Important Numbers

The Creator Has Loved Me With A Love That Blows Me Completely Away!

Have we not been given the most awesome gift that anyone can receive? Actually, we have been given the most astounding gift ever. We have been invited to have a personal relationship with God & also the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. Jesus ripped us from the grips of hell. We have been set free! We are no longer a slave to the depravity of this world. All i can say is WOW!!! All i can do is love Him back with all i have in me & offer myself as His servant. His love is so sweet, so complete, that i am helpless to think that i can do anything to pay him back. That i can do anything at all worthwhile without Him. He is no doubt the beginning & the end, the creator & sustainer of all things. He is everything that is important. Does anything else really matter? Please take a minute to reflect on this. Does anything else really matter? If you know Jesus, you know this to be true.

i have talked a lot in past blog post about what Jesus has told us to do. i thought i needed to make a statement about why i think we even need to care what he said. As you have read above, i am bankrupt without Jesus. i have discovered that Life is in Him. Nothing else matters. Nothing can compare to the life i've been given. i want to follow Him. i want to know Him. i want to be His servant.

i want to share some numbers with you. These numbers are very uncomfortable numbers. They're numbers that we probably wish that we didn't know. They are numbers that haunt me. Numbers i can't get out of my head.

Did you know that there are 2.87 billion people in the world that have never heard about Jesus? That makes me squirm in my pew. That downright makes me uncomfortable with the life that i live. That makes we wonder if going to church, enjoying the fellowship of the believers, studying God's word & spending time in prayer is all that God wants me to do?

Matthew 28:16-20

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus has told us to go into all the world & make disciples of all nations. Jesus said that it is the churches responsibility to introduce him to all nations. i wonder, does any of the responsibility fall on our shoulders? We are the church. Who should do something about this? Should we? You don't have to have a certain gift, you don't have to feel led & you don't have to feel called to do something about this. Jesus said nothing about any of these things.

Okay, here's some other numbers that i want to share with you. 

Did you know that there are 20,864 people that die of hunger everyday? In case your wondering, that's 869 people that died while you were eating lunch today. Yes i know that that is strong & harsh, but it is the real numbers. Can we ignore them? Can we just go about our business & forget about all these people?

Luke 16:19-31

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Which person do you identify with in the above story that Jesus told? Did you know if you have running water, a roof over your head, clothes to wear, food to eat & have some form of transportation, you are among 15% of the wealthiest people in the entire world?

If we follow Jesus, we cannot ignore these numbers. We cannot ignore what Jesus has said. Jesus is going to ask questions.

Please leave comments. Am i wrong? Have i been brainwashed by God's word? Am i not living in reality? Please tell me.

Isaiah 6:8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”