Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
These words, spoken by Jesus, clearly indicate God’s plan and heart for the nations. But, don’t take my conviction on it.
Throughout scripture, we see, know and understand that God’s plan from the beginning, was always for all people to know Him as the one and only true God.
In Genesis 12:1-3 God makes a massive promise to Abram:
The Lord had said to Abram,…
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;…all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” NIV
The crazy thing about this promise is that Sarai, Abram’s wife, was unable to conceive and they were quite on in age already. Time was running out if she was going to birth a nation. Despite what we believe, God’s ways are not our ways.
In Genesis 17:1-21 NIV, at the age of 99, God confirms His promise to Abram again. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means father of multitudes or many nations. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, and promised that in a year’s time, she would bear a son (she would then be 90 years old).
Isaac was born to Sarah and Abraham, just as God promised. And, from this promise, came another promise fulfilled – the Saviour of the world.
The genealogy of Jesus the Messiah can be seen in Matthew 1:1-16.
There were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to King David, fourteen generations from King David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the exile to the Messiah.
From the commission given to the disciples in Matthew 28, we can see in Acts, Romans, and Galatians that Paul was called to share the good news with the gentiles (that’s me). Now that is Good News!
Galatians 3:7-8 NIV
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
Verse 14 says: He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Verse 26-29 goes on to say: So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Woohoo!! Thank you Jesus that Your heart is for the nations and therefore it includes me into Your plan.
Ephesians 4:22-24 says: You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, if God’s heart is for the nations, we need to have a heart for the nations. We need to go and make disciples of all nations.
How do we do this?
- We need to believe in our hearts, that as believers, we are called and commissioned.
- Ask…Ps 2:8: Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
- We can continuously pray for the nations (Venture Church has relationship with so many churches in different nations…a great place to start).
- We can decide to live simpler lives to help save up for these trips.
- We can sponsor someone else on their trip.
- We can say yes to trips planned to preach the Good News in other nations.
- We can say yes to trips to help equip other churches in other nations.
- We can say yes to offering our talents and giftings for God’s churches in other nations.
– Yolande’ Vincent