To the World

We are called and empowered to testify to the salvation of our God, brought to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Psalm 96 can inspire us; it says:
2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
3 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.

Our purpose is related to how we radiate the presence of Christ.  We are instructed to "proclaim" His salvation.  We do that by living a holy life that represents the Lord within us and by being ready to share what God has done in our lives and how someone can know Him, too. We have been equipped to fulfill that purpose and to show the world the love of Jesus Christ.  There may be opposition, there might be adversity, but we can know that God goes with us.

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In Acts 28, we read the account of how the apostle Paul, upon arriving in Rome, met with the Jews and shared this reminder of God's intended spread of the gospel:
(25) "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,
26 saying, 'Go to this people and say: "Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them." '
28 "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!"

A missionary named Paul went to a tribe that was hostile to the gospel, a tribe that practice witchcraft and cannibalism; in fact, two of the members of the tribe had taken the lives of two missionaries previously sent.  But, someone who was not in favor of killing missionaries apprehended Paul and kept him safe.

A search party came, and according to ChristianHeadlines.com, "The tribe considered this second visit a sign and listened to what the search party and Paul had to say, and slowly more and more members of the Yali tribe came to Christ."  

The Yali tribe lives in Papua New Guinea and was discovered by Mission Aviation Fellowship back in 1965. Three years later, two missionaries were killed by members of the tribe.  The story states:

Two of the tribe's warriors ambushed the missionaries as they were scouting out a place for a new airstrip in order to shared the Gospel with a "particularly hostile Yali tribe," MAF reports. The tribal warriors attacked the missionaries because they were spreading a message that went against the tribe's witchcraft and beliefs. The two missionaries took more than 200 arrows before they died.

One of the missionaries, Stan Dale, had already successfully translated the book of Mark into the Yali language along with a Yali man.  Dale and Phil Masters lost their lives.

Recently, 2500 Bibles were flown to the Yali tribe by MAF, including just over 100 children's Bibles. The Bibles had been requested - the article says: 

One of the Yali Tribe’s church ordered the Bibles after there were not enough to give to the Yali Tribe's village, MAF reports. The Yali tribe were waiting for the plane to land and the women and children were celebrating by chanting in their local tongue and dancing.

One of the flight pilots, Dave Ringenberg, who is also an Instructor Pilot and the Director of Papua Operations, said that "It was a holy moment – one to be remembered."

There are now over 100 churches serving the Yali tribe.  The pivotal visit of the missionary Paul many years ago was the result of a plane crash, but it became a catalyst for God to move in the lives of the people.

This series of events illustrates how God will draw people to Himself.  The Yalis were steeped in witchcraft and cannibalism, yet, He got His message across.  Through the visit of a missionary who actually crash-landed in Yali, people began to turn their lives over to Christ.  It is reminiscent of another missionary named Paul who crash-landed on an island named Malta and God began to show himself through him.  And, in tandem with the work of Paul, in Papua New Guinea, Bible translation had already begun, bringing God's Word to people who had previously not had the Bible in their language.

Remember, we live in a world that needs to hear the gospel.  And, the Church has the primary mission to show the world that Jesus is alive in us.  We can easily become distracted in so many ways that will divert us from our relationship with God - when we encounter hostile territory, we can be discouraged in our mission, but we know that we can continue to trust in the Lord and rely on His promises to us.