Hundredfold Men

A Practical Guide to Completing The Command of World Evangelism

Assigned reading:

The Challenge of Missions

The Master Plan of Evangelism

The Key to the Missionary Problem

Questions and discussions are welcomed, encouraged, and enjoyed!

My goal in this course is not to give you a lot of information or have you memorize a lot of material.Real education is not giving you the material but teaching you how to find the material.Real education is not knowledge based but action based.If you know how to but never do then the education was a joke.Most educate for information or knowledge which only puffs up.My desire is to teach and motivate you so that you will get out of your chair and go do a work for God.

What Does it Take to Finish the Task of World Evangelism in our Generation?

• Men—Bible Colleges, Bible Institutes, Discipleship, Mentoring

• Materials—All that is used on the Media approach.Books, Sunday School Material, Discipleship materials

• Media—the air attack.Getting to the masses.Radio, Television, Internet, Films, Cassettes, Printed page

See the Task that He has given us.

Accept the challenge and the command as being relevant to you and your ministry.

Put Bible methods into effect.

Place the responsibility where it belongs—on the local church and then men that God will call out and train in and through the local church.

“A vision without a task makes a visionary; a task without a vision is drudgery; a vision with a task makes a missionary.”George Deakin from the book Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill

Leonard Ravenhill goes on to say that Isaiah’s vision could be summed up as; WOE, a word of confession; LO, a word of cleansing; GO, a word of Commission.

• We must realize that it can be done.We must get our heads out of the sand.Too long we have said that it can’t be done.They are hard people, not interested, and we have made a thousand other excuses.The facts are we need men and women of vision who will work to get the job done.

811.5 million Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians soon?

In 1900, some 900,000 people were considered members of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. This number grew to 72 million in 1970, which was around 6.4% of all Christians. (These figures are taken from Dr. David Barrett's newest publication, The World Christian Encyclopedia.) In the year 2000, the number had grown to 523.7 million, or 27.7% of all Christians. Barrett estimates that if the growth continues, their number will reach 811.5 million in 2025 at which point they will constitute 32.5% of all Christians. The largest contributions to the figures are from Latin America (141.43 million), Asia (134.9 million) and Africa (126 million). Europe has 37.6 million Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians.Source: World Christian Encyclopedia, Second Edition, Oxford, 2000

• People who say it can’t be done are usually passed up by people who are doing it.
• Learn from the mistakes of others.You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
• "There is nothing in the world or the Church, except the church's disobedience, to render the evangelization of the world in this generation impossibility. -- Robert Speer, leader in Student Volunteer

In his book, A Concise History of the Christian World Mission, J. Herbert Kane states, “Some timid souls are afraid that we are about to witness the demise of the missionary enterprise, but such is not the case.The Lord of the harvest has promised to be with His missionary servants to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).Dictators come and go; kingdoms rise and fall; civilizations wax and wane; but the world mission of the church will continue to the end of the age in spite of the vicissitudes of human history.Problems will doubtless increase, difficulties will abound, costs will soar, but the mission will go on.The mandate will never be rescinded nor will the mission be aborted.........”

In another place Kane states, “In the past the national churches were happy to receive missionaries with a meager education; they were better trained than most national pastors.Besides, they represented something for nothing; consequently the churches were glad to have them.But that day is gone.Today church leaders are more interested in quality than quantity.”

Day One:The Bible Command

The Reason for World Evangelism

1.                  The Task

a.       The Great Commission

"The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command
to be obeyed." -- Hudson Taylor

“Christ’s last command should be our first concern.”

"If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn't it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death."-- Dave Davidson

                                                              i.      Mark 16:15.We are to take the gospel to Every Creature.That means that we will have to reach more than 6,300,000,000 people with the gospel message.

                                                            ii.      Luke 24:46-49.We are to take the gospel (repentance and remission of sins in His name) to All Nations.Nations refers to people groups and not entire countries.We have the Cherokee nation in the nation of the USA.There are approximately 12,862 peoples groups according to Avery T. Willis, Jr. in his article “The Unfinished Task” found in Missiology, An Introduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions.

                                                          iii.      Matthew 28:19-20.Teaching all nations.Since we already have the command to go to all nations, let us consider this word teach, baptize, teaching.The word teach or teaching means (according to Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged Second Addition, 1976) to show how to do something, to give instructions to, to train, give lessons to (a student or pupil), to guide the study of, to instruct, to hold classes in, to provide with knowledge, and insight.Synonyms: impart, direct, instruct, informer, counsel, admonish, educate, inculcate, enlighten, advise, indoctrinate, and train.The word “teach” makes it clear that I must disciple or train all nations.It is not enough to get them to pray a prayer.They must be taught enough to be saved, then baptized, then trained to live the gospel.

                                                           iv.      Acts 1:8.Gives us the geographical context.We are to go to the uttermost.Every country needs to hear the gospel.

                                                             v.      John 20:21.We are sent as He was sent.This is the incarnation.This is becoming one of them to reach them in the context of where they live and the language they speak.

                                                          vi.      Avery T. Willis, Jr. sums it up in the following manner: “The unfinished task is to evangelize all individuals, to proclaim the gospel to all peoples in all the geographical regions of the world and to disciple them.”

b.      The Great Concern

"And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our 
lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives…and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."-- Nate Saint

i.        They are condemned already.John 3:18

1.      The Creation leaves them without excuse because it shows them that God does exist. Romans 1:20

2.      Their Conscience shows them that they need this God.Romans 2:15

3.      The Church fulfilling its Great Commission will show them how to get to know this God.II Corinthians 5:18-20.

a.      hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation

b.      hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation

c.       Our conviction that we are responsible before God to get the gospel to all the world.

i.        Ezekiel 33:6.The blood of the uninformed is required at the hand of the watchmen. Bloody Hands.

ii.      Acts 20:26.Paul felt that responsibility because he said that he was free from the blood of all men.

iii.    I Corinthians 15:34.It is our shame if there is someone in the world that doesn’t have the knowledge of God.

iv.     Revelation 21:4.Tears will be wiped away after having seen the horrible Great White Throne judgment.

1.      I Thessalonians 4:17

2.      Luke 22:61-62

d.      The continual sorrow that we should feel

i.        Romans 10:1-3

ii.      Romans 9:1-3

e.       The horrible condition of man

i.        The Great White Throne; Revelation 20:11-15

ii.      Deceived by religion; Matthew 7:21-23

iii.    Dead in Sin; Ephesians 2:1

iv.     A literal burning eternal hell; Luke 16:19-31

v.       Blinded and deafened 

f.        The compassion of God 

i.        John 3:16

ii.      Romans 5:8 

iii.    II Peter 3:9

iv.     I Timothy 2:3-6

 v.       Hebrews 2:9 

vi.     I John 2:2

vii.   John 10:11-18

g.       The Call of God

• "'Not called!' did you say? ‘Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.” 
  -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
• Jim Elliot once said, “We do not need a call to get involved in world missions – we need a good swift kick in the pants.”

• What the call is not
• a vision 
• just feeling sorry for the other guy 
• a delicious feeling running up and down the spine 
• a bolt of lightning 
• a yearn to travel 
• the urge to be a hero 
• a voice from heaven 
• but the call is God’s revelation to you of his will that all men hear the gospel. So, maybe you should stop worrying about the call and start working on the answer? From a book “Mission Possible World Missions” by Marian Schindler and Robert Schindler by Sudan Interior Missions

CHECKLIST

TO SEE IF I AM CALLED AND READY TO GO TO THE MISSION FIELD!

• Can you give a clear, confident testimony of your salvation based on the written Word of God? 
• Can you express clearly and confidently your call to the ministry? 
• Can others see the hand of God on your life and the proof of your calling? 
• Has God made it clear to you where it is that He wants you to serve Him? 
• Are you faithful to your local church (this means all regular services and also any special services)? 
• Do you participate in the soul-winning ministry of your church? 
• Have you ever led anyone to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ?
• In your local church, what ministries do you participate in? 
• Have you ever built a Sunday School class so that your pastor and church can see you exercising your gifts and calling? 
• Have you ever discipled anyone to the point that they came from nothing and nowhere spiritually to maturity in Christ? 
• Can you stand alone spiritually or do you need to be pumped up and propped up spiritually? 
• Have you had a problem finishing what you start? 
• Have you finished your studies, Bible College, etc.? 
• Can you explain how you determine the will of God for your life? 
• How much pulpit experience have you had? 
• What is your attitude about living around or working with other races of people? 
• Are you in debt? 
• How does your family make major decisions?  Who has the final word in family decisions? 
• Can you explain and defend your basic doctrinal beliefs? 

Did God call you? 

1. Did you have an intense all consuming desire for the work of God? 
  

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.  I Timothy 3:1.

It is not natural to want to be a missionary.  The thought may cross many peoples’ minds but the truth is that it is only a fleeting thought quickly and easily dismissed by most.  It is God who has worked in us both to will (or to put a desire in us that is not natural to us) and do his good pleasure.  God placed something in our hearts that we could not get away from. 

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.  Philippians 2:13

Many of us were afraid.  Many of us doubted, but He did something in us.  Don't you dare doubt that when the trouble comes.  Don't you doubt in the night what God gave you in the light.  This desire was so great we couldn't get it out of our hearts and minds. 
 

Did God place a "necessity" on you?  Did you feel the "woe"? 
  

For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!  I Corinthians 9:16.

I don't know what happens, but it seems that one day we are happy in our lives and churches and then something just happens.  It may have started with a message from our pastor or a Sunday School lesson.  It could have started in a mission’s conference or by reading a book.  It may have been something that someone said, but it happened.  It doesn't happen to most folks, but it did to you.  All of a sudden you felt like you couldn't get away.  It may have started as only a passing thought.  It was kind of romantic.  It was neat to think about but it didn't go away.  Almost everyone has thought about being a missionary, but they get over it.  You didn't because you are different.  You are called of God.

Did your "heart stir you up"?

And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:  Exodus 36:2. 

No one can explain it.  It is different with everyone, but something happened.  You knew it then and even in the worst of times you will need to remember it.  When it gets tough and the Devil is on your back, you are going to need to remember this.  You didn't choose it.  He chose you.  He put the unnatural but spiritual desire in your heart.  He put a "necessity on you."  He put the "woe on you."  He "stirred up your heart."  Don't let anyone or anything rob you of that.  Don't let yourself, a "friend", or the Devil try to explain it away.  It is the most precious gift we have in our personal ministry and walk with God.  He called me!

Others can see the hand of God on my life and ministry. 

He put the burden on me, but He also has helped me live a life that met the   requirements of the ministry.  He gave me the ability.  I went before my pastor, and he could see that in me.  A group of Godly men have examined me, and they can see it.  Not only do I think that God called me but others recognize it in me.  God has placed His hand on me.  I feel very humble when I think about it but the God of Heaven has counted me worthy and put me in His ministry.  One of the wonderful things about it is that I am not the only one who thinks so.  You wouldn't be here today unless God had impressed on others that you have been called of God.  You had to prove your call.  You had to let others see it and they did.

I believe God has called me or I wouldn't be sitting here right now. 
  

Now you will travel all around the country while literally thousands more evaluate your call.  You will have to believe it or you can't keep telling people over and over.  God called me.  God called me.  Don't forget it when it gets rough.  Never make a major decision during times of discouragement and problems.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9 
 

God has confirmed or will be confirming His call in you. 
  

He opened doors for you in your church, at the mission, in other churches, and in the work.  He called you.  Never ever forget it.  Hold on.  He that called you will see you through. 
 

God's call is what holds me when I get down. 
  

I often think of quitting.  I often get tired, but then I remember.  I am not in Peru because I want to be.  I am not going as a missionary because I am a good guy.  I am not there because I like it.  I didn't choose to go; He called me.  I would be afraid to do anything less.  When I get down I just remember (I try to forget) but it is still there.I came here under orders.  I do not want to embarrass my God, my Calling, my Church, my Mission Board.  I will stay.  I will not allow myself to think of other things.  I will not try to rationalize it.  I will not try to figure a way out of it.  I will get a hold of God.  He sent me; He has to help me stay.  For 30 years now He has not failed me and He won't fail you.  He has a job for you to do, and He will give you more grace and help if you will just allow Him to do so

i.        God’s plan for my life is based on the following:

1.      My relationship to God

2.      My motivation which should be my relationship to God

3.      The gifts and abilities that He has given me

4.      As I do God’s will each day in my life where I am then God will show me where He wants me to be.

5.      I need not be worried about knowing the where until I really know the who, the what, and the how.

6.      As I prepare myself, God will open the doors.

7.      My part is to do all I know to do based on what the Word of God says until God makes it clear to me all the other details.

ii.      God chose to call us.God has allowed us to preach the Gospel. God has entrusted His Word to us.He shed His blood and has entrusted His Holy Word to us. I Thessalonians 2:1-4

1.      Acts 15:7

2.      Hebrews 5:4

3.      Philippians 2:13

4.      Ephesians 3:7-8

5.      I Timothy 1:12

6.      Matthew 16:19

iii.    The Gospel was committed to us

1.      II Corinthians 5:18-20

2.      I Corinthians 4:1-10

iv.     The Great Challenge – The whole world in one lifetime.

v.       Let God Do It -Colossians 1:29, I Corinthians 15:10, Philippians 1:6

vi.     He Called, He Will; Philippians 1:6

2.                  The Truth about the world.

a.       The world has been evangelized before Colossians 1:5-6, 23, I Corinthians 15:34

b.      The church has all the resources and power that it had before and more so the world can be reached again.I believe He wants to do it again.Habakkuk 1:5, Acts 13:40-41

c.       Breakdown of statistics to show the need of the world

i.        There are over 6,300,000,000 people in the world today and it is growing at an alarming rate.

ii.      Thirty-five percent of the world claim some form of Christianity

iii.    Maybe 10% max is really saved.Don’t forget that Roman Catholicism is considered a Christian religion.My personal estimates are more like 3 to 5%.

iv.     Only 5% of the world lives in the USA, but the great majority of our recourses and workers are in the USA.Pastors lament the condition of our country and should, but they forget that the world is in far worse condition.

v.       Over 25% of the world doesn’t even have any real access to the word of God.(Maybe we should consider short-wave radio and mass media)

vi.     There are 31,557,600 seconds in a year.That means that to spend one second with everyone in China, you would need just less than 42 years because there are 1,325,419,200 seconds in 42 years.That is if we could stop the population exactly where it is now with no deaths or births for the next 42 years.

vii.   Now take that same statistic and give yourself one hour with each person, and you would need approximately 151,200 years if you could work day and night.That is approximately 2160 lifetimes at 24 hours a day and 7 days a week for 70 years.

viii.If we stopped the birth and death rate in China, it would take a Pentecost every day for 1,000 years to reach all the people in China for Christ.

ix.     India will be the largest country in the world in approximately 5 years; double that and you are still only talking about 2 countries.

x.       There are approximately 237 countries in the world today.It’s hard to get an exact amount due to definition.Also dependencies must be considered such as Puerto Rico – a country and a dependency of the US.

xi.     Though it seems an impossible task, there is a way to reach the world: through the use of discipleship and the preparation of leaders.

xii.   We must get over our prejudice against the media also.If we are to reach the masses we must get to them and do it quickly.The charismatics have taken over the “world” with the media.

d.      Approximately 101 people die a minute and over 90 of them go to hell.Probably 60 never heard a clear presentation of the gospel.

e.       World population arrived at 1 billion in the year 1804.That means that it took about 5,800 years from the creation and then the flood to get to the first billion.Then 126 years later in 1930, the world arrived at the two billion mark.Then only 30 years later in 1960, the world arrived at a population of three billion.The next billion only needed 15 years to get here because by 1975 we reached four billion.Twelve years later in 1987 we arrived at five billion.Then the next 12 years took us to 6 billion by the year 1999.

f.        Every second 5 people are born somewhere in this world and 2 die leaving a net gain of 3 people per second.That means that the world grows at a rate of 10,800 an hour.

g.       So that you can understand the magnitude of 1,000,000,000 people, it would require 40,000 trips around the world to equal one billion miles.

h.       There are 80,000 to 100,000 missionaries of all types and denominations around the world today while there are 500,000 Avon representatives in the USA alone.There are 1,300,000 Avon representatives around the world or nearly 10 times more Avon representatives than missionaries in the world.

i.         If you were to line up the population of China with one foot between each person, the line would be 272,000 miles long.

j.        If you placed the population of India and China side by side the line would circle the globe 18 times and the line grows by 20 miles every day.Out of those millions in China and India 99% have never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ.The world knows more about Coca Cola than Jesus Christ and we have the “Real Thing”.

k.      If you would just take one person and disciple them so they could be another you with an all out heart felt desire to reach the world and then both of you would repeat the same in the next year and every year after, the world could or would be reached in much less than 33 years time.If the chain didn’t break, in 33 years there would be 17,179,869,184 disciples.This does not take into account the number of people that would be saved by “accident” as each person so full of God and the Holy Ghost would live their daily lives.Just one finding one and investing everything in the other.“Life on life discipleship” will be discussed later in this material.The problem has been that we teach for knowledge and not for action.We like the academics and the “puffing up” that comes with knowing, but the doing is a hassle.

l.         The problem isn’t the numbers or the barriers; it is the desire, dedication, and strategy.

m.     "The reason some folks don't believe in missions is that the brand of religion they have isn't worth propagating."

n.       "The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time." -- Carl F. H. Henry

o.      World's Population by Continents

Asia 3,737,000,000

 
Africa 823,000,000  

Europe 729,000,000  

North America 486,000,000  

South America 351,000,000  

Oceania (incl. Australia) 31,000,000  

Antarctica no permanent population  

Source: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, ©2002.  

p.       

The surge in population is both a cause of the changed relationship and one of the clearest illustrations of how startling the change has been, especially when viewed in a historical context. According to scientists, from the emergence of modern humans 200,000 years ago until Julius Caesar’s time, fewer than 250 million people walked on the face of the earth. When Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World 1,500 years later, there were approximately 500 million people on earth. By the time Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the number had doubled again, to nearly 1 billion. By midway through this century, at the end of World War II, the number had risen to just above 2 billion people.  

In other words, from the beginning of humanity’s appearance on earth to 1945, it took more than ten thousand generations to reach a world population of 2 billion people. Now, in the course of one human lifetime – mine – the world population will increase from 2 to more than 9 billion, and it is already more than halfway there.

Source: http://www.earthgreen.org/overpopulation.htm

q.       

 World Birth/Death Rates (2002 est.)

Age Structure of World's Population

Sources: The World Factbook 2002 http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/greatc.html

r.        Religions:   

Christians 32.79% (of which Roman Catholics 17.33%, 
Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.51%, Anglicans 1.31%), 
Muslims 19.6%, Hindus 13.31%, Buddhists 5.88%, Sikhs 0.38%, 

Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.83%, non-religious 12.53%, atheists 2.44% (2001 est.) 

s.       Languages:   

Chinese, Mandarin 14.37%, 

Hindi 6.02%, 

English 5.61%, 

Spanish 5.59%, 

Bengali 3.4%, 

Portuguese 2.63%, 

Russian 2.75%, 

Japanese 2.06%, 

German, Standard 1.64%, 

Korean 1.28%, 

French 1.27% (2000 est.) 
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only  

Literacy:   definition: age 15 and over can read and write 

total population: 77% 
male: 83% 
female: 71% (1995 est.) 

t.         

Muslim Population Statistics

Demographic considerations with regard to Muslim populations may prove to be of vital concern in the next millennium. When a large percentage of the population is older, this can affect the socio-political structure of a country. Likewise, when a large percentage of the population is young, that too will affect the socio-political structure of a country. 

Here are some population statistics from the early 1900s as well as projected figures for the year 2025 of the total overall number of Muslims across the globe. 

Comparative chart - number of Muslims to Christians:

Estimates of the total number of Muslims in the world vary greatly: 

0.700 billion or more, Barnes & Noble Encyclopedia (1993) 
0.817 billion, The Universal Almanac (1996) 
0.951 billion, The Cambridge Factfinder (1993) 
1.100 billion, The World Almanac (1997) 
1.200 billion, CAIR (Council on American-Islamic relations) (1999) 

At a level of 1.2 billion, Muslims represent between 19.2% and 22% of the world's population. It has become the second largest religion in the world. Christianity has slightly less than 30%. 

Islam is growing about 2.9% per year, which is faster than the total world population which increases at about 2.3% annually. It is thus attracting a progressively larger percentage of the world's population.
Source: Canadian Society of Muslims http://muslim-canada.org/muslimstats.html

-The Christianity referred to in these statistics includes Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, etc.

u.       Missionary numbers and their growth compared to the world population growth

Southern Baptist Statistics that are not included in the following list of missionaries.

Europe

Summary Europe is as follows: The continent is made up of 43 countries with a total population of 728,000,000. There has been a net loss of 1,300,000 in population since 1995. During this same time period, there has been a net gain of 119 missionaries to reach this continent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Included here are all the groups from the MARC book that claimed to be Baptistic in their doctrine.