Missions and the Time That We Are In By Andrew Abah

On the mount of Olive where His disciples met Him privately for the signs of His second coming and the end of the age, He gave them several hints and virtually everything has come to pass. It is worthwhile to reflect over these hints and appropriate the remaining time we have on earth to serve Him with all our hearts, especially missions.
Missions focuses on getting everyone to hear the gospel and gives the opportunity to respond appropriately. It is one of the things Christ listed in the times table that determines the end of the world. In Matthew 24:14, He told His disciples: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come”.
Most of the signs of the end time is fast fulfilling. The most outstanding one that rest on the shoulder of the church is the great commission. Unfortunately, out of about 5.8 billion people on earth, 1.2 billion(20% have not heard the gospel) Yet, out of 332,000 known missionaries worldwide, 328,000 work among the evangelised, leaving only 4,000 that are known to be working among the unreached people. The ratio is one missionary to every 300,000 unreached people.
What we now have is a situation where those who have heard the gospel continue to hear at the expense of those that have not heard. This worrisome development led the Canadian Missionary Statesman, Oswald J. Smith to question the rationale behind why some people should be hearing the gospel over and over whereas others have not heard once.
The apathy of the church towards focusing majorly on reaching the unreached is probably because we have no proper understanding of the time that we are. It is time for the church to wake up from her slumber and like the children of Issachar understand the times and know what we ought to do. “… of the children of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command..”( 1 Chron 12:32).
The Bible recorded in Revelation 12:12 that even the devil knows that his time is short. “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time" (Rev 12:12). With this consciousness, the devil work so hard with everybit of urgency to drag as many souls as possible to hell. We read the devil's exploit in the newspapers everyday. Televisions stations like CNN are primarily devouted to tragedies wrecked by the devil. Jesus warned His disciples against thinking they still have so much time left. “ Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! ”(John 4:35).
There is no time to waste. We must resolve like Jesus did in John 9:4 “ I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work”. There will be no missionary work in heaven.The handwriting on the wall are clear enough. Take your time to read through Mathew 24, interprete it against the background of all the current happenings and play your own role to get the gospel to the unreached part of the world.
"Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. ( Matt 24:3-14)
Maranatha! Join us on March 11-15, 2009 for the 14th African Missions Summit at the headquarters of Grace Foundation Inland Missions, Furaka, Jos, Nigeria as we spend time to deliberate on the above subject and trust God to equip participants to effectively contribute their quotas towards hastening the return of the King! God bless you.