A HEART FOR MISSIONS

Neal Pollard

I just sat through one of the most enjoyable half-hours of my life, listening to Tony Johnson talk about his first year of work as a missionary in Tamale (TOM Uh Lee), Ghana.  While I listen as one who considers Tony a dear friend whom I had the blessing of teaching "Preacher And His Work" while he was in school, the thrill came from who Tony is and what he is doing.  He has a superior understanding of what it takes to do missions, a rare intellect and knack for analysis, and a heart for soul-winning.  He would excel in a pulpit anywhere in America, but he has chosen to help evangelize, edify, and extend benevolence to the almost entirely Muslim areas of northern Ghana, western Togo, and southern Burkina Faso.  He joins other excellent workers in that region like Steven Ashcraft, men of ability, intellect, and integrity who are faithful to the Word.

As I sat there, this thought occurred to me.  Wherever you and I find ourselves, whether in lesser or greater fertile fields, we need to have a passion and fervent heart for our Lord's mission.  While listening to Tony made me want to make plans to go to a third-world nation, I was made aware of how diligently God wants me working in the field where I have been planted.  Wherever we find ourselves on this earth, our heart must beat for the purpose for which God has us on this earth.  It meant so much to Jesus that He left these as parting words to the disciples before His face and those who would thereafter read them:  "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

Doesn't that stir your heart to missions? To His mission?

God Is "Number Conscious"

Neal Pollard

Occasionally, the accusation, "You are just number conscious," flies. If we speak in terms of attendance and emphasize its importance, we may justify mentioning it by saying that numbers represent souls. That is true, but there is no need to be ashamed of "number consciousness."  After all, the Holy Spirit must have been.

Did you know that He moved men to use the noun arithmos (from where we get "arithmetic") 18 times in the New Testament, including five times in Acts. Each time the word is used, God has been counting. In Acts, God is keeping track of the numbers being converted and the numbers making up the church.  Arithmos, in the literal sense, means "to count," "to reckon," and "number" (TDNT 1:461). In these passages in Acts, arithmos is used literally and specifically--"the number of the men came to be about 5,000" (4:4), "a number of men, about 400, joined themselves [to Theudas]" (5:36), "the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly" (6:7), "a large number believed" (11:21), "the churches were increasing in number daily" (16:5). Except for Gamaliel's Acts 5 speech, the Acts passages report numerical growth in the early church.

Gearing our programs and preaching at all costs and compromise to optimize attendance figures is not the idea.  Truth offends and turns away many. The early church had a large share of enemies and detractors. While many submitted to immersion, some resorted to throwing stones (7:58; 14:19). The early Christians were tarred, run over, beaten, imprisoned, burned alive, fed to lions, exiled, and otherwise mistreated. Though this was sporadic, it could be intense. They had a number of enemies, but, through their living hope (1 Pet. 1:3), they worked at their mission and God gave the increase (1 Cor. 3:6).  All the while, Heaven kept count.

Long before the cross, God said, "All souls are Mine" (Ezek. 18:14). He's been in every delivery room.  He's heard every baby's cry, watched every skinned knee, been privy to every child's fear, and seen every sinful thought, word, and action develop. He was there at the moment every individual crossed the line from "safe" to "separated" (cf. Isa. 59:2). As Redeemer, God marks down each instance where one goes from "separated" to "saved."

Let's think like God on this.  Pursue evangelistic opportunities, teach the truth, and the numbers will increase. Be "number conscious"!