farm houses, then valleys and moun tains in the distance. Finally, I could look down upon the entire island of Jamaica, lying like a huge jewel in the bosom of the Carribbean. No doubt, if I could have gone high enough, all the islands of the West Indies would be visible at a single glance. God, from His vantage point, can look down upon the entire world. He knows every need, and wants us to share His view. Too often we have the mistaken idea that we’re more important than any of the other peo ples of the world. Traveling through out the United States, I hear this on every side. It’s clearly evident in actions and reactions, too. Years ago, I was in the Dutch East Indies, now known as Indo nesia. There are 110 million people there. I traveled through the very heart of the islands, preaching to inlanders, savages, and others. When I came to the island of Java, I dis covered I could cross it in my car, from north to south, in four hours. Yet it’s one of the most densely populated areas on the whole face of the earth. There are no less than 60 million people the re . If our God is interested in numbers, He must be more concerned about Java than He is about my country of Canada. We have fewer people. But if God is interested in numbers, He must be more interested in the Unit ed States with 220 million or Russia with 250 million or in India with 500 million, or in China with 800 million people. Every fourth baby born into the world is Chinese. “Lift up your eyes” ! See a world for which Jesus Christ gave His life on Calvary. 3
C hapter O ne T here are some very familiar words in Ezekiel 3:17-19 which, I believe, have a direct bearing on the missionary testimony. Allow me to change the words only slightly that we might understand this bet ter for our own day. “Christian worker, I have made thee a watch man. Therefore hear the word of my mouth and give warning for me. When I say unto the lost, Thou shall surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speak to warn the lost of his godless way to save his life, the same heathen man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet, if thou warn the lost, and he turn not from his foolish state, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. His blood will I not require at thine hand.” I believe that, “The supreme task of the church is the evangelization of the world.” It’s sad to realize that so few pastors teach this fact, and so few Christians are really concerned for the whitened harvest fields. Who is it, according to John 3:16, that God loves? The answer is clearly “the world!” God wants us to have a world-wide vision. He is not satisfied with anything less. Too many are only local in their outlook. We must see beyond the boundaries of the area in which we happen to live. Why is it that we only see our own church, our own denomi nation, our own community? Is it be cause we’re so nearsighted that we don’t have a world vision? When I was leaving Jamaica I stepped into a large plane. At first all I saw was the local surroundings. Rising higher, I could see fields and
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