Psalm 96:1-3 - "Proclaim the Good News..."

Psalm 96 is an invitation for all the earth to come and worship the LORD. Whenever we hear the “good news” of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ and we find forgiveness of sins and experience hope and a transformed life we have a “new song” to sing! Over the past number of years this psalm has also become a call to me to encourage and motivate every believer I possibly can, to become involved in “declaring His glory among the nations and His wonders among all peoples.”   Jesus last words before He ascended into heaven in Matthew 28:18-20 was a command to “go and make disciples of all the nations”. In Acts 1:8, Jesus told the disciples that after He was gone that they, in the power of the Holy Spirit, would be “witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”   It is clear from Scripture, that the heart of God is that everyone would hear and know about the great gift of His salvation through Jesus Christ! In Matthew 9:35-38 we read that, “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."   I believe that today Jesus is still moved with compassion for the unreached millions of the earth that have never heard the “Good News”.  Today there are 8.05 billion people on planet earth. We are told that there is close to 2 billion of these dear precious souls that have no church, no media, no Bible in their language, no access to the Gospel.   Paul wrote in Romans 10:12-15 that the Gospel is for everyone. “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"   Shortly after I received Christ as my Lord and Savior in 1971 as a 19-year-old teenager in Cincinnati Ohio, I heard a missionary from the Philippines, Dr. Bob Hughes, preach a message from Ezekiel 3:15: “Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, ...”  Dr. Hughes made a plea for believers to go and tell the countless millions of people sitting in the jungles of the world about Jesus. That night I clearly heard the call of God on my life, and I responded by going forward to the altar and surrendering my life to go wherever the Lord would send me.   For these past 52 years I have done my best to fulfill my calling by praying, going, and sharing the Gospel. As a pastor it became my passion to motivate and facilitate everyone I could to pray, to give, and if the Lord leads them to go so that the unreached people of the world might hear the “Good News” of Jesus Christ. Over the years, I have been tremendously blessed to experience hundreds of believers who have joined us in praying and traveling overseas to minister to those who have never heard the Gospel.   My plea today from Psalm 96 is that you would join me in praying for the unreached people of the world. I pray specifically for seven different unreached people groups every week. I would love to share the specifics of an unreached people group with you so that you can take them into your heart and pray that the Lord would send someone to share the Gospel with them. Please email me at [email protected] God bless!