Different views on the return of Jesus

Do We Need to Evangelize All Peoples Before Christ Returns?

Taken from this website:  http://www.missionfrontiers.org/1994/0708/ja946.htm

by Walt Russell III

Strategies for global evangelism must be filtered through the Scriptures to determine whether they match with what God has stated as to how He wants the Church to obey the Great Commission. In this article, Dr. Russell provides a biblical basis for targeting people groups that need to hear the gospel message. This article first appeared in the latest edition of the Adopt-A-People "How to" manual and is used by permission. You can read more about it on page 35 and order on page 32.

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all peoples, and then the end shall come." (Matt. 24:14) [Walt Russell's translation]

Is Jesus teaching in this verse that His Church must preach the gospel to All the peoples of the world before He returns and the end comes? If so, can we speed up His return by focusing on preaching the gospel to All the peoples of the world? While we cannot know exactly when Jesus will return in Messianic glory, can we nevertheless hasten the coming of that great day by aggressively preaching the gospel to all those peoples who have not yet heard? Can we help bring about the end of this age through a more vibrant emphasis on reaching All those peoples still unreached with the gospel?

Isn't it amazing how one little verse of Scripture can foster so many questions that have such far-reaching impact on the decisions of our missions committees and mission agencies? Matthew 24:14 is one of those verses. It is near the beginning of Jesus' great "Mount of Olives Discourse," in Matthew 24-25, in which He speaks of the events that will precede the end of the age, culminating in His return. Interestingly enough, Jesus' teaching on this mountain opposite the Jerusalem Temple is one of His six great mountain experiences in Matthew's gospel: chapter 4, the tempting on the mountain; chapters 5- 7, the kingdom teaching on the mountain; chapter 15, the feeding on the mountain; chapter 17, the transfiguring on the mountain; chapters 24-25, the end-of-the-age teaching on the mountain; and chapter 28, the commissioning on the mountain.

Some scholars have noted that Matthew seems to have a "Mountain Theology." This is clearly the case, and it is particularly in these six mountain experiences of Jesus that He clarifies two things. He clarifies both His identity and mission as the Messiah, and the identity and mission of the people of God. This means that passages like Matthew 24:14 really are important in clarifying who the Church is and what she should be doing.

Of particular importance in this verse is Jesus' emphasis on All The Peoples being exposed to the witness of the gospel of His kingdom. Most translations use the phrase "the nations" to translate the Greek phrase ta ethne. While this is a possible translation, it is probably not the best one. "Nations" make us think of the artificial political entities that dot the world's landscape. However, the word ethne primarily focuses on the racial and cultural qualities that form "peoples" or "people groups" apart from their political umbrellas. For example, Luke speaks of "the ethnos of the Samaritans" in Acts 8:9. Since the Samaritans had not existed as an independent political "nation" for 150 years, the term ethnos must refer to them as a racial entity.

However, the main reason for translating ta ethne as "the peoples" and not the nations in the New Testament is a theological one. God promised Abraham in Genesis 12:3c that through him all "the families" of the earth would be blessed. The Hebrew word for "the families" in Genesis 12:3c is mispahot, and it means "races of subdivisions of ethnic and national groups" (cf. Genesis 10:5). This means that the Abrahamic blessing will affect all of the "people groups" of the world. This is why the Greek translation of the Hebrew word mispahot is ta ethne when Paul quotes Genesis 12:3c in Galatians 3:8. The gospel is aimed at blessing all the racial and ethnic groups of the world.

Why is this distinction between "the peoples" and "the nations" significant for missions? The example of Nigeria illustrates the necessity of distinction. In the one "nation" of Nigeria, there are over 300 "peoples" or "people groups." While the gospel may have been preached within the nation of Nigeria, it has not necessarily been preached to all the "peoples" of Nigeria. "Nations" are fragile things that come and go (e.g. the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia). However, "people groups" are enduring things that generally transcend changing political entities (e.g. the numerous people groups within the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia). Apparently, it is these hundreds of enduring things called "people groups" that Jesus wanted reached with His gospel.

The ethne of "peoples" play a significant role in Matthew's gospel. They represent paganism in their repetitious prayers (6:7), their materialistic orientation (6:32), and their leadership styles (20:35). Additionally, they persecuted Jesus (20:19), His people (10:18; 24:9), and one another (24:7). Initially, they were to be avoided with the gospel so that Israel could be reached (10:5). However, in the gracious design of God's plan, Jesus spent the majority of His ministry in Galilee of the "Peoples" (Gentiles) (4:15) and came to proclaim justice and hope to the peoples of the world (12:18,21, quoting Isaiah 42:1,4). Jesus Himself proclaimed that the kingdom of God would be taken away from Israel and given to a "people" producing the fruit of it (21:43), some of whom will be judged by Jesus upon His return (25:32). Of course, Matthew ends his gospel with the climactic statement of the resurrected Messiah ringing in our ears: "Go and make disciples of All The Peoples…." (28:19). The peoples of the world are a very significant focus in Jesus' ministry and in Matthew's gospel.

Therefore, Jesus' statement in Matthew 24:14 about the gospel being preached to All The Peoples of the world before the end comes is right in line with both the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19 and Jesus' earlier statements about His ultimate focus being upon the peoples of the world (12:18, 21; 21:43). Over thirty years ago, George Eldon Ladd noted this important focus in his helpful book The Gospel of the Kingdom (pp. 123-40). Ladd observed that Matthew 24:14 is extremely important in its teaching about a message, a mission and a motive. The message is the gospel of the kingdom of God and this "good news" is that All The Peoples of the world can receive the blessing promised to Abraham through faith in Jesus the Messiah. In other words, the good news of God's kingdom is that it is for All Peoples!

The mission of Matthew 24:14 flows out of the nature of the message. If the message is one of blessing for all the peoples of the world, then the universal mission is mandated by the essence of that message. As Ladd noted, "This verse is one of the most important in all the Word of God to ascertain the meaning and purpose in human history" (p. 130). Ladd goes on to assert that the heavenly book which will expound the meaning of human history will be entitled The Preparation for and the Extension of the Gospel among the Nations (pp. 133-34). This is both the meaning of history and the mission of the Church. To give ourselves whole-heartedly to anything else is to miss the essence of both!

The motive for preaching the gospel of the kingdom to all peoples also is given in Matthew 24:14: "and then the end shall come." When will Jesus Christ return to complete His kingdom on earth? We do not know the time, nor should we speculate about it. What we do know is that our motive for taking our message and fulfilling our mission is His return. When the Church has finished her task of evangelizing All The Peoples of the world, then Christ will come again. Is He coming soon? He will if we are fully obedient to His command to take the gospel to All The People Groups on the face of the earth.

So, what are the implications for us at this timely juncture in human history? I suggest that there are two very significant applications we could make. The first is that we must continue to undergird all that we have been doing in the modern missionary enterprise for the last two hundred years. We must stay this course and continue to disciple all those peoples who have heard the gospel and who are in various stages of responding in obedient discipleship to Jesus Christ. To be obedient ourselves involves fostering not just converts, but robust followers of Christ--disciples, as the Great Commission mandates.

Secondly, we must additionally support the new emphasis on frontier missions that is focused on those Unreached People Groups that were not being reached by many of our past efforts. These new missions and new initiatives by older missions are helping us take seriously Jesus' desire to preach the gospel to All The Peoples of the world. Without this complementary effort, we may lapse into disobedience to our Lord's command for universal penetration of all the world's people groups. In other words, it is a both/and approach to missions that continues to deepen and enrich our traditional efforts and to underscore enthusiastically our new efforts. Of course, this places greater strain on both our faith and our resources. But do we really have the option of doing otherwise if we are to obey the King's final command and to hasten His return in Messianic glory? We must be fully focused on proclaiming the gospel to ALL PEOPLES!

(Dr. Russell is a Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in La Mirada, California.)

The Supremacy of God “Among All the Nations”
by John Piper

Worship of the Nations

From this site:  http://www.missionfrontiers.org/1996/1112/nd965.htm

God's great goal in and through out all of history is to uphold and display the glory of His name for the enjoyment of His people from all the nations. The question now is: why does God pursue the goal of displaying His glory by focusing the missionary task on all the peoples of the world? How does this missionary aim serve best to achieve God's goal?

The first thing we notice in pondering this question is how the ultimate goal of God's glory is confirmed in the cluster of tests that focus missionary attention on the people groups of the world. For example, Paul said that his apostleship was given "to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of [Christ's] name among all the nations" (Romans 1:5). Missions is for the glory of Christ! Its goal is to reestablish the supremacy of Christ among the peoples of the world. Similarly in Romans 15:9 Paul says that Christ did his own missionary work and inspired Paul's "in order that the nations might glorify God for His mercy." So the goal of Christ's mission and ours is that God might be glorified by the nations as they experience his mercy. Accordingly, the consummation of missions is described in Revelation 5:9 as persons from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation worshiping the Lamb and declaring the infinite worth of His glory. All of this is in accord with the repeated Old Testament calls to "Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!" (Psalm 96:3) Truly, the goal of missions is the glory of God!

Intended and Eternal Diversity

We also need to notice, as we ponder this question, that the diversity of the nations has its creation and consummation in the will of God. Its origin was neither accident nor evil. Its future is eternal: the diversity will never be replaced by uniformity. The evidence for this is found in Acts 17:26 and Revelation 21:3.

To the Athenians Paul said, "[God] made from one every nation of men (pan ethnos anthropon) to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation." This means that the origin of peoples is not in spite of, but because of God's will and plan. He made the nations of men. He set them in their place. And He determines the duration of their existence. The diversity of the nations is God's idea. Therefore, for whatever reason He focuses the missionary task on all the nations, it is not a response to an accident of history. It is rooted in the purpose God had when He determined to make the nations in the first place.

God's purpose to have diversity among nations is not a temporary one only for this age. In spite of the resistance of most English versions, the standard Greek texts of the New Testament now agree that the original wording of Revelation 21:3 requires the translation: "and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, Behold the dwelling of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they will be His peoples," and not "His people" (singular).

What John is saying here is that in the new heavens and the new earth, the humanity described in Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 will be preserved: persons ransomed by the blood of Christ "from every tribe and tongue and people and nation." This diversity will not disappear in the new heavens and the new earth. God willed it from the beginning. It has always had a permanent place in His plan.

How Diversity Magnifies God

Now, we can ask the question: How does God's focus on the diversity of the peoples advance His purpose to be glorified in His creation? As I have tried to reflect Biblically on this question at least four answers have emerged.

First, there is a beauty and power of praise that comes from unity in diversity that is greater than that which comes from unity alone. Psalm 96:3-4 connects the evangelizing of the peoples with the quality of praise that God deserves. "Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods." Notice the word "for." The extraordinary greatness of the praise which the Lord should receive is the ground and impetus of our mission to all the nations.

I infer from this that the beauty and power of praise that will come to the Lord from the diversity of the nations are greater than the beauty and power that would come to Him if the chorus of the redeemed were culturally uniform. The reason for this can be seen in the analogy of a choir. More depth of beauty is felt from a choir that sings in parts than from a choir that only sings in unison. Unity in diversity is more beautiful and more powerful than the unity of uniformity. This carries over to the untold differences that exist between the peoples of the world. When their diversity unites in worship to God, the beauty of their praise will echo the depth and greatness of God's beauty far more exceedingly than if the redeemed were from only one or just a few different people groups.

Second, the fame and greatness and worth of an object of beauty increases in proportion to the diversity of those who recognize its beauty. If a work of art is regarded as great among a small and like-minded group of people, but not by anyone else, the art is probably not truly great. Its qualities are such that it does not appeal to the deep universals in our hearts but only to provincial biases. But if a work of art continues to win more and more admirers not only across cultures but also across decades and centuries, then its greatness is irresistibly manifested. Thus when Paul says, "Praise the Lord all nations, let all the peoples praise Him" (Romans 15:11), he is saying that there is something about God that is so universally praiseworthy and so profoundly beautiful and so comprehensively worthy and so deeply satisfying that God will find passionate admirers in every diverse people group in the world. His true greatness will be manifest in the breadth of the diversity of those who perceive and cherish His beauty. His excellence will be shown to be higher and deeper than the parochial preferences that make us happy most of the time. His appeal will be to the deepest, highest, largest capacities of the human soul. Thus the diversity of the source of admiration will testify to His incomparable glory!

Third, the strength and wisdom and love of a leader is magnified in proportion to the diversity of people He can inspire to follow Him with joy. If you can only lead a small, uniform group of people, your leadership qualities are not as great as if you can win a following from a large group of very diverse people.

Paul's understanding of what is happening in his missionary work among the nations is that Christ is demonstrating his greatness in winning obedience from all the peoples of the world: "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me to win obedience from the nations" (Rom. 15:18). It is not Paul's missionary expertise that is being magnified as more and more diverse peoples choose to follow Christ. Rather, it is the greatness of Christ that is magnified. He is showing himself superior to all other leaders.

The last phrase of Psalm 96:3 shows the leadership competition that is going on in world missions. "Declare his glory among the nations... He is to be feared above all gods." We should declare the glory of God among the nations because in this way He will show His superiority over all other gods that make pretentious claims to lead the peoples. The more diverse the people groups who forsake their gods to follow the true God, the more visible is God's superiority over all His competitors!

By focusing on all the people groups of the world, God undercuts ethnocentric pride and puts all peoples back upon His free grace rather than any distinctive of their own. This is what Paul was emphasizing in Acts 17:26 when he said to the proud citizens of Athens, "[God] made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation." F. F. Bruce points out that "The Athenians...pride themselves on being... sprung from the soil of their native Attica ... They were the only Greeks on the European mainland who had no tradition of their ancestors coming into Greece; they belonged to the earliest wave of Greek immigration."

To this boast Paul countered: you and the Barbarians and the Jews and the Romans all came from the same origin. And you came by God's will, not your own; and the time and place of your existence is in God's hand. Every time God expresses His missionary focus on all the nations He cuts the nerve of ethnocentric pride. It's a humbling thing to discover that God does not choose our people group because of any distinctives of worth, but rather that we might double our joy in Him by being a means of bringing all the other groups into the same joy.

Humility is the flip side of giving God all the glory. Humility means revelling in His grace, not our goodness. In pressing us on to all the peoples, God is pressing us further into the humblest and deepest experience of His grace, and weaning us more and more from our ingrained pride. In doing this He is preparing for Himself a people- from all the peoples-who will be able to worship Him with free and "white-hot" admiration!

Conclusion

The ultimate goal of God in all of history is to uphold and display His glory for the enjoyment of the redeemed from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. His goal is the gladness of His people because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Delight is a higher tribute than duty. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy His glory forever. Since His glory is magnified most in the God-centered passions of His joyful people, God's self- exultation and our jubilation are one. The greatest news in all the world is that God's ultimate aim to be glorified and man's aim to be satisfied are not at odds.

Therefore the church is bound to engage with the Lord of Glory in His cause. It is our unspeakable privilege to be caught up with Him in the greatest movements in history--the ingathering of the elect "from all tribes and tongues and peoples and nations" until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and all Israel is saved, and the Son of Man descends with power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords and the earth is full of the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea for ever and ever. Then the supremacy of Christ will be manifest to all and He will deliver the kingdom to God the Father and God will be all in all!

This article is a compilation of excerpts from John Piper's book, Let the Nations Be Glad. Reprinted by permission of Baker Books. You may order the entire book from William Carey Library at the discount price of $8.50 ($7.13 when ordering 3 or more). Call 1-800-MISSION when using your credit card. Item BBH124-0

The Second Coming and Missions

—by Larry Tomczak

Taken from:  http://www.missionfrontiers.org/1989/0405/am899.htm

In Acts chapter one, Jesus ascended, and the angels said that Jesus would return. Jesus himself told us, “I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again” (John 14:2).

This promise is a fact of history. The Second Coming is not a pipe dream nor a story to tell little children, but a reality: Jesus will come again. He is coming back. The last words of our Lord Jesus in the Bible are: “Yes, I am coming soon” (Rev. 22:20).

The return of the Lord is imminent, but it is a qualified imminence. Jesus will return, I believe, within this generation. But there are certain conditions that must be fulfilled. We are privileged to “hasten” Jesus' coming by getting on with the task He has given us. In this way, by simply responding to the task, the conditions and the prophesies of His return will be fulfilled.

I want to stir you to action to fulfill these words God gives us and so hasten the return of the Lord. Here are five ways God wants us to prepare for the Second Coming.

1. Cooperate In Hastening His Return
In Matthew 24 Jesus gave many signs of His coming, and we can see an acceleration in the pace of these signs today. We are also seeing the Enemy's recognition that his time is short, as false teaching is spreading. For example, in 1987 the Mormons were able to reach more people than in the entire 158-year history of their religion. They saw 274,000 converts that year.

Are any of the signs of His coming specific? When Jesus was asked, “What is the sign of your return?,” He pointed to a specific sign and said: “This gospel of the kingdom must be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all peoples, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

Now the Church is starting to see that this task can be done. It's possible to penetrate the unreached people groups of the world to establish an evangelizing church, a witness in their midst, to get on with the task of proclaiming the gospel. God is giving remarkable strategies to reach these groups.

Look at it this way: We have the privilege to participate in something that signals the end of the devil, and that is why he hates this kind of message. That is why the devil attacks those who are working to fulfill the Great Commission. It signals the end of Satan's rule in the earth.

Peter writes of the Second Coming, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Peter 3:9). Other translations say “hasten His coming.”

In other words, there is something we can do to bring that day nearer: We have an assignment, so let's give ourselves to things that really matter. We can be motivated by the thought that we are men and women on a mission. On the back of my station wagon I have a bumper sticker that says “On a Mission.” I'm on a mission to cooperate with God's purposes today to see the church restored and the nations—the ethne—reached. I believe that with each successive day, as we give ourselves to the task of seeing the church become what God intends it to be—a task force to reach the nations in obedience to the Master Plan, we are speeding the return of the Lord.

We must be involved with a local church body to be equipped and trained by leaders, to send and go, to respond in a Biblical way. We need to serve in the mission work already being done by our local church.

We need to be faithful in giving tithes and offerings instead of occasionally throwing in a buck, “tipping” the Lord. We need to give in a heroic, sacrificial way to see churches planted abroad. We need to intercede, to get up early and pray. By doing this we are cooperating and hastening the return of the Lord. We should live as if the Lord is coming back in a hundred years, but work as if He is coming back tomorrow. We should be prudent and responsible and seek God's plans for our lives, yet work with zeal and inspiration.

2. Crave The Lord’s Coming
We need to fight an attitude of casual indifference or nonchalance toward the Lord's coming. The New Testament repeatedly speaks of “longing for,” “looking forward to,” “loving” the return of the Lord:

“... As you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Peter 3:12);

“But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth” (3:13);

“So, then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (3:14);

“... Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sin of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28). Are you in that category?

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me, and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

Notice: “... to all who have longed for his appearing.” A special company of Christians are marked out by the fact that they have longed for the return of the Lord. Over 500 saw the Lord after his resurrection, but only 120 were with Him in that upper room.

You can nurture a craving. How can we nurture that craving for the Lord? Society nurtures cravings through advertising, by reminding us how our felt needs might be met. We see a billboard on the highway for a Big Mac, and we get a craving for a Big Mac.

When “the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16), all eyes will be on the One we have worshiped and longed for: the Lord Jesus Himself. Just think what that will be like. What you and I and previous generations have thought and dreamed about will finally be happening.

When I am away from my family for a few days and then return, my children run to me, yell “Daddy's back!,” and hug and jump on me. In the same way, if we grow to love the Lord Jesus more, we will want to see Him more eagerly. Consistently remind yourself that the Lord whom we have never seen will be right before our very eyes. That's how the craving begins.

Another thing that helps increase the craving is to realize that when we see Him, we will receive a brand-new body, not a body of humiliation and aches and pains like we have now, but a glorious resurrected body. Paul writes, “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”(Philippians 3:20-21).

All the people you love, as well as the heroes of the faith, will be there. Sickness, poverty, war, injustice, disease, suffering—all of that will be wiped out. The Lord will be living among his people, and Satan, his demons, and evil spirits will not be able to harass us anymore. No more accusation, no more condemnation, no more temptation. There will be peace and harmony and the presence of God. Put yourself in remembrance of these things. Long for His coming !

3. Cultivate Personal Holiness
God's grace “teaches us to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:12-14).

We must be aware that one day we will face the Lord, and we will be accountable for what we have done. This is a far-off reality, and that's where people can compromise. But if we know the Lord is coming back, we won't want to compromise. In churches where the return of the Lord is not considered imminent, people can get lazy and sloppy. But if we realize we will face Him, we are committed to be a holy people; we won't want to grieve the Holy Spirit.

There are consequences for sin. Look at what has happened to America's political and church leaders in their sexual immorality. We have to guard ourselves against immorality and all sin. We have to keep short accounts with God and confess our sins to Him regularly so that we can walk in holiness.

We are called to walk in loyalty as a church of solid relationships. If we have something against our Christian brother in the church, we don't share our grievance with others. We don't disguise it as a prayer request. We go to the brother and are reconciled. We don't tolerate disloyalty, slander, or gossip. We shouldn't live like this world or be conformed to it, but we should be transformed into a new way of life.

4. Continue In Prayer
We want to continue in more aggressive and intensified prayer. “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day [the close of the age and the coming of the Lord] will close on you unexpectedly like a trap” (Luke 21:34).

We as Christians have to be especially on guard about being weighed down by the anxieties of life. The last days aren't going to be “bad”; they are going to be mad. Times have gotten tough. You need to monitor what comes into your mind through the media; you have to be on guard about what your children see and hear. But we're not to respond by feeling weighed down in anxieties; instead, we are to learn to pray.

In Seoul, Korea, I visited Paul Yonggi Cho's church. At one point Pastor Cho said, “We are going to pray for the Americans. Let us turn and pray a blessing and intercede on their behalf for the favor of God in their lives.” All of a sudden the entire group of 20,000 believers in the auditorium turned and began praying. It felt like a wave coming over us. Aggressive, consistent prayer is essential. If we don't have that, things will backfire on us down the road. We need to devote ourselves to daily prayer and the study of the Scriptures.

5. Complete Your Assigned Task
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You don't know when that time will come. It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch” (Mark 13:32-34).

“Each with his assigned task” means that we don't have to decide what we are going to do with our lives. We simply need to find out what God has purposed for us to do. Each of us has a destiny: “We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). God wants us to walk in the good works he has prepared for us. The scope of these good works is always within the context of our purpose, our task—as we witness for him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1: 8), as we are making “disciples of every people group” (Matthew 28:19). This is reality.

The day of Christ's appearing will never be repeated. You don't want to be dreaming about what you could have been or could have done. Instead, choose your destiny. Do what God intended for your life. Don't limit Him, and don't let the devil limit you. Your desire should be to glorify God and affect the nations as a result of your commitment to Him.

You can receive an audio cassette of Larry Tomczak's much-longer message on “The Second Coming and Missions” for $3.00 plus 50¢ postage and handling. To order, please send $3.50 per tape to: People of Destiny International, 7881-B Beechcraft, Gaithersburg, MD 20879.

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