PRESENTATION:MESSAGE:
Biblical Basis for Unreached Peoples
FROM: ROBERT SCHROEDER <100714.1660@compuserve.com>`
I believe that in order to effectively educate the churches, we need to be able to give very clear Biblical instruction concerning the concept of the unreached peoples. I have read such materials and use them in my teaching.
About 2 1/2 years ago I read a passage that was a real eye-opener and seemed to tie several strands together. I would like to share some ideas with you about...Acts 17:26,27, an excerpt from Paul's speech on Mars Hill in Athens...
1. This passage confirms that God is the one who is shaping and controlling the destiny of the world to the end that all peoples should seek Him. It is not the politicians and the armies who ultimately define the boundaries of peoples, it is God.
2. It is God who very thoughtfully and strategically created the peoples of the earth in Gen. 11 in order to save them.`
a. If God had not created or scattered the peoples in Gen. 11, Satan probably would have attained his goal of one world government at that point.`
b. The first 11 chapters of the Bible deal with the whole world. When God shifted His focus to one people in Gen. 12, He had all the peoples in mind.`
c. His strategy was not "divide and conquer", but "divide and save"
3. Acts 17:26,27 ties the O.T. and the N.T. together with God's eternal plan.
4. Gen. 11 can be tied to Acts 2, when during the birth of the church, the first gifts of the Holy Spirit (when Jews from nations all over the then known world were in Jerusalem) were exercised for the purpose of people being able to hear the gospel in their mother tongue. Whereas, at the tower of Babel, the people were confused by the new languages, at Pentecost the people were confused when they heard the gospel in their own language. The redemption story had now come full circle.
5. This can of course be tied into the other N.T. passages like Matthew 24:14; Rev.5:9,10 and Matthew 28:18-20, when making a case for God's strategy of reaching the peoples of the earth.
6. When borders and countries are being changed, God is at work and it is most likely a very strategic time for that nation from a missionary standpoint. Note the changes in eastern Europe and Central Asia in the former Iron Curtain countries in the past few years. These nationalistic tendencies may also slow down the progression to the predicted one world rule by the antichrist, thereby giving a window of opportunity to reach these peoples.
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