Radioprogram, Gospel to the Nations, 02.10.2017
Announcer 01: Dear Listeners,
Today we want to speak about evangelization and liken it to sounding an alarm. This is what God ordered Jonah to do; he was told to go to Nineveh and sound an alarm about its people’s impending punishment.
We will read Jonah 1, verses 1 and 2, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jona ...
Radioprogram, Gospel to the Nations, 02.10.2017
Announcer 01: Dear Listeners,
Today we want to speak about evangelization and liken it to sounding an alarm. This is what God ordered Jonah to do; he was told to go to Nineveh and sound an alarm about its people’s impending punishment.
We will read Jonah 1, verses 1 and 2, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.’”
Announcer 02: Oh yes. Dear Christians, today, tomorrow and all the following days are the days of Jonah for us. We must warn people and the nations to wake up and repent.
Announcer 01: It would be more correct to say that the days of Jonah have come upon us Christians for a pretty long time, but even though we have Jonah’s example and know what happened to him, for some reason we continue to run from God’s command.
Announcer 02: Suren, I can say that many Christians are in the whale’s belly today. I can even say that it is already for years that they have become adjusted to the place full of disgust with dangers, trials and strange things happening. Some of them even decided to stay in these disgusting conditions only because they do not want to go out and proclaim repentance to the perishing.
Announcer 01: Ha-ha-ha, and in this case, there are entire Churches that live in the whale’s belly only because they do not want to do what is commanded them from above.
They avoid preaching the Gospel, avoid rebuking people, and avoid pointing to sin. Because of this, they find themselves in the whale’s belly, in unthinkable trials, but still they are not inclined to preach the Gospel. They are either ashamed or afraid to lose their worldly sources, so they do not declare the Gospel or rebuke people for their sins.
Announcer 02: I can confidently say that today the Universal Church needs to start a very important work – to spread the Gospel among the nation in more powerful, intensive and consistent way, in order to fill the hearts and minds of people with the light of Christ.
If we do not go after them, the spirit of this world will. The spirit of Babylon, which runs the world, takes advantage of the inactivity of the Churches, Christian leaders and Christians. This spirit has gone wild today; it seems it wants to bypass a number of things, even to speed up time to bring its own “christ” ahead of time.
Announcer 01: Look what is written in Matthew 24, verse 14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” World Evangelization has so much work to do! Spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom as a witness to all the nations!
Announcer 02: If the Gospel is not preached among all the nations, no matter what you do, the end will not come, as this is what The Lord says.
Announcer 01: I agree to that. Today many rulers and kings hurry all for nothing; all for nothing, as only the Almighty can bring about the end. No spiritual or human being has any power and means to bring about the end, even at the cost of many lives or by spreading terror and death. The Lord Sabaoth, the Lord of Lords is the only One Who can announce the end.
Announcer 02: Suren, in Matthew 24, Jesus tells us about preaching the Gospel not salvation of them all. He says it shall be done as a witness.
Announcer 01: Yes, many who receive this witness will inherit salvation; yet unfortunately, for many others the Gospel of the Kingdome will remain just a witness.
Announcer 02: Let us continue reading from the prophecy of Jonah.
Announcer 01: By the way, even though the prophetic book of Jonah has much urgency, I still cannot read it without laughing, especially Chapter One.
Dear Listeners, please listen patiently and attentively to the first chapter of the prophecy of Jonah. It resembles our days in so many ways! It seems this book speaks specifically about our days. I will read it, and while I am reading try to imagine how Jonah runs from God and what role the terrified world plays in this drama:
3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load.[a] But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.
14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.”
15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Announcer 02: So what? Will the same thing that happened to Jonah happen to us Christians?
Announcer 01: Yes, yes and yes… some will experience very dramatic things. They will speak about it as something terrible, but truth to say, their words can only cause laughter.
Announcer 02: However, we need to mention those who love God, who labor and pray day and night for the Gospel of Christ. Their commitment increases God’s grace upon the Churches. They demonstrate kindness and patience of the Lord. They are the salt and the light of this world
Announcer 01: Of course, praise God for all the brave and humble children of God! May God’s favor be with them always! One day we will have a program about them.
Announcer 02: Suren, I would like us to focus on the attitude of Jonah, which is similar to the attitude of people today. Eventually, Jonah prophesied, sounded an alarm and warned, but he did not love the Ninevites. Ha-ha-ha… He climbed up a hill and waited for the city to be destroyed.
Announcer 01: I thought about it as well. Even when all the people in Nineveh, both great and small, along with their king fasted and repented, to the extent they did not even feed or water their animals, it said nothing to Jonah.
Yesterday I spoke to one of my friends who does much work among the refugees from the Middle East. He does many good things, but for a moment he became honest and said, “Oh, when will the judgment of the Lord come on these terrorist making nations!”, and repented for his words right then.
We laughed together, but as a result we had a very honest talk on spiritual matters. We discussed that the devil is very jealous of God, His Son, His whole creation and His creatures. The enemy manipulates with hatred and enmity so craftily that he manages to make people go against one another and revolt against their Creator and Savior. The time has come to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, but the devil makes them so repulsive that Christians do not even want these perishing people to be saved. The devil cunningly pushes these nations to make themselves hateful in the eyes of Christians.
Announcer 02: By the way, dear Christians, today we have a calling to reach those people who came from closed countries. Why do you think they came from those countries, where they were unavailable for Christianity? At first sight it seems war is the reason; however, if you look with spiritual eyes, you will notice that the homelands of these refugees were completely closed for Christ the Messiah.
The spirits who rule in the regions closed for the Gospel cannot exercise authority in the Christian countries. The reason is, in Christian countries, Christians do not allow the demonic spirits that keep people from Christ to rule over them.
God has a harvest in these closed nations. There are people among them that truly need God’s salvation. They need to repent, to confess their sins and to be washed by the holy blood of Jesus Christ.
Announcer 01: So what can we say? The days of the harvest have come. Let us pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers for the harvest. It is very important for us Christians to acknowledge that we have to deal with the One about Whom the Bible says in Hebrews 10, verse 31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” It is the word of this very God that tells us, “Go to the whole world, preach the Good News, the News of Salvation, the News of Remission of Sins”. And if you do not listen to His voice, then know that disobedience is sin and many of us know about its consequences. The best thing that can happen to us then is to appear in the whale’s belly; at least it is possible to go out of there. Because those in hell do not have such a chance.
Announcer 02: Today so many people who know Christ are not in a mood of preaching the Gospel or they think, “It is not my work to do; there are special people for this”. Dear Brother or Sister, this is the work assigned to all the Christians. Maybe not everyone will be a pastor, an apostle or a teacher, but preaching the Gospel is commissioned to each follower of Christ.
Announcer 01: If you read the book of Jonah, you will see that he too did not have a mood of going to Nineveh; he did not want to rebuke or warn them. He also had strong hatred toward that nation and he would like them to be annihilated from the face of the earth.
Announcer 02: I am not amazed that there is such a thing in our days as well. The followers of false gods have murdered so many people in European countries that today when people there hear the words “Pakistani”, “Arab” or “Moroccan”, they already feel disgust, let alone desiring salvation of those people. However, each person, each human being on this earth needs Jesus Christ, because He Himself created them. He knows them very well. Even though they deny the Lord seven times, the Father’s love will still be there for His creatures. If such people repent and turn to the Lord, they will be accepted.
Announcer 01: We want to remind all the Christians that no matter what kind of changes we see in the times, in our lives, in people and their nature, in how the society approaches to different things, or in fashion, culture or technical progress, God and His commandments do not change. The way we commit ourselves to our God and the way we worship Him do not change either.
No circumstance in our life can influence the way we are to worship Him. No matter what or who stands between our relationship with God, - our family, our culture, our work or our government, - this does not change the way we are to repent before Him.
We used to repent for all our sins; and in this age of cultural development and emotional approach to life, when people use psychology to justify themselves, sin still remains a sin.
Sin cannot become a soft, mild notion, from which it is no longer necessary to repent, or which can be tolerated in your or another persons’ life.
If the Bible calls it sin, even in a million years, when many things change in our life and the way people live, sin will still be sin and righteousness will still be righteousness. If God calls it sin, it cannot be changed; if God says that justification of sins comes only through the Blood of His Son, it is still true. Nothing can replace it. If His Word says, “Believe in Lord Jesus and you will be saved”, then people have no alternative.
Announcer 02: And I am glad there is no alternative. When we preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, there shall be no compromise. The Word of God shall not be softened or altered for young people, teenagers, children or anyone who needs the Gospel.
We must not add worldly or comical elements to the Gospel to attract people. I cannot understand people who spare no efforts to convince people, especially the youth, that Church is actually no different from the world, and make their churches similar to worldly youth clubs, with lights, worldly music or fashion. They do everything not to be different from the world.
They make the service fun or more entertaining only to keep their young people. But do you realize how far you take the coming generation from God by doing this? Can’t you see that in this way they will never come to know God, will not thirst Him and will not know the One to Whom they shall run in time of need.
Can you imagine how much we dishonor God by acting in that way? As a result, we will have a generation running to other gods. They will turn to strange gods to find comfort.
Announcer 01: Anna, I fully agree with you. You bring up a very important subject. But now we speak about preaching of the Gospel to the nations, the nations that surround us.
Announcer 02: This subject is very important and timely. The subject of evangelization has many branches, - preaching the Gospel to the nations, to youth and teenagers, or to your own nation, - and each branch needs a specific approach.
Announcer 01: So true about specific approach; for example, when you preach to a person with a muslim background, you must realize that they view Christianity as an old religion. To their mind, islam has come after Christianity, so it is better and more reliable.
However, the human spirit desires neither old nor new things, but the power that sets them free, cleanses and sanctifies them and gives them peace. The human spirit needs to be free from guilt, to have security and protection. Only the holy Blood of Jesus can provide it.
No matter what religion a person professes, they are still God’s creatures and have a spirit; and their spirit needs peace, joy and fellowship with their Creator. Whoever overlooks this need is the most miserable person in this world.
Announcer 02: How then we can shun from going and telling the nations that the real relief and rest for the spirit comes by professing Jesus Christ as your Lord and having Him in your heart, and that there is no alternative to that!
Announcer 01: There are so many people who are not even aware of their own spirit. But when they hear about Jesus Christ, they start to feel their own spirit and understand where their spirit is. It is especially true about people from Gentile nations. They perceive their deities with their soul, but when you tell them about Christ, you can see spiritual revival in their lives.
Awakened spirit makes a person happy; the spirit that is asleep is always in searching and always feels unhappy.
Announcer 02: All the evangelists will agree with me that when a person speaks about Christ and the power of His Blood, happiness fills their spirit and soul. When you give the Good News of the Gospel to another person, you are the happiest person in the world.
Announcer 01: It is written in the book of proverbs that God will make happy those who hold fast to Him.
Announcer 02: For some reason, our mind always suggests quite different things. Things that have to do with this world and our daily worries. It dictates whatever it sees and hears; so what it has to tells us?
Announcer 01: I just thought about prophet Elisha. Can you remember his servant Gehazi? There was a time when Elisha himself was the servant of Elijah. He desired the double portion of the anointing Elijah had. However, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, did not desire such things. He ran after Naaman, a general who was healed and asked for clothing and money.
And can you remember what Elisha told Gehazi? “Is it time to receive vineyards and fields?” Yes, is it time to think about clothing and livelihood? There are much more important things. A person’s mind always takes them after their livelihood, beautiful and modern cars or household appliances, but dear Christian, is it time to go after all that?
Announcer 02: Suren, you know, our God is so true and faithful that He always provides for those who love Him and protects them. In the Gospels, Jesus says that if you seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, all your needs will be met.
And for some reason, some people called for spiritual work just love to be as this world is, to eat or to be dressed as this world does; so unfortunately, oftentimes we cannot tell the children of light from the children of darkness.
Announcer 01: One day I preached the Gospel to a childhood friend of mine. He told me, “I cannot tell people who work in the Church from business people; help me please to see who is who”. I laughed and said that God blesses His servants, but I felt a heartache inside, as my friend was right in what he saw.
Anyway, God calls everyone everywhere to repent, and praise God for such an opportunity. We can repent of our sins and be washed and cleansed by the holy Blood of Jesus.
Announcer 02: Let us enter into God’s timing. It is time preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Let us not allow the spirit of this world, the spirit of Babylon to take control over us. Let us cast it off from our minds, our actions, our Churches and our homes.
Announcer 01: Let God’s kingdom rule in our spirits. Let the Spirit of Christ rule over us. He is a victorious Spirit, and He makes us victors in any situation.
Dear Christians, think about preaching the Good News to the Gentiles; let us get down to work. Let us consider Jonah’s example and treat His commandments with holy fear. Let us remember that our feelings or our busy schedule must not decide whether we will preach the Gospel or not. His commandment, His Great Commission is what shall be our decisive factor, as it is written in Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen”.
