Radical 7 – We Are God’s Plan A

GOD’S WILL MEANS GOING: IT IS URGENT AND IT IS NOT OPTIONAL

 We began the Radical Introduction with a short video that included scary statistics. Of approximately 6 Million people groups currently living on earth, $4.5 Million of them are lost. That means, approximately a billion people today have not had the opportunity to hear or accept the gospel’s message.

I recently attended a seminar which revealed that there are 6,800 unique languages in the world today and the Bible has only been translated into 2,000 of them. People are currently working on translating 2,000 of the other languages, and there are 2,000 in which no one has started translating yet. With the various English translations that are available to us, we understand the importance of people having the Word of God available in a manner in which they can understand. Even this challenge requires a commitment to go and give.

The fact of the matter is according to the Bible there is no eternal hope for people who die apart from accepting the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter how nice they are and what good works they do, apart from faith in Jesus, they will die and spend eternity separated from God. God calls us to go to the lost, labor among them (Luke 10:1-3, Matthew 9:36-38), and share his good news (Matthew 9:35, 28:19-20) that Jesus Saves.

“If people are dying and going to hell without ever even knowing there is a gospel, then we clearly have no time to waste our lives on an American dream (143).”

David Platt highlights truth from the book of Romans:

Truth 1: All people have knowledge of God – Romans 1:18-23

Truth 2: All people reject God – Romans 1: 24-32

Truth 3: All people are guilty before God – Romans 3:10-12

Truth 4: All people are condemned for rejecting God – Romans 2:1-16, 20

Truth 5: God has made a way of salvation for the lost – Romans 3:21-31

Truth 6: People cannot come to God apart from faith in Christ – Review Romans 3:21-31, Read Romans 4 & 5, Romans 10:9-10

Truth 7: Christ commands the Church to make the gospel known to all people – Romans 10

The scriptural highlight is:

“For ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent (Romans 10:13-15a)?”

“Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).”

In conclusion, our hearts’ desire should be for people to call on the name of the Lord for salvation. They can only call if they believe, and they can only believe if they hear the good news preached. The Word cannot be preached to all nations unless we go.

This is God’s will for our lives, that every member of the Church body does his or her part to faithfully administer the message of God’s goodness and grace in the manner in which they have been called. Our priority should be to equip God’s people so that they can go, disciple, teach, and train others concerning the good news. “The question, therefore, is not ‘Can we find God’s will?’ The question is ‘Will we obey God’s will (pg 160)?”

© Natasha S. Robinson 2011