Week 3, Day 16: Faithfulness to the Task for the Glory of God

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“Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;he is to be feared above all gods.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;bring an offering, and come into his courts!
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!

Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!'”

Psalm 96:1-4, 7-10

 

What a great day it will be when people from all the nations join together in praise to our God.  When the nations bring their gifts of praise before King Jesus, worshiping and acknowledging that he is King!  When every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord!

Can you picture it?

Now consider these words from John Stott, author of The Lausanne Covenant, who also served as Lausanne Honorary Chair until his death in 2011:

“If God desires every knee to bow to Jesus and every tongue to confess Him, so should we.  We should be ‘jealous’ (as Scripture sometimes puts it) for the honor of His name—troubled when it remains unknown, hurt when it is ignored, indignant when it is blasphemed, and all the time anxious and determined that it shall be given the honor and glory which are due to it.  The highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God), but rather zeal—burning and passionate zeal—for the glory of Jesus Christ”.[1]

As you watch the following video filled with images of men and women from Asia who don’t know Christ, ask God to open your eyes to see these people as he sees them. [2]

LOST VIDEO

Most researchers agree that over 2 billion people have not even had the opportunity to respond to the Gospel of Christ.  These 2 billion people are giving worship that belongs only to Christ to someone or something else.  Read John Stott’s words again, then pray and ask that God would give you a holy jealousy for his name, and that his name would be magnified among the nations.  Plead with God until “zeal—burning and passionate zeal—for the glory of Jesus Christ” sets fire inside of you.  Then ask yourself, “Am I personally, or corporately, doing what I can to reach the unreached and unengaged peoples of the world for the glory of God?” 

Day 16 Extra Resource: VIDEO – Jason Mandryk State of the Gospel



[1]John Stott, The Message of Romans (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 53.

[2] We acknowledge that the stats in this video differ from those given by others.  We encourage you to allow the video to challenge you nonetheless.  For more widely accepted stats, go to http://tinyurl.com/buns4p6 .

 

This blog is a part of the Lausanne Global Prayer Focus. We invite you to journey with The Lausanne Movement in prayer throughout the month of May. This journey will be a personal one, and a collective one. It will be focused on the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, his good news for all people.

In week 3, we are focusing on A World Apart from the Gospel. pdfDownload a prayer guide for the week, or visit lausanne.org/pray to access the new content daily. You may also enter your email on this page to be sent a weekly email reminder with the new prayer content each week of May. Be sure to select “Prayer” as a Topic Interest