmed from the words of the enemy “Come up to us”. So then Jonathan knew
they were in the will of God and his armor bearer. And Jonathan spoke in
bold authority with his partner, coming out of humility and assurance that
they were in God’s will. You can only speak with boldness and authority when
you are the right person at the right place at the right time in the right
condition of the heart saying and doing the right thing. And he was. So with
total unity and total dependence on God this is what Jonathan said, “Come up
after me for the Lord has delivered you into the hand of Israel.” Verse 12b.
Being hounded like an animal, going from cave to cave for 7 years, by Saul. Listen to his testimony; it’s exactly the same wording as what happened with the victory that God gave these two guys that day. David said, “By you, I can crush a troop (verse 29 of Psalm 18); by my God, I can leap over a wall.” Verse 33, “He made my feet like hinds feet, like a deer and set me secure on the heights.” Verse 36, “You gave a wide place for my steps under me and my feet did not slip. I pursued my enemies and overtook them and did not turn back until they were consumed. I thrust them through, so they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet. For You girded me with strength for the battle. You made my assailants sink under me.” That’s another exact picture as what happened in David’s life was what happened in Jonathan’s life. And He can do the same thing for you. Give us supernatural abilities, supernatural power, supernatural faith to do things that are completely against all normal or natural laws.
Now, lets look at the results of this military phenomenon. Verse 15, I don’t want you to miss the weight of this because I’ve never personally, in my 83 years ever heard a message on this subject. I’m sure there have been many preached, I just haven’t heard them. But listen, have you noticed, are you looking at verse 15? “And there was trembling,” now this is what was happening in the enemy’s camp way far away from where these two men were on this little half an acre of land. So this has to be totally sovereign what God did amongst/in the enemy’s camp miles away. Listen, “and there was trembling in the camp, in the field and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; the earth quaked (God turned on an earthquake miles away as a result of these two guys in this half acre of land). So that was a very great trembling. God’s explosive power, in addition, broke out on all the people with trembling. Everybody was affected drastically, including the earth, which was quaking, under a very great trembling. More than that, there was great terror everywhere and the Philistines described it as ‘the multitude melted away, they went here and there,’ verse 16. Verse 19 says the noise in their camp continued to increase. This is all God’s sovereign intervention. And then verse 20 says there was very great fear and confusion as they began fighting one another. WOW! What a mind-boggling takeover from headquarters Heaven. In addition, that’s not all, Israelites who had previously chosen to be with the Philistines as slaves suddenly decided to revolt and joined in the battle against the Philistines. Sovereign working of God, again. Another group did the same, verse 22 says, “Likewise, all the men of Israel, who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim when they heard that the Philistines had fled, they also followed hard after them in battle.” What had started out as two young men plus God, risking their lives to defeat the enemy, ended up as a massive victory for the whole nation. And, the thing that excites me more than anything else is what comes next in verse 23, “and God got all the glory.” I quote, “so the Lord saved all of Israel that day,” that is what everybody was talking about. So what was the summary of their success, these 2 men with this mind-boggling military phenomenon that took place?
1. Their dependence was entirely upon God.
2. They were determined that all the glory would go to God.
3. They manifest biblical unity that was based upon genuine humility.
4. They diligently sought God for his directions in detail and totally obeyed him.
Now, often after victory our biggest opposition comes from jealousy of other leaders. What a horrible thing to have to say, but we see it in the word, we see it in the lives of people involved in this story. Because of jealousy of Saul toward David after he slew Goliath, Saul tried many times to kill David over years. Now Saul is manifesting the same root of jealousy toward Jonathan his son, and tries to have him killed. You think, “Tries to have him killed?” Yes. Look into the story. We look into it in a minute. What does God say to us how older leaders need to guard their hearts against this horrible sin of jealousy? Especially toward younger leaders, who God used in different and possibly more powerful ways than God had used them. In order for us to understand how ghastly this sin is and the implications of it we look at Song of Solomon chapter 8:6. “Jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame.” Psalm 27:8. And by the way, what does a vehement flame do? Burn everything around it; it’s a killer. How we need to not only ask God to show us if there’s any jealousy in our hearts, but how we need to cry out for the fear of God to give us a hatred for the sin of jealousy, because the fear of God is the hatred of sin. And when you have a hatred for the sin of jealousy you won’t commit it. You’ll be wanting to be an encourager of young men and young women under you and you’ll want to be their greatest source of encouragement. If not, you can be their greatest discouragement and even plan their downfall. Psalm 27:8, “wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?”
Jonathan nearly lost his life after the battle due to a foolish rule that Saul imposed upon the people. And it was that they weren’t to eat anything that day, and the people were hungry and faint and tired, and he says nobody is to eat anything. It was a stupid rule. And Jonathan, who had been out there with his armor bearer doing these great exploits for God under his power and strength, didn’t know anything about this foolish rule. And so innocently, Jonathan just took a little honey that day and was strengthened. And Saul pronounced his death because he had broken a rule he had never heard about. How I love how God intervened on his behalf through the people. I’d hate it if the story ended there, but it doesn’t. “After Saul had pronounced his son’s death, the people had recognized that Jonathan and his armor-bearer had paid the enormous price for the victory and that they had done it in obedience to God’s direction. And their words were, and I quote verse 45, if you look in your Bible “they rose up, all of them and saw the gross injustice and they said Jonathan will not die because he has worked with God this day.” This proves that no man or devil can thwart the will of God in our lives. Only we can through our disobedience or our unbelief. God will ALWAYS make a way for those who believe Him and obey Him.
Job 42:2, “I know that you can do all things and that no purposes of yours can be thwarted,” or another version says thwarted or restrained. Job 23:13-14, “but God is unchangeable and who can turn Him from what He desires or what He does? For He will complete what He appoints for me and many such things are in His mind.” Isn’t that encouraging? If we will pay the high price of being the pioneering minority plus God, a whole nation can be brought out of darkness into the light and freedom from satanic forces.
Now, in order for everything I have shared today to be effectively applied we have to be thoroughly convinced of the following truths from God’s word. And that is: we need to look and be convinced of God’s position, God’s power, God’s purposes and God’s perspective related to the unreached nations, because that is what this message is all about – reaching the unreached nations of the world.
Our faith is according to our focus. So let’s look at God’s position. And I make no apology for giving you verse after verse because how does revelation come to us, because truth comes through hearing the word of God. (33:19) So what does the word of God say about God’s authority? His supreme and sovereign control over the nations. I hope you will jot down the references here: Psalm 47:2 and verses 6 and 8, “How awesome is the Lord, Most High, the Great King over all the earth.” God reigns over the nations. God is seated on his Holy throne. Psalm 22:28, “All the ends of the earth,” that means every unreached people group, “will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him; for dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations.”
Now look at God’s power that was His position. Now look at his power, Isaiah 52:10, “The Lord will lay bare His holy arm in sight of all the nations and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.” Did you notice the “all?” No exceptions. 2 Chronicles 32:7, “Be strong and very courageous. Don’t be afraid or dismayed before all the multitude . . . with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and fight our battles.” I’m going to illustrate this right up to date. Some are thinking, “Oh, you are just thinking in Bible terms.” No, here’s a right up-to-date illustration. About 23 years ago, a young Christian couple were called of God to go to Uganda as missionaries. The husband, Gary Skinner, was from South Africa and his wife, Marilyn, was from Canada. They had only been in Uganda for 4 months when one night 25 men came knocking at their door. Now, in light of what is coming remember it’s 25 men all banging on the door. Marilyn was alone in the house with her young children. “Open up!” the men demanded. They intended robbing, raping and possibly even killing her. Marilyn and the children hid under the bed. The men kept banging, 25 of them, and knocking. Marilyn kept quoting the scripture that God quickened to her and given to her that day from the Bible. It was out of Isaiah 53:7, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” Unable to get through the wooden door after three hours of banging, the men finally left. On another occasion, 3 men did break in and robbed the house, tying Gary and Marilyn up with electric cords. They put a gun to Gary’s head and demanded more money. “We don’t have any money so you may as well shoot us,” Marilyn responded. The man pulled the trigger but the gun didn’t fire. He tried several more times. It didn’t go off. “Are you Christians?” they asked. When Marilyn affirmed, “Yes, we are.” the men fled. Ha-ha. Terrified. The Skinners stayed at their post and today have a church of 20,000 people. The minority pioneering plus God who stay the course, win victoriously.
That was God’s power. Now, we look at God’s purposes related to the Nations. Rev. 5:9, “And they sang a new song, ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and open the seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.’” Psalm 2:8, this is God’s purpose and plan. “Ask of me, I’ll make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” Isaiah 55:5, “Surely you will summon nations you know not and nations you do not know will hasten to you because of the Lord your God, Holy One of Israel, for He has endowed you with splendour.” OK, I’m going to give you another story of how God’s purposes and plans work out to the pioneering minority plus God. A group of believers in the village of San Nicolas in Mosquito Valley in New Mexico, had left the religious traditions of the Atomies and had become Christians. They faced increasing persecution, which led to other villages demanding that they leave. The believers settled on a bare hill. A place no one else ever wanted to live. One day, the Christians heard about a plan that was to be carried out the same night to exterminate every single one of them. One of the woman believers, who had been there the longest time, went to every hut urging the people to come out together and pray for help and to put their trust in God. She said, “Don’t be afraid, God isn’t dead.” Some were afraid to go out into the open to the top of the hill because of bullets from the ambush. But, gradually, the trembling believers slowly assembled together. In simple faith they pled for God’s protection and for Him to somehow display His glory. Remember what the scriptures say, “He has endowed you with splendour.” That’s the promise and that’s what they were wanting. In faith they went back to their huts and slept. What a miracle. The next day in the streets people gathered in small groups staring at the Christians and whispering amongst themselves. Gradually the story became known. Several hundred men’s intent was to exterminate every Christian. Armed with dynamite and other weapons they had gathered the night before at the bottom of the hill. At a given signal they started up toward the believers, when all of the sudden God turned on the fire of His power. In a horror they saw the whole hilltop was covered with a glaringly bright light with the little church building in full view. They could see soldiers circling the hilltop, all holding guns, and all ready to fire. Then trumpets began playing loudly. I love that. The angry mob reported the next day they couldn’t get up the hill. They couldn’t even get up the hill because they couldn’t get past the “guards.” Every Christian was spared from death. They knew our miracle working God had spotted them when He was looking for some one to display His glory by the fire of His power at a desperate need. There’s a verse in 2 Chronicles that says God’s eyes are looking to and fro throughout the whole earth to display His glory on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal toward Him. They qualified. They proved that powerful promise in Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and He delivers them.” It was the angels that these guys saw that they were terrified of. At one point it seemed that the little congregation might be snuffed out in a single occasion, but now there are some 5,000 believers scattered in 54 village congregations who have the New Testament translated and printed in their own language through the Wycliffe Bible translators. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” We must only and always be impressed with one who said those words, never the one who challenges them.
Finally, we look at God’s perspective of the enemy; satanic forces which must become our perspective. God’s perspective must become ours. 1 John 3:8, “For this purpose was the Son of God manifest that the works of Satan might be destroyed.” When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.” all satanic activities on the earth became illegal. Colossians 2:15, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities He made a public spectacle over them, triumphing over them by His cross.” Satan is nothing but a fallen angel doomed to eternal destruction. We must never be impressed with that status. We must never think it’s hard for God to reach the Muslims, atheists, communists, Buddhists, shintuists, Hindus, humanists, and nothingists. It’s only difficult for Christians who limit God through unbelief and disobedience. When we give God the fervent praise for who He is, He will rise up and display His mighty power. I love this verse, the closing verse, Isaiah 42:13, “The Lord will march out like a mighty man; like a warrior He will stir up His zeal with a shout. He will raise the battle cry and He will triumph over his enemies.” That’s the word of the living God. Light is more powerful than darkness. Truth is stronger than error. There’s more grace in God’s heart than sin in man’s heart. There’s more power in the Holy Spirit to convict man’s heart than the power of satanic forces to tempt them to sin. There’s more power in one drop of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus to cleanse men’s heart from the stain of sin then the accumulative filth of men’s sin from Adam and Eve. Hallelujah! Our God Reigns! That’s the end of the message.
Now, I’m going to close with just giving you a very brief overview of 6 most needy places in the world to reach the unreached and an update of encouraging reports. This is right hot off the press, these statistics.
The first area of the world is Northern India and the Himalayas such as Tibet and Bhutan. It’s the largest number of unreached peoples anywhere in the world, numbering hundreds of millions. There are comparatively very few Christians and very few missionaries. In 2001, to give you an example of this, a massive pilgrimage of about 60 million Hindus took place. It is called “Maha Cumba Mela.” It became the largest gathering of people anywhere in the world. Period. Now, that’s the statistic. Here’s the challenge. The encouragement. House church movements are spreading through Hindus for the first time ever and there is a great need for workers. And just very recently, I’m talking about 10 days ago, I received this very encouraging report coming from North India. A true Christian foreigner disguised himself to look like the local people and went into one of the Hindu temples to pray quietly, doing spiritual warfare. As he did he touched the idols. The chief priest of the temple observed this and concluded the man surely must be a devout Hindu. He asked the man to go deeper with him into the temple and touch every idol as he prayed. The Christian intercessor did. In Indian temples if any of the idols get cracked they abandon the idol, but if all the idols get cracked they have no option but to close the temple. 7 days later that’s exactly what happened because all the idols were cracked. Our God Almighty reigns. Now there’s a warning there with that terrific victory. This experienced intercessor understood the need to be thoroughly spiritually prepared before going on the enemies’ territory to do warfare. We find Paul exhorting us to do that preparation in Ephesians 6.
The second most needy place in the world for unreached to be reached is Northern Africa. In the majority of these countries, here’s the challenge: almost 100% are Muslim and 75% are unreached with the Gospel. Here’s the encouragement: people are coming to Christ in Algeria through films, T.V., and the Internet. Algerian missionaries are making great sacrifices to evangelize North Africa.
Three is Iran. 90% here is the challenge: unreached people groups. Numbers of Christians have suffered persecution and martyrdom. Encouragement: 70% of the country, get this, is under 30 years of age. Estimates say 95% have rejected Islam and are open to new truth, including the Gospel. Underground fellowships have formed and many have come to Christ.
Fourth area is China. 83% of people groups are unreached because of the millions that are in that country. It is an emerging global economic and military super power. Encouragement, over ten thousand per day convert to Christ. There are over 100 million believers. Leadership training is taking place in cities and rural areas. The Chinese Christians have a huge vision to send tens of thousands of Chinese missionaries back along what they call the Silk Road from China back to Jerusalem to evangelize areas of the world most resistant to the gospel.
The fifth area is central Asia. 93% of the people groups in Afghanistan and 96% of groups in Pakistan are unreached. What’s the encouragement? Missionaries are working in this area in central Asia from Korea, USA, Europe, India and Africa. But government opposition in most places has made progress slow. There are now a few believers amongst the Muslims in this area.
The sixth area is Europe. The challenge is the encroachment of atheistic secularism and continuing growth of Islam through immigration making church growth very low. What’s the encouragement? There are small renewals of life in the Spirit ranging from Catholic charismatics to Orthodox who evangelize their neighbours. The most promising work is done through church planting by African leaders. Asians and Latins are also planting churches in Europe. Now I’ve gone through quickly for times sake, but I’m going to summarize those 6. I have memorized those statistics and made it a daily way of life to pray, my husband and I, for these 6 areas of the world. Where are they with the most unreached? Northern India and Himalayan region, Northern Africa, Iran, China, Central Asia, and Europe. I’m going to give them to you again so you can write them down. Northern India and Himalayan region, Northern Africa, Iran, China, Central Asia, and Europe.
Will you consistently pray for the unreached people groups and the 6 areas mentioned? Will you ask God to thrust forth labourers into those harvest fields, and for the Holy Spirit to prepare the hearts of the people when they hear the gospel? Will you pray that when the gospel is preached it will be done, it will be demonstrated to them with the accompanying signs and wonders as Jesus did and taught us to do? Will you do that as a response to this message?
In addition, I have prepared 11 very penetrating questions for those as an application for this message.
What is all this all about? 2 Kings 19:19 could be the answer, that ALL the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are God! And in Romans 15, the words of Paul, in verse 20. He said his ambition was to preach the gospel not where Christ had already been named, but to fulfil the scripture. Quote, “they who have never been told of him, (Jesus) and they shall understand who have never heard of Him.” Will you be part of this vision? May God help you in Jesus name, Amen.
Application of the Message.
The Pioneering Minority – Plus God.
By Joy Dawson
1) Will you respond to God’s challenge by saying “Yes” to Him, after carefully weighing the implications of this word of the Lord? It may cost you your life. You leave that decision with God.
2) Will you diligently seek the Lord, and ask Him to reveal to you if you’re to be a part of the “Pioneering Minority Plus God?” If the answer is “Yes”, don’t let God go until He reveals His plan to you. Ask God to lead you to the team member/members with which you are to partner.
3) Are you prepared to study the Biblical principles of unity and will you commit to live by them?
4) Have you made a study of all the facets of God’s involvement with the nations, and do you believe them?
5) Do you know the verses in the Bible about God’s involvement with the nations, and do you believe them?
6) Keep asking God for increasing measures of the fear of the Lord. The Bible says it will keep you from the fear of men. It will give you a hatred of sin. And it is instruction in wisdom – to help you carry out God’s exploits.
7) Will you decide to make it a way of life to seek the Lord for directions, small and large, and live as Jesus did, who never did anything independent of His Father’s orders? Will you ask God to give you a hatred of the sin of presumption?
8) Are you irrevocably convinced that without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, moment by moment, you are bankrupt spiritually? If so, do you immediately repent of anything that would grieve the Holy Spirit? Do you ask for and receive by faith the Holy Spirit’s control on a daily basis?
9) Will you consistently pray for the unreached people groups in the six areas mentioned? Will you ask God to thrust forth laborers into those harvest fields, and for the Holy Spirit to prepare the hearts of the people when they hear the gospel? Pray that it will be demonstrated to them with accompanying signs and wonders as Jesus did and taught.
10) Will you determine to always give God the glory whenever He uses you in matters small or great?
11) If the answers are not “Yes”, to all the questions, will you believe the Holy Spirit will work in your life until you can say,
“He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it.” Philippians 1:6
“That all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are God.” 2 Kings 19:19
- In Romans 15:20, Paul said it was “his ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ had already been named….but to fulfill the scripture, ‘They shall see, who have never been told of Him, and they shall understand who have never heard of Him.’”
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