Our Lord and Savior, after accomplishing the glorious task of redemption for mankind, after purchasing eternal life with his own blood and making it available as a free gift to a lost humanity dead in their trespasses and sins; before ascending back on high, gave the church (His redeemed ones, sent out as His representatives on Earth) a great and highly important mission:

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature…”go and make disciples of all nations…

Mark 16:15, Matthew 28.19 NIV

It’s been around 2000 years now! From a handful of initial obedient believers who “went out and preached everywhere” (Mark 16:20), over two billion people now profess faith in Christ today! This is a great feat! The church has done a lot in spite of fire, dungeons and swords and all assaults of the gate of hell aimed at quenching the spread of this only redeeming truth.

The baton of world evangelization is now passed over unto us as a generation. And the task remaining (unfinished) is still very enormous! About 7,000 out of 11,000 people groups (i.e. nations/ethnic groups) of the Earth’s population are statistically yet to be reached with the message of hope and eternal life that is in Christ Jesus, the only ordained Saviour (1 Timothy 2:5, Romans 8:1), which is one of the strongest prophetic markers delaying His second coming till now (Matthew 24:14)

This translates into millions upon millions of priceless and precious souls, descending into Christless eternity, forever lost, every year! Most not because they refused to obey the Gospel, but because they never became “reached and told” in their lifetime!

Many of them pass daily through our doormat on their way to Christless eternity in different regalia as our colleagues at work, our employers/employees, our gateman, our regular customer (pepper or cloth seller in the market), our taxi drivers, the bike men, patients we daily treat as medical personnel, pupils and students under our tutelage at schools, our teachers and lecturers on campus. The list goes on!

We are in the last of the last days (2 Timothy 3:1), and of course, it’s prophetically more difficult to be a correct Christian (“where iniquity is to abound and the love of many waxed cold” —Matthew 24:13).

How can we then, as a generation, despite the several factors militating against our faith, love, attention and devotion to the things of God still be able to go about fulfilling our mandate of reaching the world with the Gospel and fulfilling our calling without failing?

1. Set/Re-set the Compass

Someone once remarked: [We are] “In a generation where the Bible is increasingly being treated as inspirational rather than authoritative–valuable for encouragement, but negotiable when it conflicts with cultural norms.” This is one of the most subtle, yet very fatal danger of the end time. If you’ll keep your faith alive and ablaze to the very end, you must first decide what it is exactly you want to live for/keep on living for. You must daily set and CHECK the compass as regards the direction of your greatest priority and preoccupation in life. Whether it’s for God and the Will of His heart today (1Timothy 2:4) or just for the things that end with time! To Peter and John and the early disciples of Christ, the great commission of their master was not a great suggestion that can be followed when situation around is viable or safe (Acts 4:19-20).

2. Ask for God’s Help in Prayer!

After the compass of your heart has been set to obeying and doing the will of God Your Maker and Master regardless of the odds and conflicts and possible consequences, the next step is to seek His grace in prayer (Philippians 2:13, 4:13)

We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.

1 Thessalonians 2:2 NIV

That was Paul, the Apostle, one of the most successful Christ’s Ambassadors in history talking here. And every man’s secret is in their story.

Talk about unstoppable soul winning zeal, fire and resilience in pursuit of God and expansion of His Kingdom. How was he able to accomplish that much for the kingdom within a lifetime? He said he was simply HELPED OF GOD! He described that help later as Grace! (1 Corinthians 15:10)

To appropriate this is to ask God for His Help too. Ask Him daily in prayers for grace to be able to obey His great commission mandate today and every remaining day of your life (regardless of any cultural, societal or governmental factors that might be militating against your obedience —Acts 4:29-31). Ask Christ to help you truly love people enough that you’ll care MORE about the eternal welfare of their souls than any other factors limiting you from reaching out to them with the Gospel. He is the One that loved them enough to die for them in the first place. Ask Him in prayers to give you His heart for the people around you and place a portion of His boundless love for them within your heart. You’ll then begin to see a great shift in your world view and priority.

3. Start from where you are

A simple launchpad question to ask yourself is: “Who is close to me but (still) far from God today?” That is your immediate mission field. Ask yourself right now: Who am I intentionally building a gospel-centred relationship with, reaching out to and discipling for Christ today?

4. Write down the Vision

To keep yourself on track in the midst of the great distractions of our generation, have it boldly written somewhere visible to you in your house, on your office table or desk (if it’s possible), so that you’re daily confronted with it.

My Vision (as an obedient disciple of Christ) is that everyone in this neighborhood, in this company, or on this campus (as the case may be) get to hear the Word

As God’s vision is constantly fed and fanned aflame, it will become a fire that burns naturally within your heart. You will soon begin to see everyone (man, woman and child you meet daily) as someone that God wants to reach.  The next assignment is to make it a personal mandate to spread this fire to every Christian or convert you’re discipling for Christ. When the task of Global Missions becomes the responsibility of every believer, that’s when we can start talking about finishing the remaining task of evangelizing the World for Christ.

5. Till the Whole Earth be filled

The Oikos ministry and work within one’s local assembly is enormous yet God wills and plans that the utmost end of the world be reached through your direct involvement as member of His army. Not everyone will be able to go to Asia in person, but any believer today can touch souls for God thousands of miles away in another continent upon his/her knees in prayer. You can send and support someone there with your prayers and resources and thus partner with God to keep the Gospel spreading there!

The remaining task of reaching the lost and the perishing is so enormous that no one should be able to say that there is no space for me in it.

6. Lastly, Don’t lose your sight on the Rewards (Hebrews 12:2)

Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

Revelations 22:12

I believe the greatest question to ask at the end of each day is WHAT HAVE I DONE FOR CHRIST TODAY? It might also be the best question to start each day with: “WHAT AM I GOING TO DO FOR CHRIST (TOWARDS THE EXPANSION OF GOD’S KINGDOM) TODAY? This is living for God’s Vision!

Owoseni Adeolu Amos is a missionary working among the Fulanis in a southwestern part of Nigeria. While on campus, he served as the Evangelism Secretary and later as the Fellowship President.

Image Credit: radicallychristian.com