LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) – International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood described how God’s heart is revealed as being the heart of a missionary God during the Monday night session of the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s REACH Evangelism and Missions Conference at Westport Road Baptist Church.
From Genesis to Revelation, Chitwood introduced dozens of passages demonstrating that truth.
“I don’t want to assume everyone here knows all about the IMB. I don’t want to assume that everyone here would understand the priority that Scripture places upon missions, upon getting the gospel to every nation.”
Chitwood said from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation and in the 64 books that lie between, God’s heart is revealed as being “the heart of a missionary God that beats for the nations, that had a plan set in place before the foundations of the earth were laid. To redeem people from every nation, all tribes and languages.”
Since God’s word forms the foundation of our knowledge, our view of the world, we call it a biblical worldview.
“For that reason, God’s Word also forges our understanding of the church and its mission. Thus, the plans, strategies, and initiatives of the church must be informed by, conformed to, and critiqued and tested by the Word of God. Should we fail to know and understand the Word of God, we will fail as God’s people and in the mission of God’s church,” Chitwood said.
“God reveals to us his heart in Scripture as being a heart of a missionary God.”
Chitwood went through dozens of verses throughout the Old Testament and New Testament proving that truth to the pastors and others who gathered for the conference.
He began in Genesis with the covenant that God made with Abram in Genesis 12 and affirmed with Abraham in Genesis 22.
“The Lord said to Abraham, come from your country and your kindred, and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
Chitwood continued the Old Testament prophets, emphasizing Israel’s mission to be a witness to the world.
In Malachi, he said, the prophecy foreshadows worship among the nations. “From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations. And in every place, incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering for my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.”
Chitwood delivered his message with passion, with verse after verse about going to the nations and how the nations will come to worship before God.
“We cannot hold back. We cannot wait back. We cannot stay back,” he said. “We have to go to the ends of the earth because God has said that is His heart and His plan, the New Testament.”
At the end of the message, he spoke directly to the pastors.
“Mission work is vital for your church. And for you, because from before the foundations of the earth were set in place, God planned to save a multitude,” he said. “Every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages. If getting the gospel to the unreached and unengaged is not a priority for you as an individual Christ follower and for your church, for my church, for me, either we don’t know what the Bible teaches or we simply choose to walk in disobedience.”
Not everyone is called to go, he said. But if you can’t go, then send.
“So there’s only two options for the Christian missionary or mobilizer. That’s all you got. Pick it. Lean into it. Obey this purpose for God. We are called to be part of this work. Pray for the nations. Pray for those missionaries. Give generously and support gospel work to the nations.”
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This story appeared in Kentucky Today.
