[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":79},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fgod-s-love-for-all-nations":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fgod-s-love-for-all-nations-surround":68},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":13,"columnName":51,"date":52,"description":19,"extension":53,"image":54,"meta":55,"minRead":56,"navigation":57,"path":58,"postType":59,"publication":60,"publicationUrl":54,"seo":61,"stem":62,"topics":63,"__hash__":67},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fgod-s-love-for-all-nations.md","God's Love for All Nations",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11,12],"Psalms","Genesis","Revelation","Matthew",{"type":14,"value":15,"toc":47},"minimark",[16,20,23,26,29,32,35,38,41,44],[17,18,19],"p",{},"Have you heard the slogan \"Think globally, act locally\"? The Lord does that all the time. Many New Testament texts highlight the church's global mission. \"Go into all the world.\" \"Make disciples of all nations.\" \"You are Christ's ambassadors.\"",[17,21,22],{},"Numerous missionary passages appear in the Old Testament as well, including Psalm 67. The chapter begins, \"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us\" (v. 1). Sounds good so far. We all want God to bless us. But do we realize that God wants to show grace toward other nations just as much as he wants to bless us? Our prayers should not be for ourselves alone. The psalmist prayed for God's blessings \"so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations\" (v. 2).",[17,24,25],{},"Praise in Many Languages",[17,27,28],{},"God not only cares about people. He also cares about \"peoples\"—people groups with unique languages, customs, and needs. The Lord told Abraham \"all peoples on earth will be blessed through you\" (Genesis 12:3), and Psalm 67 highlights the same theme: \"May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you\" (vv. 3, 5).",[17,30,31],{},"In Heaven we will praise God with saved souls from \"every nation, tribe, people and language\" who cry out together, \"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!\" (Revelation 7:9, 10). Can you imagine the sound of God's praise echoing through the courts of glory as a massive multiethnic choir sings a new and improved heavenly version of \"The Hallelujah Chorus\" with accents in German, Hindi, Spanish, Creole, Shona, Italian, Mandarin, Swahili, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Malaysian, French, English, and other languages? (In Heaven even the sound system will work without flaw!)",[17,33,34],{},"Today we get a taste of Heaven's glory when we support missionaries who are leading people to Christ all over the world. \"May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth\" (Psalm 67:4).",[17,36,37],{},"A Harvest of Many Souls",[17,39,40],{},"Psalm 67 continues, \"The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us\" (v. 6). Again, we need to think beyond the gifts we ourselves receive from God. The harvest of blessings we personally enjoy can supply the resources for a bigger harvest—the one Jesus described when he said, \"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send workers into the harvest field\" (Matthew 9:37, 38).",[17,42,43],{},"World population passed the seven billion mark last year. The harvest has never been more plentiful. That's why missions should be more than a program of the church; everything we do must contribute to the church's core purpose of making disciples all over the world. We need to recruit record numbers of young people who will devote their lives to full-time mission work. Retirees and second-career professionals need to consider using the next chapter of their lives as workers in the Lord's harvest.",[17,45,46],{},"The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 is not an isolated text. God's love for all nations appears throughout the Bible, including Psalm 67: \"May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him\" (v. 7). God thinks globally and acts locally. So should we.",{"title":48,"searchDepth":49,"depth":49,"links":50},"",2,[],"Revealed and Relevant","2012-03-18","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fgod-s-love-for-all-nations","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":19},"articles\u002Fgod-s-love-for-all-nations",[64,65,66],"Biblical Theology","Church Leadership","Christian Unity","By5O4RaH2TcW4VSM5x5hxTJFg0ycNHlSNw2Ffwzqpbo",[69,74],{"title":70,"path":71,"stem":72,"description":73,"children":-1},"God’s Liberating Power","\u002Farticles\u002Fgod-s-liberating-power","articles\u002Fgod-s-liberating-power","Don’t you like it when you get something for free, like a sample at the grocery store or a ticket to a ballgame? The problem is, there’s often a catch. That “free” vacation actually costs $2,000. The “free” sandwich at the fast-food restaurant will cost five bucks once you pay for fries and a drink.",{"title":75,"path":76,"stem":77,"description":78,"children":-1},"God's Picture Frame","\u002Farticles\u002Fgod-s-picture-frame","articles\u002Fgod-s-picture-frame","On the desk in my office there's a framed photo of my wife. Pictures of my granddaughters smile at me from a coffee table nearby. On the wall behind my desk hang some serious-looking black frames: my ordination certificate and college diplomas. On another wall hangs an inspirational drawing of the carpenter Jesus carving a block of wood. On the bookshelf facing my desk is a photo of my wife taken on our wedding day (that one's been in my office for 31 years!) and a Scripture plaque quoting Jesus' words, \"I am the vine, you are the branches.\"",1790466152745]