Sharers of the Good News

How many different ways can we put outreach promises to use? Will they make a significant impact on us as we carry out God's mission? This final chapter deals with these questions.

Hypothesis. In this book I have claimed that outreach promises will help you and all Christians to perform the following actions regularly, intentionally, happily, compassionately, confidently, zealously, and perseveringly.

• Witness about Christ the Savior to people lost without Him
• Love, serve, and sacrifice for needy people in Christ's name
• Enter new cultures and environments to share the faith
• Plant churches among all people groups of the world

In the medical world, it was not enough for a doctor to hypothesize that bee venom helps people with multiple sclerosis and other diseases. The hypothesis had to be tested in laboratories and with human beings. Data had to be gathered, cases analyzed, and research reports written.

You need to be just as scientific. Merely because someone claims outreach promises help Christians share their faith doesn't mean it is true. To test the validity of the hypothesis, you should experiment with outreach promises in your own witnessing situations.

Experiment. Here are ten basic guidelines for experimenting with outreach promises.

1. Understand your present setting and the people with whom you can share your faith. Revisit the "Clear objectives" section on pages 10-11, which contains several questions to help you focus on your personal mission field. If you didn't answer the questions earlier, now is a good time to do so.

2. Identify the specific outreach doubts, fears, and discouragement which may be assailing you. You may find it helpful to review pages 11-16 where these terms are defined.

3. Remember evangelism is most enjoyable as a team sport. So whenever possible, work together with other Christians who will encourage you and hold you accountable.

4. Find outreach promises which speak to your situation. Perhaps you have discovered some while reading this book. Others you will find as you read the Scriptures.

5. Focus on what God promises to do through you. Avoid turning outreach promises into commands, which only add to your sense of inadequacy and guilt.

6. If you do find yourself trembling with outreach guilt, brace yourself with the grace found in gospel promises.

7. Consciously, prayerfully apply your selected outreach promises to your doubts, fears, and disappointments. Fight these opponents with God's promises. This may include learning the verses by heart for ready application.

8. Knowing and trusting outreach promises will help you obey God's outreach commands. So take action trusting God to keep His promises. Love, serve, and witness to others as God leads you.

9. Record what occurs. Is God faithful to His promises?

10. Note your development. As you continue to use outreach promises, do you sense progress in your willingness and ability to share your faith? What fruit is the Holy Spirit causing to grow?

Examples. The summer of 1997, I taught at a training seminar for thirty directors of evangelistic media offices on six continents. I encouraged them to find comfort in an amazing promise from Jesus: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (Jn. 14:12).

I told the thirty media experts, "At first glance, this promise seems impossible. How can mere mortals do greater things than those performed by the Son of God when He walked this earth? But think about it. Jesus could preach to only several thousand people at one time. With radio, television, and web sites you are privileged to communicate God's word to millions all over the globe. This doesn't make us greater than Jesus, but God in His wisdom and power uses us to surpass what Jesus could accomplish in Israel in the first century. When your ministry becomes difficult--which may be often--embrace this promise."

To what personal situations might you apply Jesus' promise that "anyone who has faith in me.... will do even great things than these."?

When my wife Julie was learning Spanish and adjusting to Venezuela--while at the same time caring for three preschoolers--she often found comfort in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Countless times Julie applied these words to her daily difficulties and thus found strength to persevere. Since then, we have met other missionary moms who said the Lord sustained them with the same outreach promise.

Prayer: Lord, I praise You for Your mighty word which both declares me righteous and empowers me to be Your witness.
Action: Purchase a notebook to record the data and findings of your outreach promise experiments.

It's Going to Happen!

What is the longest one-syllable word in the world?

It isn't "draughts" or even "straights." Every football (soccer) fan knows it is "Go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-al!" At least it seems like "goal" is spelled that way when athletes, fans, and media announcers rejoice over a long-awaited score. Among world-class athletes, it is almost impossible to maneuver the ball past twelve attacking opponents and into the goal. Therefore, a team scores only when it executes its attack flawlessly. No wonder they go crazy.

"Go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-al!" is the longest one-syllable word, because it celebrates the culmination of a hard-fought quest for perfection.

Three little words. One of the most cherished gospel promises is John's description of

the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.... There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Rev. 21:2, 4).

Following this comes Revelation 21:6. Take special note of the three little words in bold print. "He said to me: 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life'."

Believe it or not, these three one-syllable words comprise both the shortest and longest mission promise in the Bible. Shortest in number of letters. Longest in historical vision.

Three other words. Compare "It is done" to three other words. What did Jesus mean when He said, "It is finished" (Jn. 19:30)?

Every Christian believes that from the vantage point of the cross, Jesus saw all the sins of every person, claimed our wrongs as His own, and paid their penalty by His atoning blood. When Jesus declared "It is finished", He meant: "My work of redemption is completed. The prophecies about My once-for-all sacrifice are fulfilled." What a grand, consoling gospel promise!

Now let's return to "It is done."

A shout of triumph. Perhaps you have read Revelation 21 many times but hardly noticed "It is done." Now, may you marvel whenever you read those three little words, because in them God is shouting "Go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-al!"

Enthroned as ruler of the universe, presiding over the commencement of "a new heaven and a new earth," our Savior God declares "It is done!"

Read the words slowly. Savor them. He is announcing: "Human history, Part 1, is done. Though many rejected the gospel, it has been proclaimed as I desired. My rescue mission is now completed. All my outreach prophecies and promises are now thoroughly fulfilled."

Don't doubt the outcome for a second. Jesus promised, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Mt. 24:14). And that is exactly what will happen!

Don't fear the opposition of unbelievers or the dark powers of Satan. God is going to triumph!

Don't wallow in discouragement. Every outreach prophecy and promise is going to be fulfilled!

Sense the centuries. Use your imagination to meditate on Revelation 21:1-6. First, read the entire text from your Bible. Then close your eyes, and ask God to help you visualize in your mind the centuries of witnessing and cross-cultural expansion of the gospel summarized in those three little words, "It is done."

• Focus on continent after continent, city after city.
• See the preachers. See the everyday witnesses.
• See converts, bold to share their new faith.
• See the persecution. See the courage. See the martyrs.
• See yourself, playing your own one-person-sized role.

In all this grand enterprise directed by the Holy Spirit, what specifically do you picture yourself doing? Where and with whom are you serving?

Certain victory. I once taught the meaning of "It is done" in a Bible class. Near the close, a woman admitted with amazement, "Oh! It really is going to happen! I'm surprised, and yet I shouldn't be. All my life I've heard Bible verses about God's plan to proclaim Christ to every tribe, language, people, and nation. But, until now, it never had dawned on me that someday the task will actually be completed. What He promised, He will surely do."

Around AD 30, Jesus promised, "It is finished." When the present task of proclaiming liberation from sin, death, and Satan finally ends, God will declare, "It is done."

In between time, let's enjoy the adventure of getting it done.

Prayer: With all my heart, I trust Your words: "It is finished." With all my life, help me trust Your words: "It is done."
Action: With a friend share the "Sense the centuries" exercise above.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.