Daily Devotional For Saturday, July 26, 2025
Good morning and happy weekend. We are looking at what it means to follow Jesus. I find it amazing how apathetic the American church is about reaching the lost. If you go to the average church in America, people are more concerned about the temperature in the room rather than the temperature of Hell. They are more concerned about the comfort of their pew or seats rather than taking the Great Comforter to the lost. They are more concerned about how loud the sound is rather than the loud screams of those already in Hell. While the average church attendee would never say, “I don’t care if people go to Hell,” their attitudes and actions say differently.
If questioned they would say, “Of course I care. I give money to the church so it can reach them.” Notice they don’t say, “I give money to church so that we can reach them.” “It” probably refers to the paid staff or others, but not themselves. Let’s look again at Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19-20. I’ll remind you of what I wrote yesterday. If you could read the Greek New Testament, literally it says, “As you are going . . .”Meaning, as you are going to work or to school or the supermarket or the restaurant or to play golf . . . make disciples." The only real verb in this whole passage is an imperative or a command and that is: make disciples. “Baptizing” and “teaching” are what we call in Greek – participles. A participle is the combination of a verb and an adverb into one word. “Make disciples” is the only real verb and it is a command to all believers.
The American church used to be “the reaching the lost church” all around the world. It sent missionaries all over the world. Today, mission organizations are having to scale back doing this and even calling missionaries home because funds are less than what they used to be. This is a double sin: not only are most people in the American church not sharing the Gospel personally, they are not giving financially to mission boards. It is estimated there are around 7,200 unreached people groups in the world who have never heard the Gospel. That is over 3 billion people. You can go to this site: Unreached people groups.
All is not bleak. Just like God spoke to people in biblical days in dreams and vision, He is speaking to people today all over the world. If God’s church is going to be silent, God is not. I know people who God has done this in their lives. It was so real, they surrendered their lives to Christ. This means that the church in America needs to stop pursuing its own version of the American dream and pursue God’s dream for the lost. Christian pastor and author David Platt writes this:
“Consider just one of these unreached people groups. The Bedouins of Algeria are 1.4 million strong. They live in portable tents covered with goat hair. They have little food and often live in unhealthy conditions. They are 100 percent Muslim. No Christians. No churches. No missionaries. No gospel. No Jesus. Meanwhile, God has saved you and me by his grace. He has not only given us knowledge about Christ, but he has also given us the presence of Christ and the promise of Christ to provide us with everything we need to take the gospel to them. Now imagine what it would be like to look into a pair of Bedouin eyes and for the first time introduce this person to Christ. This is a cause worth living for. It is a cause worth dying for. It is a cause worthy of moving urgently on. We have the gospel of Christ in us, and we do not have time to waste. Some wonder if it is unfair for God to allow so many to have no knowledge of the gospel. But there is no injustice in God. The injustice lies in Christians who possess the gospel and refuse to give their lives to making it known among those who haven’t heard. That is unfair” (Source: David Platt, Radical, Kindle Edition, p. 50).
We cannot wait to get that quiver in our liver before we choose to deliver the Gospel. Are you willing to risk everything – your comfort, your possessions, your safety and even your life as Jesus did to share the Gospel to do something Jesus has already commanded us to do? As WWII was happening, inflation in America was rising. With so much at stake such as losing the war effort in Europe and the Pacific, President Roosevelt had several what are now called “Fireside Chats.” He begged and urged Americans to sacrificially give to the war effort. Roosevelt did not want a Nazi America or a Japanese Imperialistic America.
With Germany and Japan working as allies to defeat America, Americans sacrificed to preserve democracy at home and freedom for the rest of the world. After the war, it was America that went in sacrificially to rebuild Europe and Japan. Some 20 years later, President John F. Kennedy in his inaugural speech said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” I want to give you my own version: Ask not what God can do for you to help you achieve the American dream. Ask what you can do for God to fulfill His dream for reaching the lost.”
A lot of well meaning Christians are upset at the state of America today: gay marriages, abortion, debt, and all the crime against innocent people. The question I want to ask all of us: are we just as upset of the crime we Christians are committing against innocent lost people by breaking God’s commandment to share the Gospel? If God held court and you and I were charged with breaking God’s commandment in Matthew 28:19-20, would there be enough evidence to exonerate either one of us?
Assignment: Ask yourself this question: Are you building your kingdom or the Lord’s kingdom? Do not ask God what He can do to help you achieve the American dream? Take the risk to ask God what you can do to help Him reach His dream – the Gospel being shared with the lost?
Scripture To Meditate On: Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, as Isaiah said, send me. Lord help me see the lost as you do. Give me a heart for the lost. Open my eyes to see. Open my ears to hear. Open heart to feel. God, I want to help You fulfill Your dream of sharing the Gospel to the lost, not asking You to help me fulfill the American dream for myself. I love you Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly