This past week I have had the opportunity to visit with some new friends who are stateside from Nepal, Kathmandu. They are career missionaries in the South Asia area. My church at First Baptist North Spartanburg every year about this same time brings in missionaries from around the world to give us a glimpse into what God is doing around the world. This year has proved again the Lord is working mightily and the harvest is still great. Each Sunday school class is assigned a missionary and my class was blessed with Zeke and Myra Goforth.
Zeke and Myra are from the United States and have been blessed with a hand full of wonderful children. As noted above they are career missionaries and are being obedient to Christ in taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
There is no way I can do their story justice, and there are just too many things to write about, so I will write about just one thing they mentioned and throw in some information about the South Asia area.
Zeke shared Friday night about leaning completely on the Lord for all your needs. He talked about how here in America we can pretty much take care of ourselves. I believe he used the term “pulling your bootstraps up yourself.” Basically right now here in America we really do not have to learn on God for simple things like (Power-Electricity) and (Water). But over in Nepal these basics are not to be taken for granted. During some times of the year they have to go hours on hours without power and public water is sometimes shut off. They do have people that bring water into their area, but they only deliver once or twice a month.
Zeke shared a story of how one of his children got sick and started vomiting. It was some kind of stomach bug and they were trying to keep their child well hydrated. Well right in the height of the illness they ran out of water. No water! Their child is still throwing up and they have no way to wash the towels they have used to clean up, which is leaving them in bind because they cannot wash out the towels to reuse. But really most important is that they need to hydrate their sick child. What do you do? Well you go to God and that’s what they did. Zeke said in their despair they pleaded with the Lord asking for rain. God is good and a few hours later the bottom fell out and rained enough to get them through until the water came back on and the water trucks made their deliveries.
Wow. We here in the United States really have no idea what that is like. I know there are some that experience tough times, but who here in America does not have access to public water if they need it? There were many, many more stories similar to that one where there is no doubt God is Sovereign and in control of all things. He is the one who holds the rain in the clouds and allows it to fall to the earth.
Let me change gears real quick and give some interesting information about the South Asia area. This information is from the International Mission Board’s website. David Garrison the IMB Regional Leader for South Asia said this about South Asia,
“Who are We?
We are the greatest concentration of lostness on earth.We are a region comprising seven countries with a total population of nearly 1.5 billion. That’s more than one-fifth of the world’s population. South Asia is home to one out of every four non-Christians on earth, and more Unengaged Unreached People Groups than all the rest of the world combined! In short, South Asia is a region crying out for God. It has been rightly said, “As South Asia goes, so goes the Great Commission.” For those who are called to the Great Commission, there simply is no place on earth with greater needs, openness and responsiveness. We are a family of God-called men, women and children serving in dozens of language groups across the subcontinent. We have intertwined our destinies with those of our Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Animist, Sikh, Jain and atheist neighbors. We have dedicated our lives to spreading the love of Christ to those who have never experienced it. We are becoming all things to all peoples in order that by all means, we might win some. And by the grace of God, we are seeing many coming to new life in Christ. In South Asia, God is gathering a great harvest of souls from every language, tribe and tongue. And yet South Asia remains a largely undeveloped harvest field, where the lost still outnumber our IMB missionaries by more than six million to one. Wherever we sow, we reap. But where the fields lie fallow, there can be no harvest. Are you still looking for a good reason to join God in the vast harvest fields of South Asia? I can think of at least 1.5 billion.”
Some interesting facts about South Asia:
Population*
South Asia Region
1.47 billion
India
1.1 billion
Pakistan
168 million
Bangladesh
149 million
Nepal
29 million
Sri Lanka
20 million
Bhutan
2 million
Maldives
360,000
Religion
How many Hindus?
867 million
How many of the Hindus are Dalits (Untouchables)?
162 million
How many Muslims?
430 million
How many Tribals/Animists?
102 million
How many Buddhists?
31 million
How many Sikhs?
21 million
How many Jains?
4 million
How many Evangelical Christians?
22 million
How many lost?
1.449 billion
That’s 1.449 billion lost concentrated in an area less than half the size of the United States.
Predominant religion in each country
India
Hinduism (79.8%)
Nepal
Hinduism (74.8%)
Maldives
Islam (99.4%)
Pakistan
Islam (96.1%)
Bangladesh
Islam (85.6%)
Bhutan
Buddhism (72.0%)
Sri Lanka
Buddhism (71.9%)
Personnel
Number of IMB missionary units in South Asia**
246 IMB missionary units
Ratio of IMB unit to lost population
1 unit per 6 million lost persons
**January 2007
The information above makes me think about the previous blog I published about Hell. Do we as professing Christians truly believe people who die without Christ’s blood covering their sins will go to Hell? If we don’t believe in Hell then we are calling Jesus a liar and that is not possible, because He is God and God cannot lie. Jesus said in Mathew 18:8-9 “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” These verses are just one of many that are in the bible. Hell is real and a terrifying reality we should never forget.
If we do believe in Hell then we need to be praying what Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38 "…The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Now there are a couple of reasons why one might not pray for the Lord of Harvest to rise up laborers. First we might be scared or frightened that God might ask us to go and second we might not really care if people go into the harvest field. Let me quickly address both issues.
First if you are frightened that’s ok. It is an uneasy thing to let go of self and be completely obedient with your life to the Lord. But it is not acceptable to continue living for self if you claim that Jesus is your master. Jesus tells us in John 14:23-24 "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” Obeying Christ means doing what he says in Matthew 9:37-38 as noted in the above paragraph.
Second if we do not really care if people go into the harvest field to seek the lost, we might be lost ourselves. If we could care less whether someone goes into the harvest field then we could care less whether someone in the harvest field dies and goes to Hell. 1 John 4:8 says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” It would be wise to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith like 2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”
So the question is will we start asking the Lord to raise up laborers even if the laborers might be ourselves. I am reminded of something I heard the other day.
(Sinners are laughing, the world is dying, Hell is boasting: It will all be over shortly)
Thank you to all who are faithfully serving Christ and being completely obedient to His calling. May God continue to bless and prosper your life.
Zeke and Myra are from the United States and have been blessed with a hand full of wonderful children. As noted above they are career missionaries and are being obedient to Christ in taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
There is no way I can do their story justice, and there are just too many things to write about, so I will write about just one thing they mentioned and throw in some information about the South Asia area.
Zeke shared Friday night about leaning completely on the Lord for all your needs. He talked about how here in America we can pretty much take care of ourselves. I believe he used the term “pulling your bootstraps up yourself.” Basically right now here in America we really do not have to learn on God for simple things like (Power-Electricity) and (Water). But over in Nepal these basics are not to be taken for granted. During some times of the year they have to go hours on hours without power and public water is sometimes shut off. They do have people that bring water into their area, but they only deliver once or twice a month.
Zeke shared a story of how one of his children got sick and started vomiting. It was some kind of stomach bug and they were trying to keep their child well hydrated. Well right in the height of the illness they ran out of water. No water! Their child is still throwing up and they have no way to wash the towels they have used to clean up, which is leaving them in bind because they cannot wash out the towels to reuse. But really most important is that they need to hydrate their sick child. What do you do? Well you go to God and that’s what they did. Zeke said in their despair they pleaded with the Lord asking for rain. God is good and a few hours later the bottom fell out and rained enough to get them through until the water came back on and the water trucks made their deliveries.
Wow. We here in the United States really have no idea what that is like. I know there are some that experience tough times, but who here in America does not have access to public water if they need it? There were many, many more stories similar to that one where there is no doubt God is Sovereign and in control of all things. He is the one who holds the rain in the clouds and allows it to fall to the earth.
Let me change gears real quick and give some interesting information about the South Asia area. This information is from the International Mission Board’s website. David Garrison the IMB Regional Leader for South Asia said this about South Asia,
“Who are We?
We are the greatest concentration of lostness on earth.We are a region comprising seven countries with a total population of nearly 1.5 billion. That’s more than one-fifth of the world’s population. South Asia is home to one out of every four non-Christians on earth, and more Unengaged Unreached People Groups than all the rest of the world combined! In short, South Asia is a region crying out for God. It has been rightly said, “As South Asia goes, so goes the Great Commission.” For those who are called to the Great Commission, there simply is no place on earth with greater needs, openness and responsiveness. We are a family of God-called men, women and children serving in dozens of language groups across the subcontinent. We have intertwined our destinies with those of our Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Animist, Sikh, Jain and atheist neighbors. We have dedicated our lives to spreading the love of Christ to those who have never experienced it. We are becoming all things to all peoples in order that by all means, we might win some. And by the grace of God, we are seeing many coming to new life in Christ. In South Asia, God is gathering a great harvest of souls from every language, tribe and tongue. And yet South Asia remains a largely undeveloped harvest field, where the lost still outnumber our IMB missionaries by more than six million to one. Wherever we sow, we reap. But where the fields lie fallow, there can be no harvest. Are you still looking for a good reason to join God in the vast harvest fields of South Asia? I can think of at least 1.5 billion.”
Some interesting facts about South Asia:
Population*
South Asia Region
1.47 billion
India
1.1 billion
Pakistan
168 million
Bangladesh
149 million
Nepal
29 million
Sri Lanka
20 million
Bhutan
2 million
Maldives
360,000
Religion
How many Hindus?
867 million
How many of the Hindus are Dalits (Untouchables)?
162 million
How many Muslims?
430 million
How many Tribals/Animists?
102 million
How many Buddhists?
31 million
How many Sikhs?
21 million
How many Jains?
4 million
How many Evangelical Christians?
22 million
How many lost?
1.449 billion
That’s 1.449 billion lost concentrated in an area less than half the size of the United States.
Predominant religion in each country
India
Hinduism (79.8%)
Nepal
Hinduism (74.8%)
Maldives
Islam (99.4%)
Pakistan
Islam (96.1%)
Bangladesh
Islam (85.6%)
Bhutan
Buddhism (72.0%)
Sri Lanka
Buddhism (71.9%)
Personnel
Number of IMB missionary units in South Asia**
246 IMB missionary units
Ratio of IMB unit to lost population
1 unit per 6 million lost persons
**January 2007
The information above makes me think about the previous blog I published about Hell. Do we as professing Christians truly believe people who die without Christ’s blood covering their sins will go to Hell? If we don’t believe in Hell then we are calling Jesus a liar and that is not possible, because He is God and God cannot lie. Jesus said in Mathew 18:8-9 “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” These verses are just one of many that are in the bible. Hell is real and a terrifying reality we should never forget.
If we do believe in Hell then we need to be praying what Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38 "…The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Now there are a couple of reasons why one might not pray for the Lord of Harvest to rise up laborers. First we might be scared or frightened that God might ask us to go and second we might not really care if people go into the harvest field. Let me quickly address both issues.
First if you are frightened that’s ok. It is an uneasy thing to let go of self and be completely obedient with your life to the Lord. But it is not acceptable to continue living for self if you claim that Jesus is your master. Jesus tells us in John 14:23-24 "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” Obeying Christ means doing what he says in Matthew 9:37-38 as noted in the above paragraph.
Second if we do not really care if people go into the harvest field to seek the lost, we might be lost ourselves. If we could care less whether someone goes into the harvest field then we could care less whether someone in the harvest field dies and goes to Hell. 1 John 4:8 says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” It would be wise to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith like 2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”
So the question is will we start asking the Lord to raise up laborers even if the laborers might be ourselves. I am reminded of something I heard the other day.
(Sinners are laughing, the world is dying, Hell is boasting: It will all be over shortly)
Thank you to all who are faithfully serving Christ and being completely obedient to His calling. May God continue to bless and prosper your life.
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