Give The Gospel, Part II

If you missed Part I, please read that first.

Some of the fastest growing Christian nations in the world are countries in Asia that do not allow the Gospel of Christ to be openly taught, preached, or read. Many of the faithful men and women there will go their whole lives without access to their own personal Bible. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure I have about 5 or 6 just sitting on random bookshelves all throughout my house.

Could we really multiply the gospel in the those countries? I wasn’t sure, but I was loving the vision.

Then, I met a guy at church named Bob Ruiz during the welcome time one Sunday morning. We made some small talk and I asked him where he lived. When he said a town some 40 minutes away, my eyes opened wide and said ‘Wow” - that’s a long way to come. He was adamant that our church was worth the drive. Unprompted, he told me - there are people in Asia that walk days to neighboring villages in hopes of getting their own Bible only to walk home empty handed. He said his drive was short in comparison. I got chills. He knew nothing of DEN’s vision yet. I asked him later if that was true and he directed me to another friend.

A week before we left for Asia for a press check on our journals, I talked with Bob’s friend, Grant, whose parents have done much work in getting the gospel into closed countries. Grant confirmed the story of people living without their own Bibles. Many villages just have one Bible, and the pastor won’t loan it out for fear that a page could be destroyed.

Almost as a throwaway at the very end, Grant told me to be very careful while I was there. Be covert. He encouraged me to call God - “Dad”, call the Bible - “bread.” He said it was probably overkill but to do it anyway.

The next morning as I was working through the gospels, I was in Mark 6 and the story was Christ feeding the 5,000. Or multiplying “bread.” I started to get even more excited. We were going to “feed” people with the Bible.

Three days later, as the final prep was being made for the trip, I decided to take some extra time to spiritually prepare for the trip. Now, I was in Mark 8.

If I could paint the clearest vision for “Give the Gospel” - it would be Mark 8:2-3. It’s my call to you. Let’s partner together. The faithful in Asia have remained with Jesus for a long time and at great risk to themselves and they have no “bread” in which to be nourished with. They walk to/from neighboring villages in search of their own Bibles. On their next trip, let’s not send them back empty-handed.

While you are working on daily becoming an ever-increasing 2 Timothy 2:15 workman, you can be a hero too for one of our friends in Asia. Someone who is desperate for their own copy of the Bible, hungry for it, in fact.

Imagine how that nourishment of Scripture might fuel further growth in their lives. Imagine the harvest that it might produce in their families, their friends, their countries.

Let’s do our part. You. Me. Let’s bring what we have to offer and trust that God will do the multiplying. 

ps. We sent 6,400 Bibles in 2020. Pray God would get those Bibles into the right hands!