Press the arrow to listen…Jesus is still the desire of all.

Scripture
Q1: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
Q2: And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
Q3: And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
Q4: And how can they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15

Observation
Wooha! Wait a minute Paul! He just asked four really hard questions and then changed the subject. How very Paul. Entrepeneur. Global. Big picture.

But those questions need an answer. They are a matter of life and death. People need Jesus. Without him living is mundane and dying only beings misery. Jesus is everything, but unless his name is spoken how can they turn to him?

I have a friend who has devoted his entire life to reaching unreached people in China. Since the Tianamen massacre he has visited every city and town in China to reach as many as he can. He told me of visiting one village and asking a waitress if she had heard of Jesus. She had not heard the name before, and ran to the kitchen to find out. She came back with the manager who said that she thought he lived in the next village.

How can they call if they don’t believe?
How can they believe if they haven’t heard?
How can they hear without a preacher?

We can try asking those questions of God, but he won’t answer them. If we pick up these questions we’ll only ask them of ourselves. There is only one conclusion. God needs those who will preach. And if we look at the questions long enough, they call us out of the line to step forward to volunteer.

But then there is the last question. It is the hardest one of all:

And how can they preach unless they are sent?

Only God can answer that one. We can be willing, but only God can do the sending. I think God delays on this one because he wants the pain that he feels to sink into us. He can see the world, every nook and cranny of bedrooms, Starbucks, offices, sidewalks where billions, each with a name, are calling out into the void for answers. He wants to speak to them, but needs a speaker. In between God and people is a gap of silence that calls for a voice. Who will speak for him?

Application
Twenty-eight years ago I first asked those questions of myself and have spent the rest of my life in ministry. But today I feel the weight of those questions all over again. There is a God who wants to speak and there are people who are calling out in the emptiness for answers. I want to speak for him. I cannot be silent.

Prayer
Father, here I am. To those who haven’t believed, to those who haven’t heard, to those who have no preacher, please send me. Here I am, send me. Amen.